Page images
PDF
EPUB

1845.]

Interest in the Orator's Personal Character

29

address must be pervaded by a spirit of benevolence and true modesty. He should, indeed, exhibit a proper confidence in the truth and reasonableness of his assertions; but this confidence is radically distinct from vanity and arrogance; it is allied, and of the same nature with a modest estimate of his own worth. He must appear to be conscious of his own weakness as well as his strength; aware of the limits of the human faculties as well as of their real attainments, and penetrated with reverence for his superiors, as well as a fitting regard for his own convictions. He may also excite an aesthetical interest in his character. His style of writing and speaking should indicate his love of the beautiful. A good taste is combined, in many important particulars, with the moral disposition, and the tasteful orator is therefore associated in the popular mind with philanthropy and virtue. The oration must often introduce ideas which are grand, sublime or graceful; and if these ideas be presented in an inappropriate style, the hearer is disgusted with the very objects which might have fascinated him, and is repelled from the man with whom he might have been charmed.

It is not pretended, that the theory of eloquence will prescribe minute and specific rules for the orator's awakening a popular interest in himself as a man. It only prescribes, in general, that he educate himself so as to deserve and secure the confidence of his fellow men; that he cultivate his mental faculties so as to merit and therefore receive the intellectual homage of his audience; that he possess and exhibit such a philanthropic and self-denying and truly religious temper as to avoid all suspicion of dishonest artifice; that he obtain a profound and thorough knowledge of the subject which he discusses, and a minute acquaintance with the principles by which his hearers are actuated, so that he may wisely adapt his theme to the susceptibilities of those whom he wishes to influence; that he carefully avoid every expression and every mode of address by which a prejudice may be excited against his opinions, his motives or his projects. Unlettered men, he must remember, will often infer from his hesitating utterance, that he is destitute of ideas; or from his ungainly attitudes, that he has no delicacy of taste. Hence he must avoid not only the actual fault, but also those comparatively trivial appearances, which diminish the confidence of the community in his fitness to control their intellectual and their moral action. When it is said, that the orator should commend himself to his audience, it is by no means to be understood that he should be egotistical or

assuming. Just the opposite. The remarks of Marheinecke,1 respecting the preacher, are just and important,-" He should strive for nothing more than this, to make his personal character in no way injurious to the cause which he wishes to promote; to divest himself of every thing which can offend the tastes or prejudices of his people, whatever may be the degree of their education; and also, yielding to the noble influences of his theme, to sink himself, where it is possible, entirely out of sight under the magnificence and irresistible power of the truth which he proclaims."

7. Regard paid by the Orator and the Poet to the Perfection of

Man.

It has been already observed, that man has an instinctive longing after a state of perfection. He cannot rest satisfied with any attainment which he has made, but every degree of excellence suggests to him a still higher degree that lies beyond. The poet has in his mind a perfect ideal, and he presents this in sensible images to his readers. The pastoral and elegiac strains express the feeling of pleasure in the destination of man to a state of uncorrupted excellence, and in the possibility of his making constant advances toward that state. The satirical poem expresses the feeling of dissatisfaction with the remoteness, at which man is actually found from this ideal perfection. The ode breathes forth the inspiration of one who contemplates the excellence of his race, as it is exhibited in the ideal standards of virtue, or in the exploits of particular worthies. When the poet is inspired with the thought of the approximations which are made toward the character of perfect rectitude and worth, or of the sad deviations from that character, or of the conflict between virtue and the outward world, or of the triumph of the one over the other, he pours forth his feelings, sometimes in the form of the tale, sometimes in that of the drama, now in the heroic, and again in the tragic But he is always satisfied with the bare presentation of an ideal. He suggests no methods, and urges no motives for the attainment of this perfect excellence. In this respect he dif fers from the orator. Eloquence does not linger so long as poetry in the imaginative description of the faultless state; it presents a more exact analysis of the good desired, gives a more definite view of the necessity for struggling to reach it, and of the means and motives for overcoming the hindrances to its attainment. The

verse.

1 1 Grundlegung der Homiletik, S. 80, 81.

1845.]

Useful and Aesthetic Arts.

31

poet simply aims at a vivid portraiture of ideal perfection; the orator strives to connect with this portraiture a realization of the imagined excellence. And eloquence is and does all that it can and should be and do, when it urges man onward in his endeavors to realize the perfectness of his being, to attain a complete. harmony with himself and with the world out of himself. It must aim, therefore, at a complete illumination of the mind, at a purifying of the affections, at a proper stimulus of the will. He is not truly eloquent who endeavors to persuade men by any motives, or to any deeds which interfere, in any manner, with their intellectual or moral perfection. If the speeches, which are designed to cajole or delude men, contain some elements of genuine eloquence, they are still destitute of the higher elements; of the appropriate aim and spirit which impart an ennobling character to every sentence that is uttered. Unless the orator have a lofty ideal of virtue always prominent before his mind, his eloquence must be misapplied, abused, imperfect, impure, and therefore not entitled to the name which is given to it by inconsiderate men.

§ 8. The place which Eloquence holds among the Arts.

The term art is used, subjectively, to denote the power of producing that, which possesses a unity consisting in the adaptation of means to an end. It is also used, objectively, to denote the compass of the rules which are to be observed, for the production of the object containing this unity. Thus the poetic art is the system of rules for the harmonious and vivid representation, in words, of that which has formed in the poet's mind one beautiful and attractive whole. The art of rhetoric is the system of rules according to which discourses in prose are to be sketched, filled out, and (in the case of oral addresses) delivered for the purpose of instruction or of persuasion. The term art is more properly used to designate the subjective idea; and the objective is better expressed by the phrase, theory of the art.

The arts are divided into the useful and the aesthetic. The useful are sometimes termed mechanical; but this is an unfortunate designation; for it confines our view to their outward and physical advantages, and does not even imply their higher utility to the inward, the intellectual and moral nature. The distinction between the useful and the aesthetic arts is not, that the former are productive of good, and the latter of no good; nor that the latter please the taste, and the former impart no gratification.

The aesthetic arts are useful, but their utility is an attendant, not a primary excellence. It is not sought for and labored for, as essential to their very nature. On the other hand the useful arts gratify the taste, but their attractiveness is a subordinate excellence, and constitutes no part of their intrinsic character. The aesthetical arts are divided into the pleasant and the fine. The former are those which gratify the lower external senses, and also those which please us by awakening the consciousness of animal life. Thus the art of entertaining a company by the pleasures of the table, by a variety of social games, by wit and humor of discourse is one of the pleasant arts, giving us an agreeable sense of our physical existence. The fine arts are nobler than these, and gratify the higher, inner tastes. They do not disdain the aid of the merely pleasing arts, but are often united with them and receive a stimulus from them.

There are some of the aesthetical, and especially of the fine arts, which are intimately conjoined with the useful. The pleasing and the attractive elements are employed as means for increasing the utility of that, whose first and chief object is not to promote gratification but to do good. These are called the relatively aesthetic arts, and are thus distinguished from those which are primarily and chiefly designed to impart pleasure, and are therefore termed absolutely aesthetic. The attractiveness of the relatively aesthetic arts is called adherent, because it is not their principal or predominant quality. Thus the beauty of a temple is designed to be merely subservient to the worship of God; and if the fitness of the temple for religious exercises be sacrificed to its attractiveness as an object of the fine arts, if its adaptation to spiritual uses be considered secondary to its ornaments, the true idea of the temple is not realized.

Now eloquence is an art; for it is a system of means to an end, forming one united whole. It is an aesthetic art, combining the pleasant with the fine; for it is designed to gratify the inward and the outward tastes. It is a useful art; for it is intended and devised to promote the welfare of society. But its attractiveness is a means to an end. It is adherent, not predominant. It is introduced to increase the utility of that which is otherwise useful. Eloquence, therefore, is a relatively not an absolutely aesthetic art. It combines the pleasant, the free and the profitable, making the two former elements subsidiary to the latter.

1845.]

Appeals to Self-Love.

33

9. The Moral Aspect of Eloquence.

It is well known, that the ancient Spartans and Cretans forbade the practice of eloquence within their territories. It was condemned by the Spartan laws with especial severity after the time of Lycurgus. It was also frequently discountenanced by the Romans, in the early days of their Republic. It has likewise been opposed by modern writers, particularly by Kant. The great objection to it is, that its moral influence is bad. There would be some reason for this objection, if it were true either, first, that eloquence appeals to the imagination and passions merely, and thus influences the will without reference to the intellectual or moral judgment; or secondly, that it appeals to the imagination and the passions with so much power, as to interfere with the free and candid exercise of the reason and conscience. If eloquence were merely the art of persuading, and had an indiscriminate and unhesitating recourse to any principles whatever, by which persuasion could be effected, then it might often be employed for immoral purposes; and also, when directed to a worthy end, might accomplish it by dishonest means. Kant remarks, that eloquence is injurious even when it persuades men to that which is objectively right, for it even then corrupts the subjective sentiments. It urges men to the proper conduct on other grounds than the intrinsic propriety of that conduct, and secures goodness of action without encouraging goodness of motive. But all these objections emanate from an erroneous view of the nature of eloquence. It does not address the imagination and the feelings exclusively, but coördinately, and in such a degree as to quicken rather than to repress the exercise of the intellectual powers. It aims at an harmonious and a mutually beneficent action of the reason, the conscience, the fancy, and the affections, and it therefore presupposes that the object pursued, and the motives for pursuing it are conformed to the highest standard of morality. Eloquence may, indeed, sometimes accommodate itself to the errors of men, but never so as to sanction those errors. It may appeal to self-love, but never so as to make the regard for self paramount to the regard for others. It is right for men to consult their own interest, and when their moral principle is weak, they may be improved in their character by reflecting on the advantages of virtue. They may be led by their love of self, to secure that holiness which will promote their welfare.

« PreviousContinue »