Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 68, No 422, December 1850Various
General
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 68, No 422, December 1850
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
of the ground secure you from being outflanked by the enemy.
Should Fortune fail to second your valour, beware lest you perish
unavenged. Rather fall, fighting like men, and leave a mournful
and bloody triumph to your enemies, than be butchered like sheep
when captured by their arms."[11]
With what exquisite judgment and taste is the stern and mournful style
of this speech suited to the circumstances, all but desperate, in which
Catiline's army was then placed!
No one supposes that these were the identical words delivered by
Catiline on this occasion. Unquestionably, Sallust shines through in
every line. But they were probably his ideas; and, unquestionably,
they were in the true style of ancient oratory. And that what was
spoken fully equalled what has come down to us written, is proved by
innumerable passages in speeches which undoubtedly were spoken; among
which, we select the graphic picture of Antony in his revels--spoken by
Coelius, and preserved by Quintilian:--
"They found him (Antony) oppressed with a half-drunken sleep,
snoring aloud, lying across the most beautiful concubines, while
others were reposing around. The latter, when they perceived the
approach of an enemy, strove to awaken Antony, but in vain. They
called on him by name, they raised him by the neck: one whispered
softly in his ear, one struck him sharply; but to no purpose. When
he was so far roused as to recognise the voice or touch of the
nearest, he put his arms round her neck, unable alike to sleep and
to rise up; but, half in a stupor, he was tossed about between the
hands of the centurions and the harlots."[12]
What a picture of the triumvir and rival of Brutus, as well as of the
corrupted manners of Rome!
Demosthenes, in his celebrated speech against Æschines, burst into the
following strain of indignant invective:--
"You taught writing, I learned it: you were an instructor, I was
the instructed: you danced at the games, I presided over them:
you wrote as a clerk, I pleaded as an advocate: you were an actor
in the theatres, I a spectator: you broke down, I hissed: you
ever took counsel for our enemies, I for our country. In fine,
now on this day the point at issue is--Am I, yet unstained in
character, worthy of a crown? while to you is reserved the lot
of a calumniator, and you are in danger of being silenced by not
having obtained the fifth part of the votes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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