's eloquence, see s. xvii. note
[b]. To what is there said may be added the authority of Cicero, who
fairly owns, that Caesar's constant habit of speaking his language with
purity and correctness, exempted him from all the vices of the
corrupt style adopted by others. To that politeness of expression
which every well-bred citizen, though he does not aspire to be an
orator, ought to practise, when Caesar adds the splendid ornaments of
eloquence, he may then be said to place the finest pictures in the
best light. In his manner there is nothing mechanical, nothing of
professional craft: his voice is impressive, and his action dignified.
To air these qualities he unites a certain majesty of mien and figure,
that bespeaks a noble mind. _Caesar autem rationem adhibens,
consuetudinem vitiosam et corruptam pura et incorrupta consuetudine
emendat. Itaque cum ad hanc elegantiam verborum Latinorum, quae etiam
si orator non sis, et sis ingenuus civis Romanus, tamen necessaria
est, adjungit illa oratorio, ornamenta dicendi; tum videtur tanquam
tabulas bene pictas collocare in bono lumine. Hanc cum habeat
praecipuam laudem in communibus, non video cui debeat cedere.
Splendidam quamdam, minimeque veteratoriam rationem dicendi tenet,
voce, motu: forma etiam magnifica, et generosa quodammodo._ _De Claris
Oratoribus_, s. 261.

For Caelius, see s. xvii. note [c]; and for Brutus, the same section,
note [d].

[c] Servius Galba has been already mentioned, s. xviii. note [a].
Caius Laelius was consul A.U.C. 614; before the Christian aera, 140. He
was the intimate friend of Scipio, and the patron of Lucilius, the
first Roman satirist. See Horace, lib. ii. sat. i. ver. 71.

Quin ubi se a vulgo et scena in secreta remorant
Virtus Scipiadae, et mitis sapientia Laeli,
Nugari cum illo, et discincti ludere, donec
Decoqueretur olus, soliti.

When Scipio's virtue, and of milder vein
When Laelius' wisdom, from the busy scene
And crowd of life, the vulgar and the great.
Could with their favourite satirist retreat,
Lightly they laugh'd at many an idle jest,
Until their frugal feast of herbs was drest.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.

It is probable, that the harsh manner of Lucilius, _durus componere
versus_, infected the eloquence of Laelius, since we find in Cicero,
that his style was unpolished, and had much of the rust of antiquity.
_Multo tamen vetustior et horridior ille q