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B. Let us hear then how Orators ought to fpeak. I long to know your Thoughts on this Point: feeing you deny the finical, florid manner of ISOCRATES, which is fo much admir'd and imitated by others.

A. Instead of giving you my own Opinion, I fhall go on to lay before you the Rules that the Antients give us : but I fhall only touch upon the chief Points: For, I fuppofe, you don't expect that I fhould enter into an endless Detail of the Precepts of Rhetorick. There are but too many ufeless ones; which you must have read in those Books where they are copiously explain'd. It will be enough if we confider the most important Rules. PLATO in his Phadrus fhews us, that the greatest Fault of Rhetoricians is their studying the Art of Perfwafion, before they have learn't, (from the Principles of E 3

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Hicere, voluntates conpellere quo velit; unde autem velit, deducere. Hæc una res in omni libero populo, maximeque in pacatis tranquillifque civitatibus præcipuè femper floruit, femperque dominata eft. Quid enim est aut tam admirabile, quam ex infinita multitudine hominum existere unum, qui id quod omnibus Naturâ fit datum, vel folus, vel cum paucis facere poffit ? tam potens, tamque magnificum, quam populi motus, Judicum religiones, Senatus gravitatem, unius oratione converti? ac ne plura, quæ funt penè innumerabi lia, confecter, comprehendam brevi; fic enim ftatuo, perfecti Oratoris moderatione, & fapientia, non folum ipfius Dignitatem, fed & privatorum plurimorum, & u niverfæ Reipublicæ falutem maximè contineri

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Cic. de Orat. lib. j. §. 8.

true Philofophy,) what thofe things are of which they ought to perfwade Men. He wou'd have Crators begin with the Study of Mankind in general; and then apply themfelves to the Knowledge of the particular Genius and Manners, of thofe whom they may have Occafion to instruct and perfwade, So that they ought first of all to know the Nature of Man, his chief End, and his true Intereft; the Parts of which he is compos'd, his Mind, and his Body; and the true Way to make him happy: They ought likewife to underftand his Paffions, the Disorders they are fubject to, and the Art of governing them; how they may be ufefully rais'd, and employ'd on what is truly good; and, in fine, the proper Rules to make him live in Peace, and become entirely fociable. Af ter this general Study, comes that which is particular. Orators ought to know the Laws and Customs of their Country; and how far they are agreeable to the Genius and Temper of the People; what are the Manners of the feveral Ranks and Conditions among 'em; their different Ways of Education, the common Prejudices, and feparate Interefts that prevail in the prefent Age, and the moft proper Way to inftruct and reform the People. You fee Sir, this Knowledge comprehends all the folid Parts of Philofophy and Politicks

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So that PLATO ineant to fhew us, that none but a Philofopher can be a true Orator. And 'tis in this Senfe we muft underftand all he fays in his GORGIAS, against the Rhetoricians; I mean, that Set of Men who made Profeffion of talking finely, and perfwading others without endeavouring to know, from folid Philofophy, what one ought to teach them. In fhort, according to PLATO, the true Art of Oratory confifts in understanding those ufeful Truths of which we ought to convince People; and the Art of moving their Paffions, in order to Perfwafion. CICERO fays almoft the very fame things. He feems, at firft, to think that an Orator fhou'd know every thing; becaufe that he may have occafion to fpeak on all forts of Subjects; and (as SOCRATES obferv'd before him) † a Man can never talk well on a Point of which he is not intirely Mafter.

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*A mea quidem fententía nemo poterit effe omni laude cumulatus Orator, nifi erit omnium rerum magnarum, atque artium fcientiam confecutus. De Orat. lib. i. §. 6. Oratorem plenum atque perfectum effe eum dicam, qui de omnibus rebus poffit variè copioféque di cere. Ibid. §. 13. Verum enim oratori quæ funt in ho minum vita, quandoquidem in ea verfetur orator, atque ea eft ei fubjecta materies, OMNIA quæfita, audita, lecta, difputata, tractata, agitata effe debent. Lib. iij. S. 14.

† Etenim ex rerum cognitione efflorefcat, & redundet oportet Oratio: quæ, nifi fubeft res ab Oratore percepta, & cognita, inanem quandam habet elocutionem, & penè puerilem. De Orat. lib. j. §. 6.

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Mafter. But afterwards, because of the preffing Neceffities and Shortnefs of Life, TULLY infifts only upon those Parts of Knowledge that he thinks the most necesfary for an Orator. He wou'd have him at least well inftructed in all that Part of Philofophy which relates to the Conduct and Affairs of focial Life. But above all Things he wou'd have an Orator † know the Frame of Man, both with regard to his Soul, and Body, and the natural Tendency and Force of his Paffions; because the great End of Eloquence is to move the fecret Springs of them. He reckons the Knowledge of the Laws, and

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* Pofitum fit igitur in primis fine Philofophia non poffe effici, quem quærimus Eloquentem --- nec verò fine Philofophorum difciplina, genus, & fpeciem cujufque rei cernere, neque eam definiendo explicare, nec tribuere in partes poffumus: nec judicare quæ vera, quæ falfa fint; neque cernere confequentia, repugnantia videre, ambigua diftinguere. Quid dicam de natura rerum cujus cognitio magnam orationis fuppeditat copiam ? De Vita, de Officiis, de Virtute, de Moribus? Orat. S. 4.

Omnes animorum motus quos hominum generi, rerum natura tribuit, penitus pernofcendi. De Orat. lib. j. §. 5. Num admoveri poffit oratio ad fenfus animorum, atque motus vel inflammandos, vel etiam extinguendos (quod unum in oratore dominatur,) fine diligentiffima perveftigatione earum omnium rationum quæ de naturis humani generis, ac moribus, a Philofophis explicatur --- De Orat. lib. j. §. 14. Quare hic locus de VITA & MORIBUS, totus eft oratori perdifcendus. Ibid. §. 15.

Bibliothecas mehercule omnium Philofophorum unus mihi videtur duodecim Tabularum libellus, fi quis Legum

and Constitution, to be the Foundation of all publick Difcourfes: but he does not think a thorough Insight into all the particular Cafes and Questions in Law to be neceffary; because, upon occafion, one may have recourfe to experienc'd Lawyers, whofe peculiar Profeffion it is to underftand and difentangle fuch intricate Points. He thinks, with PLATO, that an Orator fhou'd be a Mafter of Reasoning; * and know how to define, and argue, and unravel the moft fpecious Sophifms. He fays we destroy Eloquence, if we shou'd separate it from Philofophy: For then, instead of wife Orators, we fhou'd have only trifling injudicious Declaimers. He further requires not only an exact Knowledge of all the Principles of Ethicks; but like wife that theOrator be fully acquainted

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Legum fontes, & capita viderit, & auctoritatis pondere & utilitatis ubertate fuperare. Ac fi nos, id quod maxime debet, noftra PATRIA delectat. Cujus primum nobis Mens, mos, difciplina nota effe debet: vel quia eft patria, parens omnium noftrum, vel quia tanta fapientia fuiffe in jure conftituendo putanda eft, quanta fuit in his tantis operibus Imperii comparandis. De Orat. lib. i. §. 44.

* Nec vero Dialecticis modo fit inftructus, fed habeat omnes PHILOSOPHIE notos, & tractatos locos. Nihil enim de Religione, nihil de morte, nihil de pietate, nihil de caritate patriæ; nihil de bonis rebus, aut malis; nihil de virtutibus, aut vitijs nihil, inquam, fine ea fcientia, quam dixi, graviter, amplè, copiosè dici, & explicari poteft. Orat. §. 33.

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