r to elucidate much which
would otherwise be dark to us.

[146] Quint., lib. viii., 3. The critic is explaining the
effect of ornament in oratory--of that beauty of
language which with the people has more effect than
argument--and he breaks forth himself into perhaps the
most eloquent passage in the whole Institute: "Cicero,
in pleading for Cornelius, fought with arms which were
as splendid as they were strong. It was not simply by
putting the facts before the judges, by talking
usefully, in good language and clearly, that he
succeeded in forcing the Roman people to acknowledge by
their voices and by their hands their admiration; it was
the grandeur of his words, their magnificence, their
beauty, their dignity, which produced that outburst."

[147] Orator., lxvii. and lxx.

[148] De Lege Agraria, ii., 2: "Meis comitiis non
tabellam, vindicem tacitae libertatis, sed vocem vivam
prae vobis, indicem vestrarum erga me voluntatum ac
studiorum tulistis. Itaque me * * * una voce universus
populus Romanus consulem declaravit."

[149] Sall., Conj. Catilinaria, xxi.: "Petere consulatum
C. Antonium, quem sibi collegam fore speraret, hominem
et familiarem, et omnibus necessitudinibus
circumventum." Sallust would no doubt have put anything
into Catiline's mouth which would suit his own purpose;
but it was necessary for his purpose that he should
confine himself to credibilities.

[150] Cicero himself tells us that many short-hand
writers were sent by him--"Plures librarii," as he calls
them--to take down the words of the Agrarian law which
Rullus proposed. De Lege Agra., ii., 5. Pliny,
Quintilian, and Martial speak of these men as Notarii.
Martial explains the nature of their business:

"Currant verba licet, manus est velocior illis;
Nondum lingua suum, dextra peregit opus."--xiv., 208.

[151]Ad Att., ii., 1. "Oratiunculas," he calls them. It
would seem here that he pretends to have preserved these
speeches only at the request of some admiring young
friends. Demosthenes, of course, was the
"fellow-citizen," so called in badinage, because
Atticus, deserting Rome, lived much at Athens.

[152] This speech, which has been lost, was addressed to
the people with the view of reconciling them to a law in
accordance with which the Equites were en