a real combatant, engaged with a zealous antagonist, both in earnest, and not like gladiators, in a mock contest, fighting for prizes.  It was a struggle for victory, before an audience always changing, yet always full; where the speaker had his enemies as well as his admirers; and between both, what was brilliant met with applause; what was defective, was sure to be condemned.  In this clash of opinions, the genuine orator flourished, and acquired that lasting fame, which, we all know, does not depend on the voice of friends only, but must rebound from the benches filled with your enemies.  Extorted applause is the best suffrage.

In that school, the youth of expectation, such as I have delineated, was reared and educated by the most eminent genius of the times.  In the forum, he was enlightened by the experience of others; he was instructed in the knowledge of the laws, accustomed to the eye of the judges, habituated to the looks of a numerous audience, and acquainted with the popular taste.  After this preparation, he was called forth to conduct a prosecution, or to take upon himself the whole weight of the defence.  The fruit of his application was then seen at once.  He was equal, in his first outset, to the most arduous business.  Thus it was that Crassus, at the age of nineteen [a], stood forth the accuser of Papirius Carbo:  thus Julius Caesar, at one and twenty, arraigned Dolabella; Asinius Pollio, about the same age, attacked Caius Cato; and Calvus, but a little older, flamed out against Vatinius.  Their several speeches are still extant, and we all read them with admiration.

XXXV.  In opposition to this system of education, what is our modern practice?  Our young men are led [a] to academical prolusions in the school of vain professors, who call themselves rhetoricians; a race of impostors, who made their first appearance at Rome, not long before the days of Cicero.  That they were unwelcome visitors, is evident from the circumstance of their being silenced by the two censors [b], Crassus and Domitius.  They were ordered, says Cicero, to shut up their school of impudence.  Those scenes, however, are open at present, and there our young students listen to mountebank oratory.  I am at a loss how to determine which is most fatal to all true genius, the place itself, the company that frequent it, or the plan of study universally adopted.  Can the place impress the mind with awe and respect, where none are ever seen but the raw, the unskilful, and the ignorant?  In such an assembly what advantage can arise?  Boys harangue before boys, and young men exhibit before their fellows.  The speaker is pleased with his declamation, and the hearer with his judgement.  The very subjects on which they display their talents, tend to no useful purpose.  They are of two sorts, persuasive or controversial.  The first, supposed to be of the lighter kind, are usually assigned to the youngest scholars:  the last are reserved for students of longer practice and riper judgement.  But, gracious powers! what are the compositions produced on these occasions?