, one or both of them if it
seems good to them, shall see to the issuing of a contract for, and to
the erecting, the most honourable possible monument to those men who
shed their blood for the lives and liberties and fortunes of the Roman
people, and for the city and temples of the immortal gods; that for
that purpose they shall order the city quaestors to furnish and
pay money, in order that it may be a witness for the everlasting
recollection of posterity of the wickedness of our most cruel enemies,
and the god-like valour of our soldiers. And that the rewards which
the senate previously appointed for the soldiers, be paid to the
parents or children, or wives or brothers of those men who in this
war have fallen in defence of their country; and that all honours
be bestowed on them which should have been bestowed on the soldiers
themselves if those men had lived who gained the victory by their
death."

THE TWO BOOKS WHICH REMAIN OF THE TREATISE BY M.T. CICERO ON
RHETORICAL INVENTION.

* * * * *

BOOK I.

* * * * *

These essays on rhetoric were composed by Cicero when he was about one
and twenty years of age, and he mentions them afterwards in his more
elaborate treatise _De Oratore_, (Lib. i. c. 2,) as unworthy of his
more mature age, and more extended experiences. Quintilian also (III.
c. 63,) mentions them as works which Cicero condemned by subsequent
writings. This treatise originally consisted of four books, of which
only two have come down to us.

I. I HAVE often and deeply resolved this question in my mind, whether
fluency of language has been beneficial or injurious to men and to
cities, with reference to the cultivation of the highest order of
eloquence. For when I consider the disasters of our own republic, and
when I call to mind also the ancient calamities of the most important
states, I see that it is by no means the most insignificant portion
of their distresses which has originated from the conduct of the most
eloquent men. But, at the same time, when I set myself to trace back,
by the aid of written memorials and documents, affairs which, by
reason of their antiquity, are removed back out of the reach of any
personal recollection, I perceive also that many cities have been
established, many wars extinguished, many most enduring alliances and
most holy friendships have been cemented by deliberate wisdom much
assisted and facili