Not so much with strong as with shining armor did Cicero engage in the cause of Cornelius.  His success was not due merely to instructing the judges, and speaking in a pure and clear style.  These qualities would not have brought him the honor of the admiration and applause of the Roman people.  It was the sublimity, magnificence, splendor, and dignity of his eloquence that forced from them signal demonstrations of their amazement.  Nor would such unusual eulogies have been given him if his speech had contained nothing extraordinary, nothing but what was common.  And, indeed, I believe that those present were not completely aware of what they were doing, and that what they did was neither spontaneous, nor from an act of judgment, but that filled with a sort of enthusiasm, and not considering the place they were in, they burst forth with unrestrained excitement.

THE VALUE OF BEAUTY OF EXPRESSION

These ornaments of speech, therefore, may be thought to contribute not a little to the success of a cause, for they who hear willingly are more attentive and more disposed to believe.  Most commonly it is pleasure that wins them over, and sometimes they are seized and carried away with admiration.  A glittering sword strikes the eyes with some terror, and thunder would not so shock us if its crash only, and not its lightning, was dreaded.  Therefore Cicero, with good reason, says in one of his epistles to Brutus:  “The eloquence which does not excite admiration, I regard as nothing.”  Aristotle, too, would have us endeavor to attain this perfection.

But this embellishment, I must again and again repeat, ought to be manly, noble, and modest; neither inclining to effeminate delicacy, nor assuming a color indebted to paint, but glistening with health and spirits.

Let none of those who build up their reputation on a corrupt manner of eloquence, say that I am an enemy to such as speak with elegance.  I do not deny that it is a perfection, but I do not ascribe it to them.  Shall I think a piece of ground better laid out and improved, in which one shall show me lilies and violets and pleasing cascades, than one where there is a full harvest or vines laden with grapes?  Shall I esteem a barren planetree and shorn myrtles beyond the fruitful olive and the elm courting the embraces of the vine?  The rich may pride themselves on these pleasures of the eye, but how little would be their value if they had nothing else?

But shall no beauty, no symmetry, be observed in the care of fruit trees?  Undoubtedly there should, and I would place them in a certain order, and keep a due distance in planting them.  What is more beautiful than the quincunx, which, whatever way you look, retains the same direct position?  Planting them out so will also be of service to the growth of the trees, by equally attracting the juices of the earth.  I should lop off the aspiring tops of