The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-15 00:00:00

OBSETI.V.A.TIONS ON ROMAN ORATOILT.

It appears that the ancients so highly venerated the orato-
rical art, and were so much in the habit of regarding it is an
art, and its productions as works extremely artificial, that they
saw nothing absurd in what has among us become almost

proverbially ridiculous, " a speech intended to have been
spoken." They had not, moreover, the other facilities of pub-
lication which the press gives us ; and referring everything to
their ordinary mode of communication, in popular meetings,
they wrote and published speeches pretty much as our modern
orators sometimes speak pamphlets ; and ',would probably
have 'held a speech made for the sake of being published, in
as great ridicule as we do one that is published without
having been delivered. Even the grand Philippic itself, the
" conspicuce divine Philippica lama.," was in this perdica-
ment; and there seems some reason to doubt whether the
finest of all his oration, the pro Milone, could have been
delivered more than in form, under the circumstances of
tumult and disorder which marked the day. Now, to pass
over other considerations, with the knowledge of these parti-
eulars,,nothing can be more grating to a modern reader, whose
idea of-eloquence is that of something natural, heart-felt, in-
artificial, and extemporaneous, than the manifest conviction
of using artifice and preparation, which the orator incurs as
often as we come to a passage only adapted to a speech, and
still more in those instances where he had anticipated some-
thing which was to happen while he went on, and provided
himself with an extemporaneous burst for the occasion.
So in the Second Philippic, which was written with the
intention of not being published for some time, and certainly
never meant to be spoken at all, sitting at his Formian Villa,
he complains of Antony for filling the place in which he is
speaking with armed men, and alludes to the :senate being
held in the Temple of Concord, which draws from him a pas-
sionate exclamation; and he afterwards gives a lively picture
of the effects of his statement upon Antony, present, and
suffering under it. The Romans regarding an oration as we
do a dramatic performance, in the light of a composition pro-
fessedly prepared most elaborately, were probably no more
offended with such marks of art, than we are in reading the
dialogue and stage directions of a play. But anything that
impresses upon our minds the idea of " getting up" anything
theatrical, is so far from being toleratad in a speech, that we
are thus wont to characterise it by names drawn from the
stage, and never fail to feel disgusted with its introduction
into the business of real life.

These three volumes form a valuable contribution
towards a selection of specimens of the political litera-
ture of the nineteenth century, and as such they will
no doubt find a welcome place in many a library, the
owner of which would shrink from acknowledging a
similarity of feeling with their author.

The Library of Biblical Litm•ature. London :

William Freeman.

This interesting work, which is happily suited for
Sunday and other school libraries, has now reached
the third volume of its issue. It is, in reality, as it
professes to be, a repository of information on geo-
graphical, historical, biographical, scientific, archaeo-
logical, and literary subjects connected with the Holy
Scriptures. The various topics introduced are treated
with terse simplicity ; facts, rather than speculations,
being the res gestce of the work. It is copiously illus-
trated by engravings, and is quite a taking book for
children, while from its pages adults may gain satis-
factory and useful information.

The Christian Family Advocate starts on its career
of instruction and amusement for the opening year
with increased attractions. Its January number (now
before us) is inaugurated by a brief but spirited de-
scription of the new Royal residence at Balmoral, in
which not merely the dwelling of the Sovereign is
described, but, more interesting still, the moral in-
fluence of the Royal benevolence and considerate
kindness of the Queen in caring for and providing
schools for the children and asylums for the aged and
infirm of the neighbourhood, are pleasingly dwelt on
and illustrated. Other papers follow, and contribute
their share in making up a useful and pleasing literary
miscellany.

Punch., or the London Charivari, loses none of his
frolic, fancy, and fun, in bringing his twenty-ninth
volume to a conclusion, which he appropriately does
with the close of December. The volume is dedicated
to " Brother Jonathan," and in the dedication the re-
cent disputes attempted to be fomented between this
country and America are treated in a happy spirit of
good-humoured raillery. The volume, as usual at
the end of the year, winds up with an Almanack
richly spiced with jocular satire, which is happily
elaborated by pen and pencil.