All this indeed may be compassed, but we ourselves are the cause of ournot having time enough. How small a portion of it do we allot to our studies! A good part of it is spent in frivolous compliments and paying and returning visits, a good part of it is taken up in the telling of idle stories, a good part at the public spectacles, and a good part in the pleasures of the table. Add to these our great variety of amusements, and that extravagant indulgence we bestow upon our bodies. One time we must go on a course of travels, another time we wish recreation amidst the pleasures of rural life, and another time we are full of painful solicitude regarding the state of our fortune, calculating and balancing our loss and gain; and together with these, how often do we give ourselves up to the intoxication of wine, and in what a multiplicity of voluptuousness does our profligate mind suffer itself to be immersed? Should there be an interval for study amidst these avocations, can it be said to be proper? But were we to devote all this idle or ill-spent time to study, should we not find life long enough and time more than enough for becoming learned? This is evident by only computing the time of the day, besides the advantages of the night, of which a good part is more than sufficient for sleep. But we now preposterously compute not the years we have studied, but the years we have lived. Tho geometricians and grammarians, and the professors of other arts, spent all their lives, however long, in treating and discussing their respective arts, does it thence follow that we must have as many lives as there are things to be learned? But they did not extend the learning of them to old age, being content with learning them only, and theyspent so many years not so much in their study as in their practise.
Now, tho one should despair of reaching to the height of perfection, a groundless hope even in a person of genius, health, talent, and with masters to assist him; yet it is noble, as Cicero says, to have a place in the second, or third, rank. He who can not rival the glory of Achilles in military exploits, shall not therefore have a mean opinion of the praise due to Ajax, or Diomedes, and he who can not approach Homer, need not despise the fame of Tyrteus. If men were to yield to the thought of imagining none capable of exceeding such eminent persons as went before them, then they even who are deemed excellent would not have been so. Vergil would not have excelled Lucretius and Macer; nor Cicero, Crassus and Hortensius; and no one for the futurewould pretend to any advantage over his predecessor.
Tho the hope of surpassing these great men be but faint, yet it is an honor to follow them. Have Pollio and Messala, who began to appear at the bar when Cicero was already possest of the empire of eloquence, acquired little dignity in their life-time, and left but a small degree of glory for the remembrance of posterity? True it is that arts brought to perfection would deserve very ill of human affairs if afterward they could not at least be kept to the same standard.
Add to this that a moderate share of eloquence is attended with no small advantage, and if measured by the fruits gathered from it, will almost be on a par with that which is perfect. Itwould be no difficult matter to show from many ancient or modern examples that no other profession acquires for men, greater honors, wealth, friendship, present and future glory, were it not degrading to the honor of letters to divert the mind from the contemplation of the most noble object, the study and possession of which is such a source of contentment, and fix it on the less momentous rewards it may have, not unlike those who say they do not so much seek virtue as the pleasure resulting from it.
Let us therefore with all the zealous impulses of our heart endeavor to attain the very majesty of eloquence, than which the immortal gods have not imparted anything better to mankind, and without which all would be mute in nature, and destitute of the splendor of a perfect glory and future remembrance. Let us likewise always make continued progress toward perfection, and by so doing we shall either reach the height, or at least shall see many beneath us.
This is all, as far as in me lies, I could contribute to the promoting and perfecting of the art of eloquence; the knowledge of which, if it does not prove of any great advantage to studious youth, will, at least, what I more heartily wish for, give them a more ardent desire for doing well.
Formerly Instructor in Public Speaking at Yale Divinity School; Author of "How to Speak in Public," etc.
This eminently practical book is divided into five parts:
PART ONE—Preparatory Course: Twenty Lessons on Naturalness, Distinctness, Vivacity, Confidence, Simplicity, Deliberateness, and kindred topics.
PART TWO—Advance Course: Twenty Lessons on Thought Values, Thought Directions, Persuasion, Power, Climax, etc., etc.
PART THREE—Articulation and Pronunciation.
PART FOUR—Gesture and Facial Expression.
PART FIVE—The most up-to-date and popular prose and poetic selections anywhere to be found.
It is a book to beget intelligent reading, so as to develop in the student mental alertness, poise, and self-confidence.
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The only extensive, comprehensive, encyclopedic work of its kind ever issued. How to speak, develop vocabulary, write, train memory, gesture, etc. The best advice by the world's great authorities upon every phase of Public Speaking.
Of Great Worth to the Public Speaker"I consider it a compendium of particularly valuable information to all men who are called upon to address public audiences."—Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy."Full of the best sort of instruction."—Evening Sun, New York.A Storehouse of Practical Information"In that one volume is stored an amazing amount of practical information of success-winning sort."—Hudson Maxim.
Of Great Worth to the Public Speaker
"I consider it a compendium of particularly valuable information to all men who are called upon to address public audiences."—Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy.
"Full of the best sort of instruction."—Evening Sun, New York.
A Storehouse of Practical Information
"In that one volume is stored an amazing amount of practical information of success-winning sort."—Hudson Maxim.
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