Such is the description of that real eloquence which, according to Tacitus, prevailed in Rome at the time when Cicero delivered his most celebrated orations, differing greatly from those tricks which the historian then saw being freely adopted by the leading lawyers of his day,—tricks which are mentioned by the Younger Pliny when speaking of his opponent, Regulus. Epistle Sixth (Book I.) describes this lawyer as a man of unbounded impudence, some learning, great superstition, and no little charlatanism. "He had a queer custom of painting round his right eye if he was counsel for the plaintiff, his left if he was for the defendant; of wearing a white patch round his forehead, of asking the soothsayers what the issue of the action would be, and so forth."
That such lawyers found themselves much run after may be affirmed by the many hints which frequently occcur in the writings of Juvenal and Martial. The atria of their houses were, according to Vitruvius, daily filled by visitors anxious to see the prominent men of their day'; and foreigners came from the other municipalities and districts to make the acquaintance of men whose repute had travelled far.
Addressing a schoolmaster, "invisum pueris virginibusque caput," Martial rails at him for disturbing his slumbers by roaring out the lessons at the top of his lungs, making as much noise as does the hammer of the workman, who fixes with repeated blows the statue of the lawyer upon the back of the brazen horse. We may suppose, therefore, that some grateful client had ordered an equestrian statue of his favorite legal adviser, more especially as we find Juvenal alluding to the same subject in his Seventh Satire, when describing the lawyer Œmilius; who is not content with being represented in a quadriga, but in his courtyard is to be seen a brazen equestrian statue balancing in its hand the poised javelin; and the statue seems about to engage in combat, though blind of one eye. This expression, which is rather curious, may, however, be taken not to mean that the learned lawyer is blind, or even closing the eye to take better aim, but more probably a satirical allusion to his seeing but one side of the question.
Other gifts were presented to successful lawyers by grateful clients, some paying in "kind" as Martial points to the rows of presents by Sabellius at the Saturnalia, which though poor in themselves are sufficient to cause Sabellius to swell out with pride, and imagine himself one of the best lawyers of the day.
Many of the remarks made must, however, only be taken as the expression of, perhaps, mere personal spite.
Seneca, for instance, calls lawyers a "venal race;" Fronto says that "their love of money is so great that their wives must be women of a very large appetite;" the "Canine Study" is mentioned by Columella; and Martial advises a friend rather to pay up than go to law, as Sextus, the defendant, will find that both the judge and the patronus will require to be paid.
"Et judex petit et petit patronus
Solvas censes, Sexte, creditori."
The position of jurists who assisted the non-professional tribunes and prefects who sat in judgment with their professional advice, though not so lucrative a career as was that of the advocates, was, nevertheless, also eagerly sought after by the members of the plebeian order. In that indignant pouring out of the vials of republican wrath to be found in Juvenal's Eighth Satire, we find him sneering at Rubellius puffed up with pride at his descent from so noble an ancestry as the Drusi. In this Satire he causes Rubellius to say, addressing those whom he considers inferior by birth: "You, most lowly, are the very dregs of our population; not one of you could point out the birth place of his father; but I am of the Cecropides." "Long may you live to enjoy such honors," answers the poet; "but it is out of the plebeian order that an eloquent Roman
