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De Oratore I D E O R A T O R E BO O" 1 TRA N S L A TED IN TO E N G LIS H W ITH A N IN T R O DU C TIO N B Y P E N . MOOR M . , . A . A S S I S T A N T M A S T E R A T C L I F T O N C O L L E G E filamj um a nti 1 8 BU RY S TREET W C , . L O N D O N 1 8 9 2 IN TR O D U C TIO N H T E t hre e b o o k s De Ora tore seem to have been B . C 5 5 written by Cicero in the year . It was n t o n s o f a time when, owi g the i crea ing power the fo r Triumvirs, there was little room any political activity o n o f his the part Cicero . On recall from exile in the preceding year he had conceived som e hopes o f again taking a leading part in political life but owing partly to the lukewarmness o f some and the downright faith o f o f lessness others his old supporters, which made it impossible for him to resume his o l d place at the head o f s ro the optimates, and partly to the clo er union p du ced between Pom peia s and Caesar by the conference s at Luca, he thought it more advi able to withdraw f m s a s inva ri ro public life and con ole himself, was his 1 w able custom , with literary work . The ork to which w a s s De Ora tore he devoted himself the present treati e, his it is dedicated to brother Quintus, and , as we are d told in the introductory chapters, his choice was eter 1 ’ Fo r Cicero s p o sitio n a nd feelings a t this tim e see his fa m o u s er t o Len u u s A d F a m . a nd a m os n e es n essa l ett t l ( . i t i t r ti g y i t v l o f o n Cicero a nd the Triu m vira t e in the Intro d u ct o n o o . ii . the Co res o n ence o f C ce o ro essor T rrell . r p d i r , by P f y b INTRODUCTI ON ’ mined by a request o f his brother s that he would o n supplement his earlier work the same subj ect, the tione De Inven , by something more worthy of his maturer age and riper experiences as the leading orator o f s m o f Rom e . The treati e is thrown into the for a s his m dialogue, which Cicero represent as so ewhat imperfect reminiscence of a conversatio n which had o f . taken place at the Tusculan villa L Licinius Crassus, s and had been reported to him by C . Aureliu Cotta, o ne o f the interlocutors . That some such conversation t o f did ake place , we must course believe but it is scarcely credible that what Cicero gives us in these three books is anything but a fancy account of What he u s o r thinks o ght to have been aid , what he would have l o n . iked to have been said, the occasion He calls it non s a ne s a tis ex lica ta m em oria himself a p , a fairly vague expres sion which may perhaps be intended to imply that he will feel at perfect liberty to draw upon his o wn n s imaginatio , in order to supply the mis ing details o f s . the conver ation However this may be, we have a long dialogue extending through three books, and it ss must be confe ed that, as we read it, we are apt to n forget in ma y places that it is a dialogue at all . No s o f doubt at time there is a good deal dramatic play, a nd a lively interchange o f humorous and charming remarks " but the subj ect o f conversation at such a s ul moments is not a r e the question of oratory , but something extraneous to the main theme . The con INTRODUCTI ON versation does not, as a rule , contribute to the argu o f ment the dialogue, but only relieves the somewhat long-winded discourses o f the chief exponents o f ’ o f Cicero s theory oratory . It has been said that the ‘ ’ De Ora tore is the most finished, perhaps, of Cicero s o f compositions . An air grandeur and magnificence o f reigns throughout . The characters the aged n Senators are fi ely conceived, and the whole company ’ 1 is invested with an almost religious maj esty . This ‘ ’ ‘ air o f grandeur and magnificence and al most religious m ’ ajesty may be what we are finding fault with, and the fault may really lie with the reader who cannot attune himself to so high a strain but we cannot help feeling that any o f the listeners might fairly have C administered to rassus at all events, if not to the - other speakers, the well known rebuke which Lamb . administered to Coleridge “ Crassus does unmistakeably When preach, and not talk, and it is a certain relief u we reach the l e ss o m po u s and comparatively every v p day deliverance o f Antonius . The scene o f the dialogue is laid at the Tusculan f C villa o L . Licinius rassus . To this country residence he is represented as retiring fo r the brief holiday of Rom a ni B . C 1 Lu di . the , in the year 9 It was at a moment when political excitem ent w a s running very Two high . burning questions were before the Roman 1 n Dr a n s in hi o n e N e m a n u o e . S s Intro u c Jh H ry w , q t d by dy d o n t o the O ra o . ti t r, p xlix . I N TRODUCTION — o f u dicia public the reform the j , and the extension of the civita s to all the Italian yeomen . The champion s o f the party of reform was M . Livius Dru us, and he was supported by the most enlightened members o f t his . the nobili y, chief opponent being L Marcius s m Philippus, the Consul . Cra sus, therefore, acco panied f s s o o r by som e o his clo e t political friends, took the pp ’ ff Lu dz Rom a ni t u nit y o f the interval a orded by the to ’ “ retire for a few days rest and refreshment in the -in- country . His companions were his father law, Mu ciu s S Q . caevola, the Augur " Marcus Antonius, the grandfather o f the triumvir " and two younger mem f . u s . bers o the party, P Sulpici Rufus and C Aurelius Cotta, attached more immediately, the former to Cras s u s t . , and the la ter to Antonius The visit extended s over three day . On the first day, the political situation n e gaged all their attention, and was made the subj ect o f n ss . On an a imated discu ion the second day, all the morning up to the hour fo r the sie s ta was spent in a s ss o n s di cu ion oratory, which was opened by Crassu , n and in which he took the leadi g part, Antonius only briefly replying and suggesting some limitation s to the very extensive claim s m ade by Cra ssus fo r the perfect . o f S orator At the end the second day, caevola retired o wn b u t o n o f to his villa, the morning the third day his place w a s supplied by the unexpected arrival o f . Lu t a t iu s Ca t u l u s two other friends , Q , the conqueror o f o f V r ll a e ce e . the Cimbri at the battle , and C Julius INTRODUCTI ON Vo iscu s - o f Ca t u l u s Caesar Strabo p , a half brother , who in the second book takes some part in the dialogue as o f o f l the exponent the true theory wit, and its p ace and function in oratory . On the third day the dis c u ssio n was maintained till the evening . Antoniu s m discoursed throughout the orning, with a brief ’ interval for Caesar s delivera nce o n wit " and after the siesta, Crassus again took up the tale, and with but a very few interruptions from the others monopolised the afternoon . S uch is a very meagre skeleton o f the contents of the o f s ha s three books " each which, it hould be added, a few introductory sections . Here , in the first book, Cicero states his reasons and motives for writing the o wn o n treatise, and gives in brief his notions the ' r o f h e requi ements the orator " in the second, reminds his brother o f the false impression there was that Crassus a nd m en Antonius were unlearned and ignorant , and s explains how that impres ion arose " in the third , he deplores the untimely deaths of Crassus and Antonius, and the horrors o f the Marian proscription .
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