it after his death. Caput ejus recisum ad regem reportatum, ludibrio fuit, neque indigno.  Aurum enim liquidum in rictum oris infusum est, ut cujus animus arserat auri cupiditate, ejus etiam mortuum et exangue corpus auro uteretur. Florus, lib. iii. cap. 11.  Cicero says, that with slender talents, and a small stock of learning, he was able for some years, by his assiduity and interest, to maintain his rank in the list of eminent orators. Mediocriter a doctrina instructus, angustius etiam a natura, labore et industria, et quod adhibebat ad obtinendas causas curam etiam, et gratiam, in principibus patronis aliquot annos fuit.  In hujus oratione sermo Latinus erat, verba non abjecta, res compositae diligenter; nullus flos tamen, neque lumen ullum:  animi magna, vocis parva contentio; omnia fere ut similiter, atque uno modo dicerentur. Cicero, De Claris Oratoribus, s. 233.

[c] Lentulus succeeded more by his action than by real ability.  With a quick and animated countenance, he was not a man of penetration; though fluent in speech, he had no command of words.  His voice was sweet and melodious; his action graceful; and with those advantages he was able to conceal all other defects. Cneius autem Lentulus multo majorem opinionem dicendi actione faciebat, quam quanta in eo facultas erat; qui cum esset nec peracutus (quamquam et ex facie et ex vultu videbatur) nec abundans verbis, etsi fallebat in eo ipso; sed voce suavi et canora calebat in agendo, ut ea, quae deerant, non desiderarentur. Cicero, De Claris Oratoribus, s. 234.  Metellus, Lucullus, and Curio, are mentioned by Cicero in the same work.  Curio was a senator of great spirit and popularity.  He exerted himself with zeal and ardour for the legal constitution and the liberties of his country against the ambition of Julius Caesar, but afterwards sold himself to that artful politician, and favoured his designs.  The calamities that followed are by the best historians laid to his charge.  Lucan says of him,

Audax venali comitatur Curio lingua;
Vox quondam populi, libertatemque tueri
Ausus, et armatos plebi miscere potentes. 

                                                Lib. i. ver. 269.

And again,

Momentumque fuit mutatus Curio rerum,
Gallorum captus spoliis, et Caesaris auro. 
PHARSALIA, lib. iv. ver. 819.

[d] Demosthenes, when not more than seven years old, lost his father, and was left under the care of three guardians, who thought an orphan lawful prey, and did not scruple to embezzle his effects.  In the mean time Demosthenes pursued a plan of education, without the aid or advice of his tutors.  He became the scholar of Isocrates, and he was the hearer of Plato.  Under those masters his progress was such, that at the age of seventeen he was able to conduct a suit against his guardians.  The young orator succeeded so well in that prelude to his future fame, that the plunderers of the orphan’s portion were condemned to refund a large sum.  It is said that Demosthenes, afterwards, released the whole or the greatest part.