In a
preface, Cicero writes to his brother Quintus about oratory: eloquence is
important because it has such powerful influence on people, society, politics,
and even humanity, but there are few really great speakers. True oratory is
challenging because one must know so many things, such as how language is
shaped and arranged, how emotions work in human beings, and what kind of a
person befits a gentleman. Also, one must understand history and law and
delivery, as well as have a good memory. In short, one must know practically
everything (62). Hence the challenge of oratory. Then Cicero begins to tell a
story.
Five men, Crassus,
Cotta, Sulpicius, Scaevola, and Antonius are walking in Crassus’ garden when Scaevola
turns to Crassus and says that this plane tree reminds him of the conversation
between Socrates and Phaedrus in Plato’s Phaedrus.
It is suggested that they have a similar conversation, and Crassus begins
to extol eloquence and its power and greatness. This kind of praise and honor
to eloquence, however, leads Scaevola to object by saying that sometimes
eloquence has been harmful to people. Crassus replies by telling Scaevola that
he heard these same arguments against eloquence on a visit to Athens, though
ideally, eloquence is a good thing. Crassus continues to say that the orator
does need philosophical knowledge if he is to speak well. The perfect orator
can speak on any subject, even better than the specialists. He learns about
life the same way he learns about a case from his clients. The true orator also knows all of the arts: the “entire topic of human
life and conduct must be thoroughly mastered by the orator” (73).
Scaevola
responds by saying that this ideal orator is unrealistic, and when Crassus says
he’s only talking about the ideal, Scaevola says this ideal might go too far. Yet, prompted
by Cotta, Sulpicius, and Scaevola, Crassus goes on to say that the most
eloquent aren’t interested in many of the trivial handbooks that have been
published (81). Natural ability is important, and, interestingly, the better a
man speaks the more fearful he is about speaking because he knows that orators
are judged harshly every time they open their mouths. “In
an orator, . . . we have to demand the acumen of a dialectician, the thoughts
of a philosopher, the words . . . of a poet, the memory of a jurisconsult, the
voice of a tragic performer, and gestures close to those of a consummate actor”
(86). Training and practice are also important, and the pen is the best
teacher of all.
Then,
when Cotta and Scaevola ask Crassus to develop more fully his picture of the
ideal orator, Crassus emphasizes that the orator needs knowledge of law. The
great orator they are discussing is a child of the gods: “The man we are
searching for is, in the first place, the high priest of his art, an art whose
great powers, it is true, were bestowed upon the human race by nature herself,
but which is at the same time regarded as having had a god for its creator: the
very faculty that is the hallmark of humanity appears not to have been produced
through our own agency, but to have been presented to us from above by divine
decree” (106). The orator is protected by his own title of speaker (and the
assumption here is that he is an envoy who promotes peace).
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| "M. Tullii Ciceronis De oratore liber" by Arundel MS 124, f. 1site http://italophiles.com/illuminations.htm. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M._Tullii_Ciceronis_De_oratore_liber.jpg#/media/ File:M._Tullii_Ciceronis_De_oratore_liber.jpg |
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