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with perfect readiness, but every thing as well that had been stated by his opponent.*

The numerous artificial means by which the Roman orators were accustomed to aid the memory, sufficiently prove the importance which they attached to this species of cultivation. But we are equally well assured of the fact from the internal evidence afforded by such of their forensic productions as have reached us. The condensed yet eloquent style -the skilfully balanced antitheses-the perfect music of the periods, which never offend the most fastidious ear, demonstrate the patient and elaborate toilet which those books must have made.

It was not, then, sufficient to shout liberty and the constitution, to a Roman mob, to cry lo! here, or lo! there, if one wished to wield their powers. Their tastes, at least, had to be respected, though they did sometimes relieve their political advisers from the exacting ceremonial of a rigorous logic. Rarely indeed do we find the orator who is capable of profitably interesting an audience upon any subject which he has not written out, or at least made clear before the mind, even to the phraseology, by thorough and deliberate preparation. The first Earl of Chatham that was, and the Lord Stanley that is, are two of the most considerable exceptions. But the first was rather mastered by, than master of his eloquence. His brilliancies depended not upon his own volition, but the circumstances in which he happened to be placed, upon the fortunate juxtaposition of flint and steel, over which he had but little control. The latter, whose extraordinary talent for debate has been declared by one of his fellow legislators to resemble an instinct, has yet to vindicate his title to a position among the standard orators of his own age and country.

The authorities for writing and mnemonical preparation, on the other hand, are respectable both for numbers and weight. Lord Brougham, by his own confession, wrote out the peroration of his speech on the trial of Queen Caroline seven times before he was satisfied with it. A large portion of Canning's great speech on Portuguese affairs, bears abundant internal evidence of having been previously written. Sheridan used to crush his adversaries with impromptus which he had meditated for months, and written out innumerable

*Cic. de Claris Oratoribus, p. 88. See other instances collected in an excellent sketch of Hortensius by Bayle, v. 8, art. Hortensius.

times. Mr. Macauley, member of Parliament for Edinburgh, whose début on the Reform bill in the house of commons, Mr. Macintosh pronounced the most splendid probably ever made in that house, had written out the whole of his speech on that occasion, and spoke it from memory, a habit which he has continued in most cases ever since. Sheil was convicted of having sent a speech to the press before the house had met, on the occasion for which the speech was reported to have been delivered, and Mr. Macintosh's luminous and philosophical disquisition upon the Reform bill, was all written and committed.

The instances of such preparation at the bar are not very numerous with us now, owing to the difference between the practice of the ancient and modern bar.* The exclusively logical course of argument required in the address of the latter, and the tame unexciting subjects of litigation generated in these "piping times of peace," are sufficient explanations of the fact. But above and beyond these reasons already enumerated, our professional emoluments are altogether insufficient to justify any great devotion to a single cause. The statutory allowance does not expand in proportion to the amount of labor bestowed in the first place; in the next place, the amount in dispute does not often justify a large appropriation to counsel; and, in the third place, the comparatively settled state of the law and its rigorous administration, leave less room for the exercise of ingenuity and forensic power, though awakened by the most adequate inducements.

Herein does our bar differ materially from that of Rome, which difference leads us directly to inquire how the lawyers of that state were paid.

This is a subject which must always have a very important bearing upon the legal profession. If, for the discharge

* But that this kind of preparation is more frequently adopted than is generally suspected we have no doubt; that it is not adopted as frequently as it should be, there is less doubt. We are happy to quote both the precept and example of one of the most distinguished scholars connected with the modern English bar, as our authority. "The tenth article of the Law Tracts, though delivered by the editor as a speech, was in truth a written argument in an equity cause, in the last stage of which his professional assistance was required. Written speeches in the courts of justice must ever cost very great labor, such as with extensive business at the bar, is altogether impracticable. Yet there are some nice points both of law and equity, which in respect of the extreme precision requisite to a proper treatment of them, may be more satisfactorily elucidated in that way than by the most brilliant energy of Rhetorical eloquence." - Hargrave, Law Tracts, preface, art. X.

of duties requiring a high order of intellectual power, they are liberally paid, their profession will probably be illustrated by men of the highest order of talent and power. If the pay be parsimonious, the duties will be imperfectly discharged by officers of inferior dignity. If the pay be liberal and the duties trifling, the occupation can confer little distinction.

The Roman bar, in respect of compensation, had not its parallel in either of these cases, though it most nearly resembled the first. Its distinguished members were usually munificently rewarded, and the duties were such as required the highest intellectual accomplishment; but, at the same time, any pecuniary reward was illegal, and, of course, contingent, which fact excluded all who were not in possession of a tolerable fortune at the commencement.

We have already seen in what manner the Roman patricians became the hereditary lawyers of the land, and how all their legislation tended to the retention of this privilege. We have also seen that from the increase of inhabitants, the extension of foreign and domestic commercial relations, and the ordinary multiplication of crimes in a crowded population, the law necessarily must have become more complicated, and the amount of litigation very much increased. The encroachments thus made upon the time of the patrons, without any pecuniary compensation, soon became a serious inconvenience. Of course, the client's interests were frequently neglected. Douceurs and gifts began to be exacted for a duty which Romulus, by the theory of his constitution, had intended should be gratuitously performed.

This kind of indirect taxation increased to such an alarming extent, that the plebeians had mortgaged nearly all their liberties to the senate and patricians, when M. Cincius, a tribune of the people, passed a law, which afterwards bore his name, forbidding every lawyer from receiving any presents or compensation for professional services. We need no historical records to inform us that a law of that kind must have been a stumbling-block, but scarcely an obstacle; and that the universal forbearance of all the needy would prevent its rigid execution. Presents continued to be made as before, albeit by stealth, and with cautious dexterity.f

The Cincian Law was promulgated in the year of Rome 549, about two hundred years before Christ. Dio. lib. liv. Tac. an. xi. 5. xiii. 42.

+ Heinec. Antiq. Rom. lib. ii. tit. vii. p. 358. xi. Fred. Brummerius Comment. ad Leg. Cin. iii. seq.

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Cicero received about twenty thousand sestertii from Cornelius Sylla, whom he defended against an action for treason.* He had also been retained by the island of Sicily to conduct the impeachment of Verres, and achieved a reputation for almost miraculous disinterestedness, because, though absent one hundred and ten days collecting evidence upon the island, he not only was unwilling to take pay for his services, but resolutely refused to have even his travelling expenses reimbursed, having passed his time, while on the island, with some of his friends, to save expense.t This was an affectation of magnanimity, however, in which he did not see fit often to indulge in his maturer years.‡

A more usual, because a legal way, of recompensing professional services, was by testamentary devises. Immense fortunes appear to have been accumulated in this way, and no more satisfactory evidence could be given of a lawyer's ability than the amount of his inheritances from this quarter. Cicero mentions numerous testimonials which Lucullus had received of this kind from his Asiatic provincial subjects,|| and frequently alludes, in his letters, to similar favors extended to himself.T When, upon one occasion, Antony falsely declared that Cicero had never received any such assurances of his clients' regard, he replied, that he had received upwards of two hundred thousand pounds, not like Antony, from the forged wills of strangers, but as testamentary donations from dying friends.**

The practice of champerty, as might have been expected, was one of the earliest offspring of this law, and was, in its turn, made a subject of severe restrictive legislation. The redemptores litiumtt were a class accustomed to interest themselves in the event of a suit with expectation of remunerating themselves from the proceeds of the judgment when recovered. This class of lawyers have received the severe con

*Dunlop. Hist. of Rom. Lit. vol. ii. p. 169.

+ Plutarch in Cic. p. 600.

Lit. ad Atticum, 2, 20. 11, 2.

§ "Immojam ante multæ fraudes hinc legi factæ erant per xenia, strenas, natalia, captationes, ultimarum voluntatum palmaria, redemptiones litium, aliasque hujus modi artes," etc.— Heinec. Ant. Rom. lib. ii. tit. vii. xi.

"Maximas audio tibi L. Lucullo, pro tuâ eximiâ liberalitate maximisque beneficiis in tuos venisse, hæreditates."-Pro Flac. 34.

Lit. ad Attic. 2. 20. 11. 2. Pro Milo, 18.

** Philip. 2, 16.

++"Redemptores litium, sunt qui ex eventu litis sibi certam quantitatem caverint."- Vicat, voc. Redemptor.

demnation of our law as fomenters of litigation, and may be considered one of the worst features of restraining laws upon this kind of labor.

The Cincian law, from its obvious inconveniences, passed into comparative desuetude until revived by Augustus, but, before the completion of his reign, was openly disregarded. During the reign of the Emperor Claudius, they used not only to take exorbitant fees from their own clients, but oftentimes from both sides, in which case, the "poorest pay was usually the victim." One Caius Silius, consul elect, with the concurrence of the whole senate, demanded that this law should be revived and invigorated. The merits of the statute were up before the emperor, who, in the plenitude of his stupidity, for once, stumbled upon a measure which would not have disgraced a statesman. Silius, the paramour of the notorious Messalina, argued that lawyers should find their reward in the approbation of their contemporaries, of posterity, and their own consciences, like the orators of old; that paying them only foments litigation by awakening a sinister interest inimical to peace and good order; that they should follow the example and reap the reward of Asinius, Messala, and Arruntius, who were raised to the highest dignities of the state by an unblemished life and an eloquence never exposed to sale.

To this, the lawyers, led on by Suillius, replied, that fame was uncertain; that legal distinction was acquired only by labor and expense; that most people chose their profession for their support, and there was no reason why the bar should not yield support as well as the military and agricultural professions. That Asinius and Messala were enriched by the civil wars, or were the heirs of wealthy houses, and might afford to labor for glory alone, but equally opposite were the cases of C. Clodius and Caius Curio, who never spoke in a cause but for extravagant fees.

The stupid Claudius, who, at this stage of the discussion, had probably forgotten all of the argument of Silius, decided that the Cincian law should not be revived, and, thereupon, fixed a settled fee,† which might not be exceeded, and which, if necessary, might be collected by execution. This law, though afterwards revived once or twice, was substantially extinct.

Tac. An. 11. 5.

+ About eighty pounds.

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