called to account, or being obliged to make restitution. In stead, therefore, of endeavouring to gain any of his colleagues, he irritated such as he had influence with against Oppianicus, by first promising them money in his name, and afterwards telling them that Oppianicus had cheated him. When sentence was to be pronounced, he had taken measures for being absent himself: but being brought by Oppianicus's lawyers from another court, and obliged to give his voice, he found it necessary to lead the way in condemning the man whose money he had taken, without fulfilling the bargain which he had made with him.

By these plausible facts and reasonings, the character of Cluen tius seems in a great measure cleared; and, what Cicero chiefly intended, the odium thrown upon the adverse party. But a difficult part of the orator's business still remained. There were several subsequent decisions of the prætor, the censors, and the senate, against the judges in this cause; which all proceeded, or seemed to proceed, upon this ground of bribery and corruption: for it is plain the suspicion prevailed, that if Oppianicus had given money to Stalenus, Cluentius had out-bribed him. To all these decisions, however, Cicero replies with much distinctness and subtilty of argument; though it might be tedious to follow him through all his reasonings on these heads. He shows, that the facts were, at that time, very indistinctly known; that the decisions appealed to were hastily given; that not one of them concluded directly against his client; and that such as they were, they were entirely brought about by the inflammatory and factious harangues of Quinctius, the tribune of the people, who had been the agent and advocate of Oppianicus; and who, enraged at the defeat he had sustained, had employed all his tribunitial influence to raise a storm against the judges who condemned his client.

At length, Cicero comes to reason concerning the point of law. The Crimen Corrupti Judicii, or the bribing of judges, was capital. In the famous Lex Cornelia de Sicariis, was contained this clause (which we find still extant, Pandect. lib. xlviii. tit. 10, §.) Qui judicem corruperit, vel corrumpendum curaverit, hâc lege teneatur." This clause, however, we learn from Cicero, was restricted to magistrates and senators; and as Cluentius was only of the equestrian order, he was not, even supposing him guilty, within the law. O this Cicero avails himself doubly; and as he shows here the most masterly address, I shall give a summary of his pleading on this part of the cause: You,' says he to the advocate for the prosecutor, 'you, T. Attius, I know, had every where given it out, that I

*

'Cum esset egens, sumptuosus, audax, callis, perfidiosus, et cum dom suæ, miserrimis in locis, et inanissimis, tantum nummorum positum viderit, ad omnem malitiam et fraudem versare mentem suam cœpit. Demne judicibus? mihi igitur, ipsi præter periculum et infamiam quid quæretur? Siquis eum forte casus ex periculo cripuerit, nonne redendum est? præcipitantem igitur impellamus, inquit, et perditum prosternamus. Capit hoc consilium ut pecuniam quibusdam judicibus levissimis polliceatur, deinde eam postea supprimat ; ut quoniam graves homines suå sponte severè judicaturos putabat, hos qui leviores erant, destitutione iratos Oppianico redderet.'

was to defend my client, not from facts, not upon the footing of innocence, but by taking advantage merely of the law in his behalf Have I done so? I appeal to yourself. Have I sought to cover him behind a legal defence only? On the contrary, have I not pleads cause as if he had been a senator, liable, by the Cornelian law, to be capitally convicted; and shown, that neither proof nor probable presumption lies against his innocence? In doing so, I must acquaint you, that I have complied with the desire of Cluentius himself. For when he first consulted me in this cause, and when I informed him that it was clear no action could be brought against him from the Cornelian law, he instantly besought and obtested me, that I would not rest his defence on that ground; saying, with tears in his eyes, that his reputation was as dear to him as his life; and that what he sought, as an innocent man, was not only to be absolved from any penalty, but to be acquitted in the opinion of all his fellow citizens.

'Hitherto, then, I have pleaded this cause upon his plan. But my client must forgive me, if now I shall plead it upon my own. For I should be wanting to myself, and to that regard which my character and station require me to bear to the laws of the state, if I should allow any person to be judged of by a law which does not bind him. You, Attius, indeed, have told us, that it was a scandal and reproach. that a Roman knight should be exempted from those penalties to which a senator, for corrupting judges, is liable. But I must tell you, that it would be a much greater reproach, in a state that is regulated by law, to depart from the law. What safety have any of us in our persons, what security for our rights, if the law shall be set aside? By what title do you, Q. Naso, sit in that chair, and preside in this judgment? By what right, T. Attius, do you accuse, or do I defend? Whence all the solemnity and pomp of judges, and clerks, and officers, of which this house is full? Does not all proceed from the law, which regulates the whole departments of the state; which, as a common bond, holds its members together; and, like the soul within the body, actuates and directs all the public funcOn what ground, then, dare you speak lightly of the law, or move that, in a criminal trial, judges should advance one step beyond what it permits them to go? The wisdom of our ancestors has found, that, as senators and magistrates enjoy higher dignities, and greater advantages than other members of the state, the law should also, with regard to them, be more strict, and the purity and uncorruptedness of their morals be guarded by more severe sanctions.

Ait Attius, indignum esse facinus, si senator Judicio quenquam circumvenerit, eum legibus teneri: si Eques Romanos hoc idem fecerit, eum non teneri. Ut tibi concedam hoc indignum esse, tu hi concedas necesse est nulto esse indign'us, in eâ civitate quæ legibus contineatur, discedi a legibus. Hoc nam vinculum est hujus dig. nitatis quâ fruimur in republicâ. Hoc fundamentum libertatis; hic fons equitatis; mens et animus, et consilium, et sententia civitatis posita est in legibus. Ut corpora nostra sine mente, sic civitas sine lege, suis partibus, ut nervis ac sanguine & membris, ati non potest. Legum ministri, magistratus; legum interpretes, judices; legum denique idcirco omnes sumus servi, ut liberi esse possimus ; Quid est, Q. Naso, cur tu in hoc loco sedeas?, &c

But if it be your pleasure that this institution should be altered, if you wish to have the Cornelian law, concerning bribery, extended to all ranks, then let us join, not in violating the law, but in proposing to have this alteration made by a new law. My client, Cluentius, will be the foremost in this measure, who now, while the old law subsists, rejected its defence, and required his cause to be pleaded, as if he had been bound by it. But, though he would not avail himself of the law, you are bound in justice not to stretch it beyond its proper limits.'

Such is the reasoning of Cicero on this head; eloquent surely, and strong. As his manner is diffuse, I have greatly abridged i from the original, but have endeavoured to retain its force.

In the latter part of the oration, Cicero treats of the other accusation that was brought against Cluentius, of having poisoned Oppianicus. On this, it appears, his accusers themselves laid small stress; having placed their chief hope in overwhelming Cluentius with the odium of bribery in the former trial; and therefore, on this part of the cause, Cicero does not dwell long. He shows the improbability of the whole tale which they related concerning this pretended poisoning, and makes it appear to be altogether destitute of any shadow of proof.

Nothing, therefore, remains, but the peroration or conclusion of the whole. In this, as indeed throughout the whole of this oration, Cicero is uncommonly chaste; and, in the midst of much warmth and earnestness, keeps clear of turgid declamation. The peroration turns on two points; the indignation which the character and conduct of Sassia ought to excite, and the compassion due to a son, persecuted through his whole life by such a mother. He recapitulates the crimes of Sassia; her lewdness, her violation of every decorum; her incestuous marriages, her violence and cruelty. He places, in the most odious light, the eagerness and fury which she had shown in the suit she was carrying on against her son; describes her journey from Larinum to Rome, with a train of attendants, and a great store of money, that she might employ every method for circumventing and oppressing him in this trial; while, in the whole course of her journey, she was so detested, as to make a solitude wherever she lodged; she was shunned and avoided by all; her company and her very looks were reckoned contagious; the house was deemed polluted which was entered into by so abandoned a woman.* To this he opposes the character of Cluentius, fair, un

'Cum appropinquare nujus judicium ei nuntiatum est, confestim huc adolavit, ne aut accusatoribus diligentia, aut pecunia testibus deesset; aut ne forte mater hoc sibi optatissimum spectaculum hujus sordium atque luctus, et tanti squaloris amitteret. Jam vero quod iter Romam hujus mulieris fuisse existimatis? Quod ego propter vicinitatem Aquinatium et Venafranorum ex multis comperi: quos concursus in his oppidis? Quantos et virorum et mulierum gemitus esse factos? Mulierem quandam Larino, atque illam usque a mari supero Romam proficisci cum magno comitatu et pecuniâ, quo facilius circumvenire judicio capitis, atque opprimere filium posset. Nemo erat illorum, pœne dicam, quin expiandum illum locum esse arbitraretur quacunque illa iter fecisset; nemo, quin terram ipsam violari, quæ mater est omnium, vestigiis conscleratæ matris putaret. Itaque nullo in oppido consistendi ei potestas fuit;, nemo ex tot hospitibus inventus est qui nɔn cɔntagionem aspects fugeret!

spotted, and respectable. He produces the testimonies of the magistrates of Larinum in his favour, given in the most ample and honourable manner by a public decree, and supported by a great concourse of the most noted inhabitants, who were now present to second every thing that Cicero could say in favour of Cluentius.

'Wherefore, judges,' he concludes, 'if you abominate crimes, stop the triumph of this impious woman; prevent this most unnatural mother from rejoicing in her son's blood. If you love virtue and worth, relieve this unfortunate man, who, for so many years, has been exposed to most unjust reproach through the calumnies raised against him by Sassia, Oppianicus, and all their adherents. Better far had it been for him, to have ended his days at once by the poison which Oppianicus had prepared for him, than to have escaped those snares, if he must still be oppressed by an odium which I have shown to be so unjust. But in you he trusts, in your clemency, and your equity, that now, on a full and fair hearing of this cause, you will restore him to his honour; you will restore him to his friends and fellow-citizens, of whose zeal and high estimation of him you have seen such strong proofs; and will show, by your decision, that though faction and calumny may reign for a while in popular meetings and harangues, in trial and judgment, regard is paid to the truth only.'

I have given only a skeleton of this oration of Cicero. What I principally aimed at, was to show his disposition and method; his arrangement of facts, and the conduct and force of some of his main arguments. But, in order to have a full view of the subject, and of the art with which the orator manages it, recourse must be had to the original. Few of Cicero's orations contain a greater variety of facts and argumentations, which renders it difficult to analyze it fully. But for this reason I chose it, as an excellent example of managing at the bar, a complex and intricate cause, with order, elegance, and force.

QUESTIONS.

WHAT was treated of in the last lec- There, what have they not, for employture? Much of what was said on that ing the arts of speech? How is this ilhead is applicable to what; and what lustrated? In the last place, what do is the consequence? But, as all that was the nature and management of the subsaid in the former lecture, must not be jects which belong to the bar, require? applied to it, what is of importance? How is this difference illustrated? For In the first place, what is observed? In these reasons, what is clear; and for popular assemblies, what is the great similar reasons, of what must we beobject, and at what does the orator aim? ware? Why is it necessary to warn For accomplishing this end, what is in-young lawyers of this? What is the cumbent o.. him? At the bar, what is first cause to which this was owing? the great object, and there, what is the How is this remark illustrated? What, speaker's business; and to what, conse- consequently, more than jurisprudence, quently, is his eloquence addressed? was the study of those who were to Of this difference, what is observed ? | plead causes? What does Cicero someIn the second place, to whom do speak- where say; and even what opinion preers at the bar address themselves? vailed? There were among the Romans

what set of men; and what was their much recommended to those who are office? What may we next observe? beginning to practice at the bar? To How is this remark fully illustrated? what habit should they form themHence, what consequences followed; selves? If this habit be once acquired, and hence, what practices, which would what will be the consequence? Whereve reckoned theatrical among us, were as, what will be the consequence of common at the Roman bar? Why, then, suffering a loose and negligent style to would too strict an imitation of Cicero's become familiar? What is a capital manner of pleading, now be extremely property in speaking at the bar; and injudicious? As he may, however, still in what two things, chiefly, should it be studied to great advantage, in what be shown? What is of the utmost conought he to be imitated? By what sequence in every sort of oration; and imitations of him would a pleader ren- where is this indispensable? In what, der himself perfectly ridiculous? Be- therefore, cannot too much pains be fore descending to more pa ticular di- taken; and why? With respect to the rections concerning the eloquence of the conduct of narration and argument, bar, of what does our author take no- what only, at present, is observed? tice? Of this, what is observed; and Why s this remark made? Whereas, why? Besides previous study, and a by cutting off all superfluous circumproper stock of knowledge attained, stances in his recital, what effect does what is highly material to the success he produce? Why should a more difof every pleader? How did the ancient fuse manner in argumentation be used rhetoricians regard this? What does at the bar, than on some ther occaCicero tell us on this subject? Whom sions? does he very severely censure; and When the pleader comes to refute the with what does he tax them? To the arguments employed by his adversary, same purpose, what is done by Quinti- why should he not do them injustice? lian; and what does he again and Whereas, what will be the effect of again recommend? Repeat the pas- stating them with accuracy and cansage. Suppose an advocate to be thus dour? In this case, what are they natuprepared, what is next observed ?rally led to think? To what is the What inference would be altogether judge thereby inclined; and what rewrong? Though the manner of speak-mark follows? When may wit be of ing be changed, yet what follows? service at the bar? Though the repu From what consideration does it ap-tation of wit be dazzling to a young pear that, perhaps, there is no scene pleader, yet why should he not rest his of public speaking, where eloquence is strength upon this talent? In pleading more necessary than at the bar? What a cause, what is always of use? How does the dryness and subtilty of the is this remark illustrated? As an advosubjects generally agitated at the bar, cate personates his client, and stands in require? How is this illustrated? his place, what is very improper, and What is no small encouragement to has a bad effect; and what follows? eloquence, at the bar? To what is he At the same time, of what must he less exposed than some others? Why beware; why; and what must never is he sure of coming forward according be forgotten? What is scarcely possible? to his merit? What may be done for a How is this illustrated? How must this young pleader, by his friends? Why opinion of honour and probity, therewill a reputation resting on these assist- fore, be preserved? Though, perhaps, ances, soon fall? What must be laid the nature of the profession may ren down for a first principle? Why may der it difficult to carry this delicacy to a little play to the imagination be some- its utmost length, yet what follows? times allowed; but how must this liber- Embarking in what causes will he alty be taken? How is the speaker who ways decline; and when he supports a uses a florid style and sparkling manner doubtful one, what course will he purheard? What is their effect? What issue? In what manner does our author chiefly to be studied? Of what are the propose further to illustrate this subgentlemen of this profession often ac- ject? What oration has our author cused; and how are they betrayed in- chosen; and why? What is the subject to it? What. therefore, cannot be too of the oration? Of the introduction