ak well.
Delivery is only half the art. Something worth delivering is equally
necessary. He read the works of Thucydides, the great historian, so
carefully that he was able to write them all out from memory after an
accident had destroyed the manuscript. Some say he wrote them out eight
separate times. He attended the teachings of Plato, the celebrated
philosopher. The repulse of Isocrates did not keep the ardent student
from his classes. His naturally capable mind became filled with all that
Greece had to give in the line of logical and rhetorical thought. He not
only read but wrote. He prepared orations for delivery in the law courts
for the use of others, and in this way eked out his small income.

In these ways he cultivated his mind. That was the lightest task. He had
a great mind to begin with. But he had a weak and incapable body. If he
would succeed that must be cultivated too. There was his lisping and
stammering voice, his short breath, his low tones, his ungraceful
gesture,--all to be overcome. How he did it is a remarkable example of
what may be done in self-education.

To overcome his stammering utterance he accustomed himself to speak with
pebbles in his mouth. His lack of vocal strength he overcame by running
with open mouth, thus expanding his lungs. To cure his shortness of
breath he practised the uttering of long sentences while walking
rapidly up-hill. That he might be able to make himself heard above the
noise of the assembly, he would stand in stormy weather on the sea-shore
at Phalerum, and declaim against the roar of the waves. For two or three
months together he practised writing and speaking, day and night, in an
underground chamber; and that he might not be tempted to go abroad and
neglect his studies he shaved the hair from one side of his head. Dread
of ridicule kept him in till his hair had grown again. To gain a
graceful action, he would practise for hours before a tall mirror,
watching all his movements, and constantly seeking to improve them.

Several years passed away in this hard and persistent labor. He tried
public speaking again and again, each time discouraged, but each time
improving,--and finally gained complete success. His voice became strong
and clear, his manner graceful, his delivery emphatic and decisive, the
language of his orations full of clear logic, strong statement, cutting
irony, and vigorous declamation, fluent, earnest, and convincing. In
brief, it may be said tha