posed to the repeal, and supported the Oppian law with all their influence. Many of the nobles joined in the discussion, some for the law and others against it; and the Capitol was filled with crowds showing great ardor and zeal, but divided in their opinions. The women, who were determined not to be controlled by any common rules of decorum in a matter which so nearly concerned them, dispersed themselves through the streets of the city, thronged the avenues to the forum, and besought the men, that in a time of so great public prosperity, this odious restriction on female ornaments might be removed. The throng of women was constantly on the increase, as their number was enlarged by arrivals from the neighboring villages. They proceeded so far as to make personal applications to the consuls, prætors, and other magistrates, and to conjure them to support their cause.

Cato was of course inexorable to their prayers. All his opinions and prejudices were in favor of the law. A man so temperate in his habits, so attached to the simple manners of the old Romans, and so hostile to luxury as the source of individual and national ruin, could not be supposed to look with. patience on a measure, which so directly opposed all his notions of policy. The inroad which was threatened by this seditious movement of the women, on the ancient rigid domestic government of the Romans, must have excited his highest indignation. We accordingly see in his speech the stern and severe Roman, earnest and vehement, yet almost disdaining to discuss such a question in the ordinary way, and aiming to effect his object by insinuation, sarcasm, and strong expressions of contempt, as well as by argument. He begins his harangue in the following manner.

If each of us, Romans, had supported the proper rank and authority of a husband in his own family, insisting, as he ought, on the obedience and respect of his wife, we should now have less trouble with the whole sex. But because the law is given us at home, and we are there the slaves of female insolence, our independence even in the Forum is contemned and trampled on; and because we have been individually vanquished, we actually stand aghast now we see our wives assembled in a body. I had hitherto supposed, that it was a mere tale, that, in a certain island, the whole race of males was cut off, root and branch, by a conspiracy of the women. Nothing can be more dangerous to either men or women, than to permit these secret assemblies, this caballing and intriguing. I am not confident, whether these

machinations themselves, or the precedents they establish, should be considered more mischievous in their tendency. This female mutiny, whether it is a spontaneous act of the sex, or brought about by your instigation, tribunes, certainly implies fault in the magistracy, and I know not, whether it is more disgraceful to the tribunes or to the consuls. The shame belongs to you, tribunes, if these women are brought here to aid your seditious purposes; to us, if we suffer laws to be imposed on us by a secession of the women, as was formerly done by a secession of the common people. It was not without a deep sense of shame, that I just now entered the Forum through a press of females.' p. 251.

We cannot give this speech entire. The determined spirit of the orator appears from the very exordium, and his consummate judgment in giving the discussion, at the onset, such a turn, as to excite in the minds of the hearers a contempt of his opponents. The insurrection of the women, under the lash of his tongue, savors of the ridiculous; and a preparation. is obviously inade to secure a favorable hearing to what should follow. The allusion to the former secession of the commons to the Mons Sacer, must have been to a Roman audience extremely sarcastic. The orator proceeds to insinuate, that something still more intrusive is aimed at, than the repeal of the Oppian law; reminds the assembly under what salutary restraints females were placed by the ancient institutions of the country; and gives the men to understand, that if once the women acquire an equality of rights, the superiority of the sex will fol low as a necessary consequence. The introduction of luxury and avarice was the thing which Cato dreaded; and to guard against so great an evil, he strongly urged the continuance of the law as necessary. He says,

'You have often heard me, Romans, complaining of the profuse expenditures of the women, and also of the men, and not only of men in private life, but even of magistrates. I have told you, that the commonwealth was suffering from two opposite vices, avarice and luxury, plagues which have subverted the greatest empires. As the affairs of the republic are daily more flourishing, as we are enlarging our territories, as we have already passed over into Greece and Asia, which are opulent regions, abounding with the strongest temptations to indulgence, and as we are this moment handling the wealth of kings, I tremble, lest these treasures should gain a more entire mastery over us, than we over them. Believe me, Romans, the statues which have been brought into the city from Syracuse, threaten our ruin. I hear quite too

many expressing their praises and admiration of the ornaments of Corinth and Athens, and sneering at the earthen images of the gods placed before the temples of Rome. For my part I prefer these gods, so propitious to our interests, and who, I hope, will continue to be our patrons, as long as we suffer them to retain their stations.' p. 253.

The whole speech deserves attentive study, as containing an artful selection of topics, exhibited in a manner admirably suited to produce popular effect.

The consul, however, was defeated in his opposition. The repeal of the law was carried, and the speech of the tribune Lucius Valerius, in support of the measure, is hardly inferior to that of Cato. As there is no doubt of the genuineness of Cato's speech, there is reason likewise to believe, that the harangue ascribed to the tribune is the one actually pronounced by Valerius, it having been polished and modernized by the historian, as above mentioned. We can cite a single passage only in the introduction. As Cato had spoken so contemptuously of this movement of the women, styling it a mutiny and a secession of their body, it was important, at first, to remove any unfavorable impression made by this consular ridicule. The tribune begins with a compliment to Cato, and goes on to ask,

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But what novelty is here in the conduct of the matrons, because in a question which so nearly concerns them, they have appeared in public? Have they never come out in a body before? I will refer you, Cato, to your own Antiquities." Learn there, how often they have taken the same course, and always for the public good. And first, in the reign of Romulus, when the Capitol was taken by the Sabines, and a battle raged in the Forum, was not the contest hushed by the rushing in of the women between the two armies? And further, after the expulsion of the kings, and the legions of the Volsci had encamped near the city, did not the matrons avert a storm which threatened the existence of Rome? And when the city was captured by the Gauls, by whom was the ransom paid? Did not the matrons unanimously contribute their gold for the public benefit? The cases may be dissimilar, as you say; but they show that the women have now done nothing new. In exigencies, where the interests of both men and women were at stake, nobody wondered at their conduct. Why, then, should we be surprised at what they have done in a matter which so peculiarly concerns themselves?' pp. 254-255.

The whole of this speech is direct, vehement, and argumentative.

The speeches we have now referred to, as well as all others found in the same historian, and, indeed, in all the historians of antiquity, have throughout that appearance of reality, and that practical and business-like character, which strongly recommend them as patterns for imitation to the youth of our country. They afford examples of a happy union of plainness with elegance, of the utmost clearness and perspicuity, with great closeness and refinement of reasoning, and, what is no slight recommendation, a full and entirely satisfactory exhibition of a subject, with extreme brevity. It is seldom that a passage or a clause can be omitted without obvious injury to the sense, or that anything can be added, which improves the reasoning, or increases the effect which the speaker is aiming to produce. We know not, therefore, where a better foundation can be laid for proficiency in popular eloquence, than in the study of what has descended to us from antiquity, in this department of oratory. For any department of public speaking in modern times, important hints may be derived from the same source. The harangues in other historians have great excellences, particularly those in Thucydides, Sallust, and Tacitus, some of which are perfect in their kind; yet we know of none, which, on the whole, have a stronger claim to attention, than those which are contained in Livy. So manifest are the advantages of making these speeches a study, that we haye no tresitation in saying that whoever enters into their true character, and feels the spirit which pervades every part of them, has made a most important step, in a country like this, towards practical life. He is prepared to read the debates of modern legislative assemblies with additional profit, is better able to separate what is extraneous from what is essential in a discussion, and to unite in the most perfect manner conviction with persuasion, which should be the great object in all public speaking.

Livy has likewise been greatly admired for his descriptions. Whatever he delineates, is painted to the eye; and the effect produced by the works of the greatest artists, either in painting or statuary, must fall far short of that, which follows from the contemplation of one of the pictures of this writer, with no other coloring but that of language. No author ever understood better the selection and arrangement of circumstances, or the power of particular words and phrases, when made to occupy the right place, in affecting the feelings and the imagi

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nation. We are aware, that it has been often said, that the ancients, in their descriptions of great events, dwell too much upon the surface of things; that what they exhibit is graphic and fitted for the canvass, but fails to awaken the deeper emotions and to excite the stronger passions. We suspect there is some error in this view of the subject. They do not perhaps, so often as the moderns, exhibit an emotion of the mind. separate from the causes which produce it; but joy or sorrow is seen to belong to individuals, and those individuals to be in circumstances appropriate to their state of feeling.

The several extracts in this volume may be considered what by artists are denominated studies; and all of them deserve to be perused not once, or cursorily, but often, and with close and assiduous attention. Let them be read till the language, the thoughts, and coloring are familiar, and no exhortation will be needed to induce the scholar to look after what else remains of the works of this historian. He will read all which time has spared us; nor will he pause without reluctance, till he has become intimately acquainted with all the great masters of ancient learning, whether of history, philosophy, eloquence, or poetry.

7. M. P. Fecenwood,

ART. X.-A Poem delivered before the Porter Rhetorical Society, in the Theological Seminary, Andover; September 22, 1829. By RICHARD H. DANA. Boston. Perkins & Marvin. 8vo. pp. 15.

BOTH the poetry and the prose of Mr Dana stand conspicuous for their beauty, amidst the various and growing, though still youthful, and rather crude literature of our country. He has gained the respect of that class of readers which he him-. self would most wish to attract, and he has risen above the censures of those who once altogether condemned him on account of his occasional peculiarities and waywardness of taste and style; so that he is now sure of a favorable and very general attention, whenever he sees fit to request it, which is not so often as we could desire.

If we should say that we were pleased with the poem now before us, we should express but weakly and unworthily the