this. Crassus, however, was eminently distinguished by the popular turn of
his language: but that of Antonius was better adapted to judicial trials,
than to a public debate. As we have had occasion to mention him, Domitius
himself must not be left unnoticed: for though he is not enrolled in the
list of Orators, he had a sufficient share both of utterance and genius,
to support his character as a magistrate and his dignity as a consul. I
might likewise observe of C. Caelius, that he was a man of great
application, and many eminent qualities, and had eloquence enough to
support the private interests of his friends, and his own dignity in the
State. At the same time lived M. Herennius, who was reckoned among the
middling Orators, whose principal merit was the purity and correctness of
their language; and yet, in a suit for the consulship, he got the better
of L. Philippus, a man of the first rank and family, and of the most
extensive connections, and who was likewise a member of the College, and a
very eloquent speaker. _Then_ also lived C. Clodius, who, besides his
consequence as a nobleman of the first distinction, and a man of the most
powerful influence, was likewise possessed of a moderate share of
Eloquence. Nearly of the same age was C. Titius, a Roman knight, who, in
my judgment, arrived at as high a degree of perfection as a Roman orator
was able to do, without the assistance of the Grecian literature, and a
good share of practice. His Orations have so many delicate turns, such a
number of well-chosen examples, and such an agreeable vein of politeness,
that they almost seem to have been composed in the true Attic style. He
likewise transferred his delicacies into his very Tragedies, with
ingenuity enough, I confess, but not in the tragic taste. But the poet L.
Afranius, whom he studiously imitated, was a very smart writer, and, as
you well know, a man of great expression in the dramatic way. Q. Rubrius
Varro, who with C. Marius, was declared an enemy by the Senate, was
likewise a warm, and a very spirited prosecutor. My relation, M.
Gratidius, was a plausible speaker of the same kind, well versed in the