the vigour of the mind is lost in subtlety.  We often see men, who argue with wonderful craft; but, when petty controversy will no longer serve their purpose, we see the same men without warmth or energy, cold, languid, and unequal to the conflict; like those little animals, which are brisk in narrow places, and by their agility baffle their pursuers, but in the open field are soon overpowered. Haec pars dialectica, sive illam dicere malimus disputatricem, ut est utilis saepe et finitionibus, et comprehensionibus, et separandis quae sunt differentia, et resolvenda ambiguitate, et distinguendo, dividendo, illiciendo, implicando; ita si totum sibi vindicaverit in foro certamen, obstabit melioribus, et sectas ad tenuitatem vires ipsa subtilitate consumet.  Itaque reperias quosdam in disputando mire callidos; cum ab illa vero cavillatione discesserint, non magis sufficere in aliquo graviori actu, quam parva quaedam animalia, quae in angustiis mobilia, campo deprehenduntur. Quint. lib. xii. cap. 2.

Ethics, or moral philosophy, the same great critic holds to be indispensably requisite. Jam quidem pars illa moralis, quae dicitur ethice, certe tota oratori est accommodata.  Nam in tanta causarum varietate, nulla fere dici potest, cujus non parte aliqua tractatus aequi et boni reperiantur. Lib. xii.  Unless the mind be enriched with a store of knowledge, there may he loquacity, but nothing that deserves the name of oratory.  Eloquence, says Lord Bolingbroke, must flow like a stream that is fed by an abundant spring, and not spout forth a little frothy stream, on some gaudy day, and remain dry for the rest of the year.  See Spirit of Patriotism.

With regard to natural philosophy, Quintilian has a sentiment so truly sublime, that to omit it in this place would look like insensibility.  If, says he, the universe is conducted by a superintending Providence, it follows that good men should govern the nations of the earth.  And if the soul of man is of celestial origin, it is evident that we should tread in the paths of virtue, all aspiring to our native source, not slaves to passion, and the pleasures of the world.  These are important topics; they often occur to the public orator, and demand all his eloquence. Nam si regitur providentia mundus, administranda certe bonis viris erit respublica.  Si divina nostris animis origo, tendendum ad virtutem, nec voluptatibus terreni corporis serviendum.  An hoc non frequenter tractabit orator? Quint. lib. xii. cap. 2.

Section XXXI.

[a] Quintilian, as well as Seneca, has left a collection of school-declamations, but he has given his opinion of all such performances.  They are mere imitation, and, by consequence, have not the force and spirit which a real cause inspires.  In public harangues, the subject is founded in reality; in declamations, all is fiction. Omnis imitatio ficta est; quo fit ut minus sanguinis ac virium declamationes habeant, quam orationes; quod in his vera, in illis assimulata