COMPARISON OF DEMOSTHENES AND CICERO
These are the most memorable circumstances recorded in history of
Demosthenes and Cicero which have come to our knowledge. But,
omitting an exact comparison of their respective faculties in
speaking, yet this seems fit to be said: That Demosthenes, to make
himself a master in rhetoric, applied all the faculties he had,
natural or acquired, wholly that way; that he far surpassed in
force and strength of eloquence in political and judicial speaking
all his contemporaries, in grandeur and majesty all the
panegyrical orators, and in accuracy and science all the logicians
and rhetoricians of his day; that Cicero was highly educated, and
by his diligent study became a most accomplished general scholar
in all these branches, having left behind him numerous
philosophical treatises of his own on Academic principles; as,
indeed, even in his written speeches, both political and judicial,
we see him continually trying to show his learning by the way. And
one may discover the different temper of each of them in their
speeches. For Demosthenes's oratory was, without all embellishment
and jesting, wholly composed for real effect and seriousness; not
smelling of the lamp, as Pytheas scoffingly said, but of the
temperance, thoughtfulness, austerity, and grave earnestness of
his temper.
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