The Monarch of the Forum. ment when I shail have to rise and speak in defence of a client, I am not only disturbed in mind, but tremble in every limb of my body." If such was the avowal of Cicero, what must at times be the feelings of less gifted advocates, when called upon to defend liberty or life, where the result is so often determined by the manner in which they acquit themselves of their task? It was his favorite theory that no limits could be assigned to the knowledge neces sary for an orator. According to his own magnificent conception of his office, " I will pronounce him to be a complete and perfect orator who can speak on all subjects with variety and fulness." This, of course, even in the time of Cicero, was impossible; and now that the empire of science and art has been so immeasurably extended, the mere attempt to grasp at universal knowl edge would only render the sciolist ridicu lous. The days of Admirable Crichtons have gone by, and a man must think himself happy if he can, by severe and patient appli cation, make himself master of only a small domain in that ample territory. But yet in a modified sense it may be truly said that there is no part of knowledge of which an advocate can with safety be wholly ignorant. For it is hardly possible to name a subject which may not fall within the province of judi cial inquiry in a court of law. " What treas ures of science," says D'Aguesseau, " what variety of erudition, what sagacity of discern ment, what delicacy of taste, is it not neces sary to combine in order to excel at the bar! Whoever shall venture to set limits to the knowledge of the advocate has never con-
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ceived a perfect idea of the vast extent of his profession." But how is this multifarious knowledge to be acquired?,The process of obtaining it is much less difficult than at first sight ap pears. Cicero himself furnishes us with the key by which the storehouse is to be un locked : Ipsi omnia quorum negotiitm est, consulta ad »os ct exqnisita deferunt. In every cause which he undertakes, the advo cate has at his command the services of those who are interested in the result, and who procure for him information from every available source. Those who have devoted years of toil and study to some particular department of art or science, exhaust as it were their treasures before him; and trans fuse into him, for the time, the knowledge which they possess. It is his duty to employ skilfully the materials which are provided for his use, and weave them into a plain perspi cuous statement, so that :hey may be pre sented to the minds of the couit or jury in a clear and intelligible form. If the most in genious mechanician, unaccustomed to the art of speaking, were to rise in a court of law to assert or deny the infringement of a patent, the chances are that he would not succeed in making himself understood. And this is one of the many reasons why, inde pendent of legal mysteries, it is necessary that masters of the art of tongue-fence should exist in every civilized community. When raised to the highest offices in the state, Cicero gratefully acknowledged that he owed his elevation, " after much toil and many perils," to his success at the bar as an advocate. — Hortensins.
