POLITICAL ELOQUENCE IN GREECE. IN CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. N the seventeenth century, when public speaking was restricted principally to the pulpit and bar, Fénelon restored the omnipotence of Grecian eloquence. To-day our assemblies are manifestly unceremonious; they exhibit great examples of the efficiency of eloquence, but still they are far from those triumphs familiar to Greek antiquity. And so we can share even in these days the admiration of the author of The Letter to the Academy. Eloquence will never exercise over us the sovereignty which it enjoyed at Athens. This is attributable to the different conditions of public life among the ancients and moderns. From her cradle Greece grew up and waxed strong in the warm light of liberty. As long as her independence lasted she breathed the public life of the Pnyx and the Agora. In the popular assemblies, where the nation met for deliberation, eloquence was naturally called upon to play an important rôle. Political discussions took place in the open air; each deliberation was like a drama played by a thousand actors, whose passions and votes depended on the master of the tribune. In the midst of democratic cities, justly jealous of governing themselves and examining care fully their own affairs, "all could do everything.”* The majority decided without appeal most important questions: the choice of alliances, peace or war, the life or death of the vanquished. "In a democratic state," says Eschines, the private individual is a king by right of law and suffrage."+ Sometimes a great citizen appears to be king of a city; but this fragile royalty depends upon the favor of the people: the people have instituted it, and the people at their will overthrow it, according to the impulse of the moment. What ally will aid the statesman in preserving the confidence of the city whose will he must obey?— Eloquence. In former times, says Aristotle,‡ the usurpers to whom the citizens submitted were generals. For then the sword was more skillfully handled, and was more powerful than speech; "but in our days, thanks to the progress of eloquence, the faculty of speaking well will suffice to place a man at the head of the people. Orators are not usurpers on account of their ignorance of military art, or at least such an occurrence is very rare. Thus among the Greeks the multitude was master of everything, and oratory was master of the multitude. This power of eloquence produced surprising effects. The Athenian army falls into the hands of the victorious Sicilians. Diocles, a favorite orator, advises the Sicilians to kill the generals, to sell or throw the soldiers into prison. The Sicilians applaud these vigorous measures. A citizen, Nicolaus (although the war has deprived him of his two sons) exhorts the victors to * Tacitus, Dialogue of Orators, 40. † Εν πόλει δημοκρατουμένῃ ἀνὴρ ἰδιώτης νόμῳ καὶ ψήφῳ βασιlevel. (Against Ctesiphon). Politics, viii, 4. |