oreign and dispersed in other hands, for him, undoubtedly,
it is above all things most necessary, to reside in some city of good
note, devoted to liberal arts, and populous; where he may have plenty of
all sorts of books, and upon inquiry may hear and inform himself of such
particulars as, having escaped the pens of writers, are more faithfully
preserved in the memories of men.

But for me, I live in a little town, where I am willing to continue,
lest it should grow less; and having had no leisure, while I was in Rome
and other parts of Italy, to practice myself in the Roman language, on
account of public business and of those who came to be instructed by me
in philosophy, it was very late, and in the decline of my age, before
I applied myself to the reading of Latin authors. But to appreciate the
graceful and ready pronunciation of the Roman tongue, to understand the
various figures and connection of words, and such other ornaments, in
which the beauty of speaking consists, is, I doubt not, an admirable
and delightful accomplishment; but it requires a degree of practice
and study which is not easy, and will better suit those who have more
leisure, and time enough yet before them for the occupation.

And so in this book of my Parallel Lives, in giving an account of
Demosthenes and Cicero, my comparison of their natural dispositions and
their characters will be formed upon their actions and their lives
as statesmen, and I shall not pretend to criticise their orations one
against the other, to show which of the two was the more charming or the
more powerful speaker. For there, as Ion says,

We are but like a fish upon dry land.

The divine power seems originally to have designed Demosthenes and
Cicero upon the same plan, giving them many similarities in their
natural characters, as their passion for distinction and their love of
liberty in civil life, and their want of courage in dangers and war,
and at the same time also to have added many accidental resemblances. I
think there can hardly be found two other orators, who, from small and
obscure beginnings, became so great and mighty; who both contested with
kings and tyrants; both lost their daughters, were driven out of their
country, and returned with honor; who, flying from thence again, were
both seized upon by their enemies, and at last ended their lives with
the liberty of their countrymen. So that if we were to suppose that
there had been a trial of skill b