German composition

Section 115 The Art of Oratory

I⁠1 owe my success in life to one single fact⁠2, namely:—At⁠3 the age of twenty-seven⁠4 I commenced, and continued for years, the process of daily speaking (S. 34, N. 10) upon the contents of some historical or scientific book. These efforts⁠5 were made sometimes in a corn-field⁠6, at others⁠7 in the forest, and not unfrequently in some distant⁠8 barn, with⁠9 the horse and ox for my auditors. It⁠10 is this early practice in the great art of all arts that I am indebted for the primary and leading impulses that stimulated me forward, and shaped and moulded my entire subsequent⁠11 destiny. Improve⁠12, then, the superior advantages (S. 16, N. 10) you here enjoy⁠13. Let not⁠14 a day pass⁠15 without exercising (S. 34, N. 10) your powers⁠16 of speech. There is (S. 82, N. 7) no power like⁠17 that of oratory. Cæsar controlled⁠18 men by⁠19 exciting their fears; Cicero⁠20 by⁠21 captivating their affection and swaying their passions. The influence of the one perished⁠22 with its author; that of the other continues⁠23 to this day.—Henry Clay⁠24.

Notes

1 To avoid beginning with the pronoun ‘I’, which seldom looks well in German, and is considered bad style in letters, place the object first, and construe according to App. § 14.

2 fact = deed or action = That, f.; fact = event (as in this instance) = Thatsache, f.; the Latin Factum, pl. Facta or Facten is, however, used in both significations.

3 At the, Im.

4 Supply ‘years’, and construe thus: I began the process (Verfahren, n.), which I continued for years (jahrelang) to speak daily about (über, with Acc.), etc.; some = a.

5 efforts = exercises.

6 Here place the verb.

7 zuweilen.

8 entlegen.

9 whereby horse and ox formed my audience (Zuhörer).

10 It — forward = To this early practice... I owe the first and leading impulses (Triebfedern) which urged me forward (vor´wärtstreiben, sep. comp. str. v.).

11 subsequent = later.

12 Improve = Use, which use in the 2nd pers. pl.; then = therefore; superior = great.

13 genießen.

14 ‘Not’ in connection with the indef. art. must generally be rendered by ‘no’.

15 vorü´bergehen.

16 Redetalent, n.

17 welche der der Beredsamkeit gleichkommt.

18 beherrschen.

19 durch Erregung; render ‘their’ by the Gen. of the def. art.

[20] Supply here ‘controlled them’ (beherrschte sie dadurch, daß er...). Comp. and read carefully S. 87, N. 6, and also S. 1, N. 3. The verb beherrschen requires the preposition durch.

21 by — passions = that he gained (sich gewinnen) their love and guided (lenken) their passions.

22 erstarb; its author = the author of the same (to agree with ‘influence’).

23 fort´dauern, sep. c. w. v.; to this day, bis auf den heutigen Tag.

24 Henry Clay (geb. 1777 in Virginien, † 1852 in Washington) war ein amerikanischer Staatsmann, welcher sich als Sohn eines einfachen Landmannes bis zu den höchsten Ämtern des Staats heraufarbeitete; 1824 ward er zum Staatssekretär des Auswärtigen ernannt und 1829 war er unter Jacksons Präsidentschaft im Kongreß Führer der Opposition, als welcher er die Schutzzölle und die Nationalbank verteidigte. Im Jahre 1849 brachte er den Kompromiß zustande, wonach dem Süden das Recht der Verfolgung flüchtiger Sklaven durch das Gebiet der Union eingeräumt ward.