The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-02
Orators. Attic and Otherwl.c

Some conservative soul ouriously
chooses London Truth as the vehicle fol-
his outpourings of fear and wrath over
the proposition not TO require Greek at
the universities. Why do the reformers
want to lay unholy hands on Greek? II
any of the old landmarks must be re-
moved. take away Latin. But what is
life without Greek. and especially with
out the Attic orators?
But l have never read any speech a, all rom.
parable to the Dc Corona. 1t would be interest,
ting to know how many OF our greatest speakers.
both Parliamentary and forensic. have been In.
dcbted TO the influence, conscious or unconscious,
OF the Attic orators. Lord BRououAM admitted
that he owed much OF his success as pleader to
that source, and he stated categorcally that all
those passages in his speeches which both told
NEST at the Time and were most admired afterward
had been assimllaed. and In some cases translated
from Gree, models Certainly, also the influence
OF Attic oraory is apparent In the speeches OF Prr
and Fox. OF BURKE. CAsNrso aud GLADSTONE"
All this is a matter of taste and tradi-
ton, and some persons who can never
admire HOMER and SoPHoCLEs enough
! may find the Attic orators dreary fell
lows. Lord BRoUGHAM in his sanest
! days. if ever he was entirely sane, had as
| little Of Attic manner MS can be imagined.
| MATTHEW ARNoLD's unjust phrase about
| Mr.. BEECHER, "a heated barbarian,
| applies we'll enough TO BRoUGHAM. OF
the real speaking style of PITT and Fox
little is known, save by memory and
anecdote handed down by their contem-
poraries The school speakers furnish
more or less suspicious extracts smack
ing, perhaps, Of the Johnsonian method
of reporting Parliamentary eloquence.
Truth, taking issue with ts classical cor
respondent, says shrewdly of "the al
legged speeches handed down to us from
times prior to the evolution of shorthand
writing:
Would any OF them be effective II delivered to-
day riri rocc' doubt g. The reason Is that they
are literary productions. not real speeches-jrsl
az are the speeches OF TuucYpIpEs or IIvT. They
give Ms not what the speaker really said but what
some judlcous editor attributes to him. or what
he put into MS own mouth wlen preparing his dis
for publication In the lrsurely sccuslon OF
his study. good deal OF the Atlc Influence
which my correspondent detects IN tho speeches
OF BUEKE. PITT ana ;hclr contemporaries may
have been Infused In THIS editorial process
Everybody knows that BURKE, al
though in the terms of BACoN's apoph-
thegm full man, d ready man and an
exact man, was not an effective speaker
in the House Of Commons. He was too
discursive He had not caught the tone
of his audience. He was TOO far above
it, He had not the House Of Commons
manner So much the better for pos
terity. The orator, like the lawyer or
the actor has his little hour and i'm
mediate effect, and then becomes a name
The splendid and philosophical intellect
Of BURKE shines undmmed in his works,
but what Of Attic do we find there? His
style has not tho Attic reserve, the
sobriety the precision and severity Of
outline What Of il? 1t has as good or
better qualities. Exuberant and noble
Imagination, poetry, warmth, coloring.
Gothic if you like. but not Greek
CANNING S wit may have had something
of the Attic cast. As for Mr. GLADSTONE,
he puttered with Greek all his life with
out absorbing any Of it into his style,
although his enemies might have said
with some truth that he had studied the
Sophsts too much. He was Attic"
when az Chancellor of the Exchequer he
explained his budget. But he was in
clined to be ilorid and his heavy humor-
lessness sometimes bored the House.
Yet he gave the illusion Of great orator.
DIsRAELI who was not n university
man, came TO be as dangerous and pow
erful in the House Of Commons as STAN !
Of HOMER. The tawdry Oriental pomp
Of much Of DIsBAELI's writing didn't |
prevent him from being Attic" enough /
when he chose We have never been /
able TO sec that certain course Of read |
ing has much of anything to do with the /
development Of certain characteristics
OF style and expression Are Greek /
tutors usually noticeable for brilliancy? .
JOHN BRIGHT needed no DEMosTuENRs /
and LYsIAs 20 make him an orator
The old style oratory is mostly gone. /
It was we'll suited 10 the days of frills .
and powder. 1t went well with Latin /
quotations to a House composed of public |
school and university men. But the first |
Reform bill was the beginning Of the end |
in England Of oraiory and the Good /
GOD, Mr. Speaker style. 1t survived
longer in the United States Rhetoric is
still priced in some parts Of the South.
a.