ELOPE'M ENT, in law, the voluntary departure of a wife from her husband to go and live with another man. In com mon acceptation, the secret departure of any female with her lover, either to be married or to lire together illicitly. EL'OQUENCE, the art of clothing the thoughts in the most suitable ex pressions, in order to produce conviction or persuasion. In its primary significa tion, eloquence had reference to public speaking alone ; but as most of the rules fur piblio speaking are applicable equal ly to writing, ion extension of the term naturally took place ; and we find even Aristotle, the earliest systematic writer on the subject whose works have come down to us, including in his treatise rules for such compositions as were not intend ed for public recitation. A still wider extension of the term was contended for by the ancient rhetoricians, who included under it all kinds of literary productions (such as treatises on law, logic, &-c.,) and whatever might be necessary to illustrate and explain them. The invention of elo quence was ascribed by the Egyptians and the fables of the poets to the god Mercu ry ; but no certain account can be given when or by whom this art first began to be cultivated. If we may judge from the enlogimns which Homer pronounced upon Ulysses and Nestor for their attainments in eloquence, it must have been very early in high esteem among the Greeks. But though. from time to time, there arose in Greece many distinguished wri ters upon eloquence, it dues not appear that the practice of the art was combined with the theory for public purposes till the time of Pisistratus, who owed to his rhetorical acquirements his elevation to the throne. Passing from Pericles, (the next in order to Pisistratus,) who was distinguished at once as a general, a statesman, and an orator, we find many eminent names during the Peloponnesian war immortalized for their eloquence by the pen of Thucydides. In the succeed ing age arose the school of rhetoricians, or sophists, as they are called, who en deavored to graft upon eloquence the subtleties of logic; and among the earli est and most eminent of this school were Gorgias, Isocrates, and Ismus, of whose publicly delivered orations there are still ten extant It was in this loge that Gre cian eloquence attained its highest per fection by the genius of Demosthenes, to whom the palm has been conceded by the unanimous consent of ancient and modern times. Of all human productions, the orations of Demosthenes present to us the models which approach the nearest to perfection. After this period, Grecian eloquence declined rapidly ; and though in the following ages there flourished :tinting (ithers llermagoras, At henmus, A pol Ion i us, Czceilius, and DionysiOs, their names have been almost withot.t exception resented from oblivion by a work which may lie regarded as the last expiring ray of Grecian eloquence—tie incomparable treatise of Longinus on the Sublime. In consequence of the all-ab
sorbing spirit for military glory with which the ancient Romans were anima ted, it was long before they found leisure to appreciate the advantages of elo quence t and even so late as the year of the city 592, when, by the industry of some Greeks, the liberal torts began to flourish at Rome, the senate passed a de cree banishing all rhetoricians from the country. But a few years afterwards, when Carneades. Critolaus, and Diogenes were sent as ambassadors from Athens to Rome, the Roman youth were so charmed with the eloquence of their harangues, that the study of oratory formed thence forth a branch of a liberal education Men of the highest rank were now seen teaching and learning respectively the art of eloquence ; and such was the im petus given to this study, that it made the most rapid advances, and was at last crowned by the appearance of Cicero, to whom critics have concurred in assigning a rank inferior only to that of Demos thenes. The mighty scale on which everything was conducted at Rome, and the enormous interests so frequently at stake, were never so wonderfully exhibi ted as in the age of Cicero; and the un paralleled exigency found or created in him a talent for profiting by its advanta ges or coping with its difficulties. In the succeeding ages of the Roman em pire, the despotic character of the gov ernment checked the growth of the rhe torical art ; but the names of Tacitus, Quintilian, and Pliny are an earnest of what might have been achieved in this arena, had circumstances permitted the development of their talents. With re gard to the early history of eloquence in England, there are found, indeed, the names of several distinguished men who An former times directed the resolutions of parliament ; hut no pains were taken to preserve their speeches ; and the au thority which they possessed seems to have been owing to their experience, wisdom, or power, more than to their talents for oratory. It was not until the close of the last century that an era arose in the history of British eloquence, which the genius of Chatham, Pitt, Burke, Fox, and Sheridan has consecra ted and immortalized. The little oppor tunity afforded for a display- cf forensic or senatorial eloquence by the different governments of liermany has almost en tirely checked its growth in that country ; and the same remark is applicable to Italy, Spain, and Portugal ; all of which, however, have been rich in the eloquence of the pulpit. The only two countries in t to world whose orators can in Coln petition with those of Britain, are France and America. To the pulpit ora tory cf the former, the illustrious names of Bessuet, Bolt rdalose, and Massillon have given enduring celebrity ; while the popular character of their respective institutions has formed a host of forensic and senatorial speakers worthy a prom inent place among the orators of antiqui ty-, end modern times.