and quibble and whom the popular mind has at all times condemned, but in the manner of the noble prince, with royal dignity, with worldly wisdom and with swift hand. That
has always been the popular ideal of the great man, and the men who actually or sup posedly conform most nearly to this ideal have ever been the popular idols.
HORTENSIUS. OF the more immediate contemporaries of Cicero, no advocate approached him in reputation so nearly as Hortensius. He kept himself aloof from the strife of parties, and preferred the luxurious enjoyments of private life to dangerous eminence as a poli tician. After acting for a short period as military tribune, he gave up the camp for the courts, and was content with the triumphs of the forum, confining himself exclusively to the proper duties of an advocate, in the dis charge of which he was inferior only to his great rival. And he spared no pains to at tain excellence as a speaker. Cicero says that he knew no one who was animated with greater zeal for his profession; and that, like a statue of Phidias, his genius, when he was still very young, was at once recognized and admired. His memory was prodigious; so that without taking a single note, he could recollect everything that was said by an op ponent; and he had no necessity to write down even the heads of any speech which he intended to deliver. On one occasion he re peated off-hand, for a wager, the names of all the articles which had been sold at an auc tion, the names of the purchasers, and also the prices. He must have found this an immense advantage when practising in the courts. He was distinguished for the skilful manner in which he divided the subjects on which he had to speak, and he was quick and ready in resources. His voice also was clear and melodious, one of nature's best gifts to an orator; but his action was studied, and had too much of artificial effect. He seems to have taken great pains with his personal ap
pearance, and to have dressed with all the care of a Roman exquisite, adjusting the folds of his robe in the most graceful manner. In this respect he was not unlike Lord Chatham, who, when a martyr to the gout, used to arrange his flannels with studious care before he rose to speak in the House of Lords; and Erskine was remarkable for the attention which he paid to such matters. We are told that the habit of the latter was to survey beforehand the court in which he was to speak, in order to select the most appropriate place for himself, and that a par ticularly neat wig (if there be such a thing), and smart yellow gloves, denoted to the spec tators the presence of the matchless advocate. Hortensius took such pains with his action and delivery that ALsop and Roscius used to attend the courts where he spoke, in order that they might gather useful hints for the stage, and this once provoked Forquatus, his opponent in a cause, to call him Dionysia, a celebrated dancer, the Taglioni of her day at Rome, upon which Hortensius retorted, "Well! I had rather be Dionysia, than a clumsy, clownish bumpkin like you, Forqua tus." While speaking of his foibles, we may mention that he had an extraordinary passion for fish, not as articles of food for the table, but as playthings in his ponds. He had the water sometimes warmed lest they should suffer from cold, and it was said that he once shed tears on the death of a favorite lamprey. Amongst other pieces of extravagance, he used to ivatcr his plam-trees with wine. But we need not dwell longer upon these harm less follies. A graver charge made against
