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4

THE

CRITICAL REVIEW.

For the Month of August, 1756.

ARTICLE I.

All the ORATIONS of Demofthenes, pronounced to excite the Athenians again Philip King of Macedon. Tranflated into English; digefted and connected, fo as to form a regular Hiftory of the Progrefs of the Macedonian Power: With Notes hiftorical and critical. By Thomas Leland, B. D. Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. 4to. Pr.6 s. in Boards. Johnston.

O animate a people renowned for juftice, humanity, and valour, yet in many inftances, degenerate and corrupted; to warn them, of the dangers of luxury, treachery, and bribery; of the ambition and perfidy of a powerful foreign enemy; to recall the glory of their ancestors to their thoughts; and to infpire them with refolution, vigour, and unanimity; to correct abufes, to reftore difcipline, to ⚫ revive and enforce the generous fentiments of patriotism and public fpirit:- Thefe were the great purposes for which the following Orations were originally pronounced. The 'fubject therefore, may poffibly recommend them to a British

reader, even under the difadvantages of a tranflation, by no ⚫ means worthy of the famous original. His candor may par ⚫ don them; or fometimes, perhaps, they may efcape him, if he fuffers his imagination to be poffeffed with that enthufiafm, 'which our orator is, of all others, moft capable of inspiring; and will, for a while, intereft himself in the caufe of • Athens.'

VOL. H

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Thus

Thus does Mr. Leland with great modesty and diffidence introduce his tranflation in a fhort but fenfible preface to it, containing a very useful fummary view of the affairs and interefts of Greece, and the divifions which had a long time fubfifted between its principal ftates, and on which Philip justly grounded his hopes of fuccefs, in his attempts upon their liberties. Our author has likewife briefly characterifed the rival powers of Lacedemon, Athens, and Thebes, and given us a fhort account of the fituation in which the Macedonian hero found every one of them. What Mr. Leland, with great truth, obferves concerning the Athenians, with whom Philip was chiefly concerned, may well deferve the attention of an Englishman at the prefent juncture.

The Athenians (fays he) after the death of Epaminondas, were now no longer upon their guard, but abandoned themfelves to ease and pleasure. Festivals and public entertainments engaged their attention, and a violent paffion for the ftage, banished all thoughts of business and glory. Poets, players, fingers and dancers, were received with that esteem and applause, which were due to the commanders who fought their battles. They were rewarded extravagantly, and their performances exhibited with a magnificence scarcely to be conceived. The treasures which should have maintained their armies, were applied to purchase seats in their theatres. Inftead of that fpirit and vigour which they exerted against the Perfian, they were poffeffed with indolence and effeminacy; they had no further concern about the affairs of war, than just to keep a few foreign troops in pay; in fhort, treachery, corruption, and degeneracy, overspread the • ftate.'

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Few of our Readers, we imagine, will be able to pass over this character of the degenerate Athenians without an application, but too obvious, and fome melancholy reflections on the ftriking refemblance between them, and a nation now fubfifting, funk into univerfal corruption and depravity, and perhaps on the very brink of ruin.

Our author proceeds to an account of Philip, and the hi ftory of his tranfactions previous to the subject of these orations, and concludes his preface with the characters of the

principal

principal orators of the age, as collected from the writings of antiquity, with which we shall present our readers.

Demades, by his birth and education, feemed deftined to 'meannefs and obfcurity: but as the Athenian aflembly ad'mitted perfons of all ranks and occupations, to speak their ⚫ fentiments; his powers foon recommended him to his coun'trymen; and raised him from the low condition of a common 'mariner, to the administration and direction of public affairs. His private life was ftained with those brutal exceffes, which 'frequently attend the want of early culture, and an inter'courfe with the inferior and leaft refined part of mankind.

His conduct as a leader and minister, was not actuated by 'the principles of delicate honour and integrity: and his elo'quence seems to have received a tincture from his original 'condition. He appears to have been a ftrong, bold, and 'what we call a blunt speaker; whose manner, rude and dar'ing, and fometimes bordering on extravagance, had often'times a greater effect than the more corrected ftyle of other 'speakers, who confined themselves within the bounds of 'decorum and good breeding.

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Hyperides, on the contrary, was blessed with all the graces ' of refinement: harmonious, elegant, and polite; with a ' well-bred feftivity, and delicate irony: excellent in pane'gyric; and of great natural abilities for affecting the paffions.

Yet his eloquence feems rather to have been pleasing than 'perfuafive. He is faid to have been not fo well fitted for ' a popular affembly, and for political debates; as for private 'causes, and addreffing a few select judges. And even here, 'when he pleaded the cause of a woman, for whom he had 'the tenderest paffion; he was obliged to call the charms of 'his mistress to the affiftance of his eloquence; and was more' ' indebted to these for his fuccefs, than to his own powers.

• Lycurgus had all the advantages which birth and education 'could afford for forming an orator. He was the hearer of • Plato, and the scholar of Ifocrates. He feems to have been' particularly affected by the charms of poetry, and the polite ' arts; nor was he lefs remarkable for diligence and attention;' yet his influence in the affembly feems, like that of Phocion, ́ to have arisen rather from a respect to his character, and a general

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general opinion of his virtue and integrity, than from his abilities as a speaker.

Aefchines was an orator, whofe ftyle was full, diffusive, and fonorous. He was a ftranger to the glowing expreffions and daring figures of Demofthenes, which he treats with contempt and ridicule. But tho' more fimple, he is lefs affecting and by being less contracted, has not fo much strength and energy. Or, as Quinctilian expreffes it, carnis plus habet, lacertorum minus. But if we would view his abilities to the greatest advantage, we must not compare them with thofe of his rival. Then will his figures appear to want nei⚫ther beauty nor grandeur. His eafy and natural manner, will then be thought highly pleafing: and a juft attention will difcover a good degree of force and energy in his ftyle, which at first, appears only flowing and harmonious.

But all the feveral excellencies of his countrymen and cotemporaries were at leaft equalled by Demofthenes. His own, no age or nation could attain to. From him, critics have formed their rules; and all the masters in his own art, have thought it an honour to imitate him. To enlarge upon his character, would be to refume a fubject already exhausted by every critic both antient and modern. Let it be fufficient to fay, that energy and majefty are his peculiar excellencies. From the gravity of Thucidydes, the pomp and dignity of Plato, the eafe and elegance, the neatness and fimplicity of the Attic writers, he formed a file and manner admirably fitted to his own temper and genius, as well as that ' of his hearers. His own feverity determined him to the more 'forcible methods of astonishing and terrifying, rather than to the gentle and infinuating arts of perfuafion: nor did the • circumstances and difpofitions of his countrymen admit of any but violent expreffions. As many of thofe to whom he • addreffed himself were men of low rank and occupations, his images and expreffions are fometimes familiar. As others of ⚫ them were themselves eminent in fpeaking, and could readily ♦ fee thro' all the common artifices of oratory; these he affects to defpife: appears only folicitous to be understood; yet, as it ♦ were without defign, raifes the utmost admiration and delight: fuch delight as arifes from the clearness of evidence, and the

• fullnes

.

fullness of conviction. And as all, even the lower part of ⚫ his hearers, were acquainted with the beauties of poetry, < and the force of harmony; he could not admit of any thing • rude or negligent; but with the ftricteft attention laboured ⚫ those compositions, which appear fo natural and unadorned. They have their ornaments; but these are auftere and man→ ly, and fuch as are confiftent with freedom and fincerity. A full and regular feries, of diffufive reafoning would have ⚫ been intolerable in an Athenian affembly. He often contents ◄ himself with an imperfect hint: a fentence, a word, even his filence is fometimes pregnant with meaning. And this quickness and vehemence flattered a people who valued themselves on their acutenefs and penetration. The impetuous torrent that in a moment bears down all before it; the • repeated flashes of lightening, which spread universal terror, and which the ftrongeft eye dares not encounter, are the images, by which the nature of his eloquence hath been • expreffed.

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As a ftatesman and as a citizen, his conduct was no less <remarkable. If the fire of his eloquence feems at sometimes ◄ abated, his judgment and accuracy and political abilities are then confpicuous. The bravery with which he opposed the paffions and prejudices of his countrymen, and the general • integrity of his character (to which Philip himself bare witness) < are deferving of the highest honour and whatever weak← nefs he betrayed in his military conduct, his death must be • acknowledged truly heroic.'

We now come to the orations themselves, twelve in number, which our tranflator has given us in the order of time, and fo digefted and connected as to form a regular history of the progress of the Macedonian power, as follows:

I. The firft Oration against Philip: pronounced in the archonShip of Ariftodemus, in the first year of the hundred and feventh olympiad, and the ninth of Philip's reign.

II. The firft Olynthiac Oration: pronounced four years after the firft Phillipic, in the archonship of Callimachus, the fourth year of the hundred and feventh olympiad, and the twelfth of Philip's reign.

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