by they gained upon the Affections of the People. Tully tells us of himself, that he took up a Child sometimes, and held it in his Arms, to move Compassion; and that when M. Callidius had accused Q. Gallius of an attempt to poison him, and had made it out by clear proof, he urged this as a sufficient Objection against all that Callidius had said, that he had not express'd any Passion in his Pleading, he had not smote his Forehead, nor his Thigh, nor (which was the least thing he could have done, if his Accusation had been true) he had not so much as stamp'd with his Foot. Callidius had all the Accomplishments of an Orator, but this of moving the Passions by such means; and the want of this was looked upon as a very great defect in him. Upon the Death of the two Scipio's in Spain, when the signal of Battel was given by the new General, Livy describes the Roman Army weeping, and knocking their Heads, and throwing themselves upon the Ground. And what could a Speech at any time have availed with such Men, that had been delivered in a cold and unaffecting manner? Cafar himself wept, and rent his Garment in a Speech which he made to his Soldiers, as foon as he had pass'd the Rubicon. The like happened to Alexander and his Soldiers, upon their submission to him, after a Mutiny: And he wept upon other occafions. Weeping was so usual with the Warriors of ancient Times, that we need not wonder, that when they found their Wives and Children were taken captive by the Amalekites, David and the People that were with him, lift up their Voice, and wept, until they had no more power to weep, I Sam. xxx. 4. Whoever observes their Orations, would think that the ancient Greeks

dCic. Orator.

• Nulla perturbatio animi, nulla corporis; frons non percuffa, non femur pedis (quod minimum eft) nulla supplosio. Cic. Brut.

f Liv. lib. 25. c. 38.

▸ Arr. de Expedit. Alex. 1. 7.

*

& Suet. Jul. Cæf. c. 33.

Id. de Reb. Indic.

and

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and Romans had Tears more at command than Men now have: for the Orators wept as freely upon every occafion, as if that were true of them all, which *Eschines said of Demosthenes, that it was easier for them to weep, than for others to laugh. And fometimes not only the Orators themselves, but the Judges, and the whole Auditory, were all in Tears.

The great Art of Oratory confifted in Action, (by which is to be understood both the Voice and Gesture) as Demosthenes, that best knew, declared, and therefore though nothing were more common than for Historians, and Poets, and Philosophers, to read their Works to the People, yet the Orators seldom read their Orations; however, Tully sometimes did it. And from the time that Augustus read his Speeches, which he had occasion to use in the Senate, or to the People or Soldiers; it grew into a custom by his Example and Encouragement, and so continu'd, as we find by frequent instances in Dion Caffius.

The common Forms of Speech, even among the Roman Country-men, were so Metaphorical, that they will scarce bear a literal Version into our Language. And the Philosophers themselves had Customs, which may seem very odd to us : It was a custom among them, when they propounded a Question, to offer with it a dried Fig, and he that accepted of the Fig, thereby undertook to answer the Question.

* Æschin. contr. Ctefiph.

Cic. pro Plancio. Pro Milon. Pro Rabirio.

Recitetur oratio, quæ propter ejus magnitudinem dicta de Scripto est. Cic. pro Plancio. Ac ne periculum memoriæ adiret, aut in ediscendo tempus abfumeret, instituit recitare omnia. Suet. in August. c. 84. vid. ib. c. 89. Quanquam Orationes & noftri quidam & Græci lectitaverunt. Plin. lib. 7. Epift. 17.

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Qua (tranflatione) frequentiffime Sermo omnis utitur non modo urbanus, fed etiam Rufticorum: Siquidem eft eorum gemmare vites, fitire agros, lætas esse segetes, luxuriosa frumenta. Nihil horum parum audacter, &c. Cic. Orator.

• Joac. Kuhnii observat. ad Diog. Laert.

The

The Figurative Expressions of the Prophets, and their Types and Parables, were suitable to the Customs of the Places and Times wherein they lived, and very fit to give a lively and affecting Representation of the Message they had to deliver. Thus for instance, it was a customary thing in those Countries to rend their Garments, to pluck off their Hair, to go barefoot, and cover their Faces in time of Grief and Trouble, which would be looked upon as a certain sign of Distraction amongst us, but was commonly done by the gravest and wisest Men in those Parts of the World. And the Expressions of their Joy and other Passions, were proportionable to those of their Sorrow. Now it was reasonable, that the Prophets, in delivering their Prophecies, should accommodate themselves both in their Words and Actions, to the People to whom they were to be delivered: For elsethey would never have been regarded, or would have made little or no impression upon their Minds, which caused the false Prophets to take the fame method, 1 Kings xxii. 2.

It is Origen's and Maimonides's Observation, that the Prophets sometimes had Matters of small impor tance revealed to them, as when Samuel acquainted Saul, that the Asses were found, I Sam. ix. 20. that they might keep the People from going to false Prophets to be fatisfy'd in such things; besides that, by this means they gained Authority to be rely'd upon, when they had Affairs of the greatest consequence to foretel. And there was reason, that in every cafe, they should make all necessary Allowances for the Infirmities of the People with whoni they had to do, and should use all fitting compliances with them, that they might the more prevail with them for their good.

Origen. contr. Celf. lib. 1. Maimon. in Seder Zeraim. Præf. p. 7.

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It is the custom of the Prophets, as a St. Jerom observes, when they speak against Babylon, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philistines, and other Nations, to use many Expressions and Idioms of the Language of the People concerning whom they speak. One who was as conversant in the Jewish Learning as most Men have been, tells us, that their Books abound every where with Parables, that Nation inclining by a kind of natural Genius to this fort of Rhetorick. And St. Jerom had, in his time, observed, that the Syrians, but efspecially the People of Palestine, were wont to use Parables in all their Discourse. And it is to be considered, that several things, which are fet down as Matter of Fact, might not be actually done, but only represented as done, to make the more lively impression upon the Hearers and Readers, who well enough understood, that it was not necessary, that these things should be actually performed; but they might be only parabolical Descriptions, or Representations of Matter of Fact, the better to illustrate and convey those Commands and Instructions to their Minds, which were to be delivered. Thus 'St. Ferom and Maimonides understood Ezekiel's lying on his fide for Three hundred and ninety Days, and Hofea's marrying an Adulteress, only as Similitudes, or Parables and Figures of Speech; and thus, from the ancient Rabbins, they interpret both what is related of these two Prophets, and that which is said of Jeremiah's hiding his Girdle in Euphrates. This was the most intelligible and effectual way that could be made use of to a People, among whom such figurative Exprefsions were usual, and known to mean no more than

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what they were intended for. So Jeremiah is said to to be 'fet over the Nations, and over the Kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant, Jer. i. 10. because he was appointed to prophesie of all these things. Ezekiel speaks of himself, as coming to destroy the City, because he prophefied that it should be destroyed, Ezek, xl. 3. and the fame Prophet, in his Description of the City and the Temple, has delineated the Temple larger than all the earthly Jerusalem, and Jerusalem larger than the whole Land of Canaan, to shew the Jews the necessity of understanding him in a mystical and spiritual Sense; as " one has observed, who very well understood the dimensions of both. And thus Ezekiel was also carried from place to place in Vision only, as the Text seems to express, Ezek. xi. 1. xl. 1,2. as the Jews * in St. Jerom's time understood it, and as the Chaldee Paraphrase interprets it. But Hofea might be commanded either in vision or in reality to marry a Woman who had been an Adulteress, but afterwards became chaste and vertuous; thereby to fet an Example to the Ifraelites, who had gone a whoring after other Gods, that if they would forsake their false Gods, and return to the true God, the God of their Fathers, he would still accept and receive them, in like manner as the Prophet had took an Adulteress to Wife, upon assurance that she would prove faithful to him. However this be understood, these Actions, and others of like nature, are to be look'd upon no otherwise than as the Style of Scripture, or as certain ways of expressing the Divine Will to Men. For

• Sic dicuntur Hiftorici eos occidere, quorum cædem narrant. Cafaub. Comment. ad Theophraft. Charact. wεί λοξοποιΐας.

" Lightf. Prospect of the Temple, ch. 11. * Hier. Præf. in Dan. Nec culpandus Propheta interim, ut sequamur hiftoriam, fi meretricem converterit ad pudicitiam, fed potius laudandus, quod ex mala bonam fecerit id. Comment. in Hof. c. 1.

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the