Chapter 3.—The Proper Age and the Proper Means for Acquiring Rhetorical Skill.

4.  But the theories and rules on this subject (to which, when you add a tongue thoroughly skilled by exercise and habit in the use of many words and many ornaments of speech, you have what is called eloquence or oratory) may be learnt apart from these writings of mine, if a suitable space of time be set aside for the purpose at a fit and proper age.  But only by those who can learn them quickly; for the masters of Roman eloquence  themselves did not shrink from saying that any one who cannot learn this art quickly can never thoroughly learn it at all.229    Cicero de Oratore, iii. 31; Quinctil, Inst. Orat. i. 1, 2.  Whether this be true or not, why need we inquire?  For even if this art can occasionally be in the end mastered by men of slower intellect, I do not think it of so much importance as to wish men who have arrived at mature age to spend time in learning it.  It is enough that boys should give attention to it; and even of these, not all who are to be fitted for usefulness in the Church, but only those who are not yet engaged in any occupation of more urgent necessity, or which ought evidently to take precedence of it.  For men of quick intellect and glowing temperament find it easier to become eloquent by reading and listening to eloquent speakers than by following rules for eloquence.  And even outside the canon, which to our great advantage is fixed in a place of secure authority, there is no want of ecclesiastical writings, in reading which a man of ability will acquire a tinge of the eloquence with which they are written, even though he does not aim at this, but is solely intent on the matters treated of; especially, of course, if in addition he practise himself in writing, or dictating, and at last also in speaking, the opinions he has formed on grounds of piety and faith.  If, however, such ability be wanting, the rules of rhetoric are either not understood, or if, after great labor has been spent in enforcing them, they come to be in some small measure understood, they prove of no service.  For even those who have learnt them, and who speak with fluency and elegance, cannot always think of them when they are speaking so as to speak in accordance with them, unless they are discussing the rules themselves.  Indeed, I think there are scarcely any who can do both things—that is, speak well, and, in order to do this, think of the rules of speaking while they are speaking.  For we must be careful that what we have got to say does not escape us whilst we are thinking about saying it according to the rules of art. Nevertheless, in the speeches of eloquent men, we find rules of eloquence carried out which the speakers did not think of as aids to eloquence at the time when they were speaking, whether they had ever learnt them, or whether they had never even met with them.  For it is because they are eloquent that they exemplify these rules; it is not that they use them in order to be eloquent.

5.  And, therefore, as infants cannot learn to speak except by learning words and phrases from those who do speak, why should not men become eloquent without being taught any art of speech, simply by reading and learning the speeches of eloquent men, and by imitating them as far as they can?  And what do we find from the examples themselves to be the case in this respect?  We know numbers who, without acquaintance with rhetorical rules, are more eloquent than many who have learnt these; but we know no one who is eloquent without having read and listened to the speeches and debates of eloquent men.  For even the art of grammar, which teaches correctness of speech, need not be learnt by boys, if they have the advantage of growing up and living among men who speak correctly.  For without knowing the names of any of the faults, they will, from being accustomed to correct speech, lay hold upon whatever is faulty in the speech of any one they listen to, and avoid it; just as city-bred men, even when illiterate, seize upon the faults of rustics.

CAPUT III. Rhetoricae praecepta qua aetate, quave ratione disci possunt.

4. Sed quaecumque sunt de hac re observationes atque praecepta, quibus cum accedit in verbis plurimis ornamentisque verborum exercitatioris linguae solertissima consuetudo, fit illa quae facundia vel eloquentia nominatur, extra istas litteras nostras, seposito ad hoc congruo temporis spatio, apta et convenienti aetate discenda sunt eis qui hoc celeriter possunt. Nam et ipsos Romanae principes eloquentiae non piguit dicere quod hanc artem nisi quis cito possit, nunquam omnino possit perdiscere (Cicero, de Oratore). Quod utrum verum sit, quid opus est quaerere? Non enim, etiam si possint haec a tardioribus tandem aliquando perdisci, nos ea tanti pendimus, ut eis discendis jam maturas vel etiam graves hominum aetates velimus impendi. Satis est ut adolescentulorum ista sit cura; nec ipsorum omnium quos utilitati ecclesiasticae cupimus erudiri, sed eorum quos nondum magis urgens, et huic rei sine dubio praeponenda necessitas occupavit. Quoniam si acutum et fervens adsit ingenium, facilius adhaeret eloquentia legentibus et audientibus eloquentes, quam eloquentiae praecepta sectantibus. Nec desunt ecclesiasticae litterae, etiam praeter canonem in auctoritatis arce salubriter collocatum, quas legendo homo capax, etsi id non agat, sed tantummodo rebus quae ibi dicuntur intentus sit, etiam eloquio quo dicuntur, dum in his versatur, imbuitur; accedente vel maxime exercitatione sive scribendi, sive dictandi, postremo etiam dicendi, quae secundum pietatis ac fidei regulam sentit. Si autem tale desit ingenium, nec illa rhetorica praecepta capiuntur; nec, si magno labore inculcata quantulacumque ex parte capiantur, aliquid prosunt. Quandoquidem etiam ipsi qui ea didicerunt, et copiose ornateque dicunt, non omnes ut secundum ipsa dicant, possunt ea cogitare cum dicunt, si non de his disputant: imo vero vix ullos eorum esse existimo, qui utrumque possint, et dicere bene, et ad hoc faciendum praecepta illa dicendi cogitare cum dicunt. Cavendum est enim ne fugiant ex animo quae dicenda sunt, dum attenditur 0091 ut arte dicantur. Et tamen in sermonibus atque dictionibus eloquentium, impleta reperiuntur praecepta eloquentiae, de quibus illi ut eloquerentur, vel cum eloquerentur, non cogitaverunt, sive illa didicissent, sive ne attigissent quidem. Implent quippe illa, quia eloquentes sunt; non adhibent, ut sint eloquentes.

5. Quapropter, cum ex infantibus loquentes non fiant, nisi locutiones discendo loquentium; cur eloquentes fieri non possint, nulla eloquendi arte tradita, sed elocutiones eloquentium legendo et audiendo, et quantum assequi conceditur, imitando? Quid, quod ita fieri ipsis quoque experimur exemplis? Nam sine praeceptis rhetoricis novimus plurimos eloquentiores plurimis qui illa didicerunt; sine lectis vero et auditis eloquentium disputationibus vel dictionibus, neminem. Nam neque ipsa arte grammatica, qua discitur locutionis integritas, indigerent pueri, si eis inter homines, qui integre loquerentur, crescere daretur et vivere. Nescientes quippe ulla nomina vitiorum, quidquid vitiosum cujusquam ore loquentis audirent, sana sua consuetudine reprehenderent et caverent; sicut rusticos urbani reprehendunt, etiam qui litteras nesciunt.