[k] For Calvus, see s. xvii. note [c].  For Brutus, see the same section, note [d].  What Cicero thought of Calvus has been already quoted from the tract De Claris Oratoribus, in note [c], s. xvii.  By being too severe a critic on himself, he lost strength, while he aimed at elegance.  It is, therefore, properly said in this Dialogue, that Cicero thought Calvus cold and enervated.  But did he think Brutus disjointed, loose and negligent—­otiosum atque disjunctum?  That he often thought him disjointed is not improbable.  Brutus was a close thinker, and he aimed at the precision and brevity of Attic eloquence.  The sententious speaker is, of course, full and concise.  He has no studied transitions, above the minute care of artful connections.  To discard the copulatives for the sake of energy was a rule laid down by the best ancient critics.  Cicero has observed that an oration may be said to be disjointed, when the copulatives are omitted, and strokes of sentiment follow one another in quick succession. Dissolutio sive disjunctio est, quae conjunctionibus e medio sublatis, partibus separatis effertur, hoc modo:  Gere morem parenti; pare cognatis; obsequere amicis; obtempera legibus.  Ad Herennium, lib. iv. s. 41.  In this manner, Brutus might appear disjointed, and that figure, often repeated, might grow into a fault.  But how is the word OTIOSUS to be understood?  If it means a neglect of connectives, it may, perhaps, apply to Brutus.  There is no room to think that Cicero used it in a worse sense, since we find him in a letter to Atticus declaring, that the oratorical style of Brutus was, in language as well as sentiment, elegant to a degree that nothing could surpass. Est enim oratio ejus scripta elegantissime, sententiis et verbis, ut nihil possit ultra. A grave philosopher, like Brutus, might reject the graces of transition and regular connection, and, for that reason, might be thought negligent and abrupt.  This disjointed style, which the French call style coupe, was the manner cultivated by Seneca, for which Caligula pronounced him, sand without lime; arenam sine calce.  Sueton. Life of Calig. s. 53.  We know from Quintilian, that a spirit of emulation, and even jealousy, subsisted between the eminent orators of Cicero’s time; that he himself was so far from ascribing perfection to Demosthenes, that he used to say, he often found him napping; that Brutus and Calvus sat in judgement on Cicero, and did not wish to conceal their objections; and that the two Pollios were so far from being satisfied with Cicero’s style and manner, that their criticisms were little short of declared hostility. Quamquam neque ipsi Ciceroni Demosthenes videatur satis esse perfectus, quem dormitare interdum dicit; nec Cicero Bruto Calvoque, qui certe compositionem illius etiam apud ipsum reprehendunt; ne Asinio utrique, qui vitia orationis ejus etiam inimice pluribus locis insequuntur. Quintil. lib. xii. cap. 1.