at he possessed, in a wonderful
degree, the secret charm that gave inimitable graces to his voice and
action. Quintilian, in a few words, has given a commentary on the
passage in Horace. Grief, he says, is expressed by slow and deliberate
accents; for that reason, AEsop spoke with gravity; Roscius with
quickness; the former being a tragedian, the latter a comedian. _Plus
autem affectus habent lentiora; ideoque Roscius citatior, AEsopus
gravior fuit, quod ille comoedias, his tragoedias egit._ Lib. xi. cap.
1. Cicero was the great friend and patron of Roscius. An elegant
oration in his behalf is still extant. The cause was this: One FANNIUS
had made over to Roscius a young slave, to be formed by him to the
stage, on condition of a partnership in the profits which the slave
should acquire by acting. The slave was afterwards killed. Roscius
prosecuted the murderer for damages, and obtained, by composition, a
little farm, worth about eight hundred pounds, for his particular
share. FANNIUS also sued separately, and was supposed to have gained
as much; but, pretending to have recovered nothing, he sued ROSCIUS
for the moiety of what he had received. One cannot but observe, says
Dr. Middleton, from Cicero's pleading, the wonderful esteem and
reputation in which Roscius then flourished. Has Roscius, says he,
defrauded his partner? Can such a stain stick upon such a man; a man
who, I speak it with confidence, has more integrity than skill, more
veracity than experience? a man whom the people of Rome know to be a
better citizen than he is an actor; and, while he makes the first
figure on the stage for his art, is worthy of a seat in the senate for
his virtue. _Quem populus Romanus meliorem virum quam histrionem esse
arbitratur; qui ita dignissimus est scena propter artificium, ut
dignissimus sit curia propter abstinentiam. Pro Roscio Comoedo_, s. 17
In another place, Cicero says, he was such an artist, as to seem the
only one fit to appear on the stage; yet such a man, as to seem the
only one who should not come upon it at all. _Cum artifex ejusmodi
sit, ut solus dignus videatur esse qui in scena spectetur; tum vir
ejusmodi est, ut solus dignus videatur, qui eo non accedat. Pro Publ.
Quinctio_, s. 78. What Cicero has said in his pleadings might be
thought oratorical, introduced merely to serve the cause, if we did
not find the comedian praised with equal warmth in the dialogue DE
ORATORE. It is there said of Roscius, that every thi