(524)
I. Rhetoric, also, as well as Grammar, was not introduced
amongst us till a late period, and with still more
difficulty, inasmuch as we find that, at times, the
practice of it was even prohibited. In order
to leave no doubt of this, I will subjoin an ancient
decree of the senate, as well as an edict of the censors:—“In
the consulship of Caius Fannius Strabo, and Marcus
Palerius Messala [904]: the praetor Marcus Pomponius
moved the senate, that an act be passed respecting
Philosophers and Rhetoricians. In this matter,
they have decreed as follows: ’It shall
be lawful for M. Pomponius, the praetor, to take such
measures, and make such provisions, as the good of
the Republic, and the duty of his office, require,
that no Philosophers or Rhetoricians be suffered at
Rome.’”
After some interval, the censor Cnaeus Domitius Aenobarbus
and Lucius Licinius Crassus issued the following edict
upon the same subject: “It is reported
to us that certain persons have instituted a new kind
of discipline; that our youth resort to their schools;
that they have assumed the title of Latin Rhetoricians;
and that young men waste their time there for whole
days together. Our ancestors have ordained what
instruction it is fitting their children should receive,
and what schools they should attend. These novelties,
contrary to the customs and instructions of our ancestors,
we neither approve, nor do they appear to us good.
Wherefore it appears to be our duty that we should
notify our judgment both to those who keep such schools,
and those who are in the practice of frequenting them,
that they meet our disapprobation.”
However, by slow degrees, rhetoric manifested itself
to be a (525) useful and honourable study, and many
persons devoted themselves to it, both as a means
of defence and of acquiring reputation. Cicero
declaimed in Greek until his praetorship, but afterwards,
as he grew older, in Latin also; and even in the consulship
of Hirtius and Pansa [905], whom he calls “his
great and noble disciples.” Some historians
state that Cneius Pompey resumed the practice of declaiming
even during the civil war, in order to be better prepared
to argue against Caius Curio, a young man of great
talents, to whom the defence of Caesar was entrusted.
They say, likewise, that it was not forgotten by
Mark Antony, nor by Augustus, even during the war
of Modena. Nero also declaimed [906] even after
he became emperor, in the first year of his reign,
which he had done before in public but twice.
Many speeches of orators were also published.
In consequence, public favour was so much attracted
to the study of rhetoric, that a vast number of professors
and learned men devoted themselves to it; and it flourished
to such a degree, that some of them raised themselves
by it to the rank of senators and the highest offices.
