My father's comments on these orations when I read them to him were very instructive to me.

He not only drew my attention to the insight they afforded into Athenian institutions, and the principles of legislation and government which they often illustrated, but pointed out the skill and art of the orator--how everything important to his purpose was said at the exact moment when he had brought the minds of his audience into the state most fitted to receive it; how he made steal into their minds, gradually and by insinuation, thoughts which, if expressed in a more direct manner, would have roused their opposition.

Most of these reflections were beyond my capacity of full comprehension at the time; but they left seed behind, which germinated in due season.

At this time I also read the whole of Tacitus, Juvenal, and Quintilian.

The latter, owing to his obscure style and to the scholastic details of which many parts of his treatise are made up, is little read, and seldom sufficiently appreciated.