titude, till he was carry'd into a facred Wood; whence he could no longer fhew them the Capitol. "The Tribunes "found (fays LIVY) that seeing the People's Minds were fo ftrongly pre 66 έσ poffeft with the Merit of MANLIUS, "it wou'd be impoffible to perfwade them "he was really guilty, unless they cou'd carry them out of the Sight of the Ca"pitol which reminded them of his glo"rious Service · Ther his Crime "appear❜d." Every one knows what Troubles Elo-* quence occafion'd among the Greeks. At Rome CATALINE's Oratory brought the Republiek to the Brink of Ruin. But that Eloquence tended only to perfwade People and to move their Paflions. Wit was never employ'd in it. A florid Declaimer (cou'd have had no Influence in publick Affairs. Nothing can be more artless than BRUTUS when he writes to CICERO * with Apparuit Tribunis, nifi oculos quoque hominum liberaffent a tanti memoria decoris numquam fore in præoccupatis beneficio animis, vero crimini locum Ibi crimen valuit TIT. LIV. L. vj. ch. xx. † Particulam litterarum tuarum qua's mififti OCTAVIO legi At dolore, quantum animo maximum capere poffum eadem illa pars epiftola fcriptæ ad Octavium de nobis, affecit. Sic enim illi gratias agis de Republica, tam fuppliciter, ac demiffe (quid fcribam? pudet conditionis, as fortunæ; fed tamen fcribendum eit: + Com with fuch an Air of Superiority, as to reprove and filence him." You beg our Life and Safety of OCTAVIUS: (fays he) what Death cou'd be fo bad? By this Request you fhew that Ty66 ranny is not destroy'd, and that we "have only chang'd our Tyrant. Con"fider your own Words; and deny if you can, that fuch a Petition is fit to "be offer'd to none but a King; and "from a Slave, too. You fay that you "afk and expect only one Favour of him; + Commendas noftram falutem illi; quæ morte qua non perniciofior?) ut prorfus præ te feras, non fublatam Dominationem, fed Dominum commutatum effe. Verba tua recognofce, & aude negare fervientis adverfus Regem iftas effe præces. Unum ais effe quod ab eo poftuletur, & expectetur, ut eos cives, de quibus viri boni, populufque Romanus bene exiftimet, falvos velit. Quid fi nolit non erimus? atqui non effe, quam effe per illum, præftat. Ego medius fidius non exiftimo tam omnes Deos averfos effe a falute populi Romani ut Octavius orandus fit pro falute cujufquam Civis, non 'dicam pro Liberatoribus orbis terrarum Hoc tu Cicero, poffe fateris Octavium, & illi amicus es? aut, fi me carum habes, vis Roma videri; cum ut ibi effe poffem, commendandus puero illi fuerim? Cui quid agis gratias fi ut nos falvos effe velit, & patiatur, rogandum putas an hoc pro beneficio eft habendum, quod fe, quam Antonium, effe maluerit, a quo ifta petenda effent. Ifta verò imbecillitas & defperatio, cu jus culpa non magis in te refidet, quam in omnibus alijs, Cafarem in cupiditatem regni impulit: & Antonio Quod fi Romanos nos effe meminiffemus; non audacius dominari cuperent poftremi Homines, quam ut nos pro hiberemus. Tu quidem Confularis, & tantorum fcelerum vindex (quibus oppreffis vereor ne in breve tem pus dilata fit abs te pernicies,) qui potes intueri quæ gefferis Apud CICER. Lib. Epift. ad Brut. Ep. xvj. him; that he wou'd fave the Lives of "thofe Citizens who are esteem'd by "Perfons of Worth, and by all the Roἐσ man People. What then, unless he "fhall gracioufly please, we must not "live? But 'tis better to die, than to "owe our Lives to him. No, I can't 66 think the Gods are fuch declar'd Ene mys to the Safety of Rome, as to be? cc willing that the Life of any Citizen *fhou'd be beg'd of OCTAVIUS; and "far lefs, the Lives of those who are the "Deliverers of the Univerfe - 0 Cr "CERO, can you confefs that he has fuch Power; and ftill be one of his "Friends? Or if you love me, can you "defire to fee me at Rome, when I canσε not come thither without obtaining that "Boy's Permiffion? For what do you thank him; if you think that our Life "muft ftill be beg'd of him as a Favour Muft we reckon it a Happiness that he "chufes to have fuch Favours alk'd ra "ther of him than of ANTONY? --"This Weakness and Despair which of "thers are guilty of as well as you, first "embolden'd CÆSAR to make himself King But if we remember'd that we are ROMANS, the Ambition of these base Men to ufurp the Go *vernment wou'd not have been greater than our Courage in defending it. I'm 66 "afraid "afraid that you who have been Conful "and aveng'd the Publick of fo many "Crimes have thereby only delay'd our "Ruin for a fhort while. How can you "behold what you have done?" How weak, indecent, and mean muft this Difcourfe have appear'd, if it had been fill'd with Witticifins and quaint Conceits. But now fhall those who ought to speak like Apoftles, gather up, with induftrious Affectation, thofe Flowers of Rhetorick that DEMOSTHENES, MANLIUS and BRUTUS trampled on? Shall we imagin that the Minifters of the Gospel have lefs Concern for the eternal Salvation of Souls, than DEMOSTHENES for the Liberty of his Country; lefs Zeal to do good, than MANLIUS had Ambition to feduce the Multitude; or lefs Refolution than BRUTUS, who chose Death rather than to owe his Life to a Tyrant ? I own, that the florid kind of Eloquence has its Beautys: but they are quite mifapply'd in those Difcourfes that ought to be animated with the nobleft Paffions; and wherein there is no room for delicate Turns of Wit. The florid fort of Rhetorick can never come up to the true fublime. What wou'd the Antients have faid of a Tragedy, wherein HECU BA laments laments her Misfortunes with Points of Wit. True Grief does not talk thus. Or what cou'd we think of a Preacher who fhou'd, in the most affected Jingle of Words, fhew Sinners the divine Judg ment hanging over their Head, and Hell open under their Feet? There is a * Decency to be obferv'd in our Language, as in our Cloaths. A difconfolate Widow does not mourn in Fringes, Ribbons, and Embroidery. And an Apoftolical Minifter ought not to preach the Word of GOD in a pompous Stile, full of affected Ornaments. The Pagans wou'd not have endur'd to fee even a Gomedy fo ill-acted, 1 Ut ridentibus arrident ita flentibus adfunt HOR. de Ar. Poet. Humani vultus. Si vis me flere, dolendum eft. 101--- We must not judge fo unfavourably of Eloquence as to reckon it only a frivolous Art that a Declaimer ufes to impofe on the weak Imagination of the MultiQ 3 tude, Nunc quid aptum fit, hoc eft, quid maxime deceat in Oratione, videamus: quamquam id quidem perfpicuum eft, non omni caufæ, nec auditori, neque perfone, neque tempori congruere orationis unum genus Omnique in re poffe quod deceat facere, artis & naturæ et; feire, quid, quandoque deceat, prudentiæ. CICERO de Orat. lib. iij. §. 55, |