to the cause of the defendant, or exaggerate it to a higher degree of
criminality. T. Albucius, who lived in the same age, was well versed in
the Grecian literature, or, rather, was almost a Greek himself. I speak of
him, as I think; but any person, who pleases, may judge what he was by his
Orations. In his youth, he studied at Athens, and returned from thence a
thorough proficient in the doctrine of Epicurus; which, of all others, is
the least adapted to form an orator. His cotemporary, Q. Catulus, was an
accomplished Speaker, not in the ancient taste, but (unless any thing more
perfect can be exhibited) in the finished style of the moderns. He had a
plentiful stock of learning; an easy, winning elegance, not only in his
manners and disposition, but in his very language; and an unblemished
purity and correctness of style. This may be easily seen by his Orations;
and particularly, by the History of his Consulship, and of his subsequent
transactions, which he composed in the soft and agreeable manner of
Xenophon, and made a present of to the poet, A. Furius, an intimate
acquaintance of his: but this performance is as little known, as the three
books of Scaurus before-mentioned."--"Indeed, I must confess," said
Brutus, "that both the one and the other, are perfectly unknown to me: but
that is entirely my _own_ fault. I shall now, therefore, request a sight
of them from _you_; and am resolved, in future, to be more careful in
collecting such valuable curiosities."--"This Catulus," said I, "as I have
just observed, was distinguished by the purity of his language; which,
though a material accomplishment, is too much neglected by most of the
Roman orators; for as to the elegant tone of his voice, and the sweetness
of his accent, as you knew his son, it will be needless to take any notice
of them. His son, indeed, was not in the list of Orators: but whenever he
had occasion to deliver his sentiments in public, he neither wanted
judgment, nor a neat and liberal turn of expression. Nay, even the father
himself was not reckoned the foremost in the list of Orators: but still he
had that kind of merit, that notwithstanding, after you had heard two or