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COMPARISON OF DEMOSTHENES AND CICERO
These are the most memorable circumstances recorded in history of
Demosthenes and Cicero which have come to our knowledge. But,
omitting an exact comparison of their respective faculties in
speaking, yet this seems fit to be said: That Demosthenes, to make
himself a master in rhetoric, applied all the faculties he had,
natural or acquired, wholly that way; that he far surpassed in
force and strength of eloquence in political and judicial speaking
all his contemporaries, in grandeur and majesty all the
panegyrical orators, and in accuracy and science all the logicians
and rhetoricians of his day; that Cicero was highly educated, and
by his diligent study became a most accomplished general scholar
in all these branches, having left behind him numerous
philosophical treatises of his own on Academic principles; as,
indeed, even in his written speeches, both political and judicial,
we see him continually trying to show his learning by the way. And
one may discover the different temper of each of them in their
speeches. For Demosthenes's oratory was, without all embellishment
and jesting, wholly composed for real effect and seriousness; not
smelling of the lamp, as Pytheas scoffingly said, but of the
temperance, thoughtfulness, austerity, and grave earnestness of
his temper. Whereas, Cicero's love of mockery often ran him into
scurrility; and in his love of laughing away serious arguments in
judicial cases by jests and facetious remarks, with a view to the
advantage of his clients, he paid too little regard to what was
decent. We are told that Cicero, being consul, undertook the
defence of Murena against Cato's prosecution; and, by way of
bantering Cato, made a long series of jokes upon the absurd
paradoxes, as they are called, of the Stoic sect. When loud
laughter passed from the crowd to the judges, Cato, with a quiet
smile, said to those that sat next to him, "My friends, what an
amusing consul we have."
And, indeed, Cicero was by natural temper very much disposed to
mirth and pleasantry, and always appeared with a smiling and
serene countenance. But Demosthenes had constant care and
thoughtfulness in his look, and a serious anxiety which he seldom,
if ever, laid aside; and, therefore, was accounted by his enemies,
as he himself confessed, morose and ill-mannered.
Also, it is very evident, out of their several writings, that
Demosthenes never touched upon his own praises but decently and
without offence when there was need of it, and for some weightier
end. But Cicero's immeasurable boasting of himself in his orations
argues him guilty of an uncontrollable appetite for distinction,
his cry being evermore that "Arms should give place to the gown,
and the soldier's laurel to the tongue." And at last we find him
extolling not only his deeds and actions, but his orations, as
well those that were only spoken, as those that were published.
It is necessary for a political leader to be an able speaker; but
it is an ignoble thing for any man to admire the glory of his own
eloquence. And, in this matter, Demosthenes had a more than
ordinary gravity and magnificence of mind, for he considered his
talent in speaking nothing more than a mere accomplishment and
matter of practice, the success of which must depend greatly on
the good-will and candor of his hearers, and regarded those who
pride themselves on such accounts to be men of a low and petty
disposition.
The power of persuading and governing the people did, indeed,
equally belong to both, so that those who had armies and camps at
command stood in need of their assistance; as Chares, Diopithes,
and Leosthenes did that of Demosthenes, and Pompey and young
Caesar of Cicero's, as the latter himself admits in his Memoirs
addressed to Agrippa and Maecenas. But what are thought and
commonly said most to demonstrate and try the tempers of men,
namely, authority and place, by moving every passion, and
discovering every frailty, these are things which Demosthenes
never received; nor was he ever in a position to give such proof
of himself, having never obtained any eminent office, nor led any
of those armies into the field against Philip which he raised by
his eloquence. Cicero, on the other hand, was sent quaestor into
Sicily, and proconsul into Cilicia and Cappadocia, at a time when
avarice was at the height, and the commanders and governors who
were employed abroad, as though they thought it a mean thing to
steal, set themselves to seize by open force; so that it seemed no
heinous matter to take bribes, but he that did it most moderately
was in good esteem. And yet he, at this time, gave the most
abundant proofs alike of his contempt of riches and of his
humanity and good-nature. And at Rome, when he was created consul
in name, but indeed received sovereign and dictatorial authority
against Catiline and his conspirators, he attested the truth of
Plato's prediction, that then only would the miseries of states be
at an end, when by a happy fortune supreme power, wisdom, and
justice should be united in one.
It is said, to the reproach of Demosthenes, that his eloquence was
mercenary; that he privately made orations for Phormion and
Apollodorus, though adversaries in the same cause; that he was
charged with moneys received from the king of Persia, and
condemned for bribes from Harpalus. And should we grant that all
those (and they are not few) who have made these statements
against him have spoken what is untrue, yet we cannot assert that
Demosthenes was not the character to look without desire on the
presents offered him out of respect and gratitude by royal
persons. But that Cicero refused, from the Sicilians when he was
quaestor, from the king of Cappadocia when he was proconsul, and
from his friends at Rome when he was in exile, many presents,
though urged to receive them, has been said already.
Moreover, Demosthenes's banishment was infamous, upon conviction
for bribery; Cicero's very honorable, for ridding his country of a
set of villains. Therefore, when Demosthenes fled from his
country, no man regarded it; for Cicero's sake the senate changed
their habit, and put on mourning, and would not be persuaded to
make any act before Cicero's return was decreed. Cicero, however,
passed his exile idly in Macedonia. But the very exile of
Demosthenes made up a great part of the services he did for his
country; for he went through the cities of Greece, and everywhere,
as we have said, joined in the conflict on behalf of the Greeks,
driving out the Macedonian ambassadors, and approving himself a
much better citizen than Themistocles and Alcibiades did in a
similar fortune. And, after his return, he again devoted himself
to the same public service, and continued firm in his opposition
to Antipater and the Macedonians. Whereas Laelius reproached
Cicero in the senate for sitting silent when Caesar, a beardless
youth, asked leave to come forward, contrary to the law, as a
candidate for the consulship; and Brutus, in his epistles, charges
him with nursing and rearing a greater and more heavy tyranny than
that they had removed.
Finally, Cicero's death excites our pity; for an old man to be
miserably carried up and down by his servants, flying and hiding
himself from that death which was, in the course of nature, so
near at hand; and yet at last to be murdered. Demosthenes, though
he seemed to supplicate a little at first, yet, by his preparing
and keeping the poison by him, demands our admiration; and still
more admirable was his using it. When the temple of the god no
longer afforded him a sanctuary, he took refuge, as it were, at a
mightier altar, freeing himself from arms and soldiers, and
laughing to scorn the cruelty of Antipater.
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