Institutio Oratoria
Quintilian
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.
At any rate I remember that, when he was speaking in the Basilica Julia before the first tribunal, and the four panels of judges [*]( Of the Cenutumviral Court. Four different cases were being tried simultaneously. ) were assembled as usual and the whole building was full of noise, he could still be heard and understood and applauded from all four tribunals at once, a fact which was not complimentary to the other pleaders. But gifts like these are such as all may pray for and few are happy enough to attain. And if we cannot achieve such fortune, we must even be content to be heard by the court which we are addressing. Such then should the orator be, and such are the things which he should know.
The age at which the orator should begin to plead will of course depend on the development of his strength. I shall not specify it further, since it is clear that Demosthenes pleaded against his guardians while he was still a mere boy, Calvus, Caesar and Pollio [*]( Demosthenes was 18, Crassus 19, Caesar 21, Asinius Pollio and Calvus not much older. See Tac. Dial. 34. ) all undertook cases of the first importance before they were old enough to be qualified for the quaestorship, others are said to have pleaded while still wearing the garb of boyhood, and Augustus Caesar delivered a funeral oration over his grandmother from the public rostra when he was only twelve years old.
In my opinion we should aim
On the other hand, it is undesirable to postpone the apprenticeship of the bar till old age: for the fear of appearing in public grows daily and the magnitude of the task on which we must venture continually increases and we waste time deliberating when we should begin, till we find it is too late to begin at all. Consequently it is desirable that the fruit of our studies should be brought before the public eye while it is still fresh and sweet, while it may hope for indulgence and be secure of a kindly disposition in the audience, while boldness is not unbecoming and youth compensates for all defects and boyish extravagance is regarded as a sign of natural vigour.
Take for example the whole of the well-known passage from Cicero's defence of Sextus Roscius: [*](pro Rose. Amer. xxvi. 72. )
For what is more common than the air to the living, than the earth to the dead, than the sea to mariners or the shore to shipwrecked men?etc. This passage was delivered at the age of twenty-six amid loud applause from the audience, but in later years [*](Orat. xxx. 107. ) he acknowledges that the ferment of youth has died down and his style been clarified with age. And, indeed, however much private study may contribute to success, there is still a peculiar proficiency that the courts alone can give: for there the atmosphere is changed and the reality of the