The orator that does
not persuade men that righteousness is on his side will seldom
persuade them to think or act as he desires; and if he fail
in that he fails in his object; and the orator who has not
in fact righteousness on his side will in general fail so to
persuade them. And even if in rare cases he do persuade
his audience, he does not gain a permanent place in literature.
Bolingbroke's speeches, though so enthusiastically praised
by the best judges, have perished by their own worthlessness.
Although the danger of the Republic, and his own, still occupied
his thoughts, Cicero found time in his old age to record,
at the request of his brother Quintus, his opinion, _de omni
ratione dicendi._ It is not likely that the treatise "de
Oratore" or that "de Claris Oratoribus" will ever be matched
by any other writer on this fascinating subject, except the
brief and masterly fragment of Tacitus.
He begins by inquiring why it is that, when so many persons
strive to attain the gift of eloquence, and its rewards of
fame and wealth and power are so great, the number of those
who succeed as orators is so small in comparison with the
number of those who become great generals, or statesmen,
or poets.
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