Explanation:
How often I then wished for the tongue of Demosthenes or Cicero that might have enabled me to celebrate the praise of my own dear native country in a style equal to its merit and felicity.
Answer: This extract is quoted from Chapter 6, Part 2 of Jonathan Swift's famous satire Gulliver's Travels. Here Gulliver wishes to have the tongue of Demosthenes or Cicero so that he can take a bold position against the contemptuous remarks of the King of Brobdingnag about his country and countrymen.
The king was a man of excellent understanding. He asked Gulliver one day many questions about the people and government of Gulliver's native country. He gave in detail an account of the people and the government of his country. Gulliver emphasized their intellectual ability and moral integrity. The King noted down many points from Gulliver's discourses and pointed out many doubts and objections in regard to the information which Gulliver had given him. Gulliver felt that he had not been able to convince, the king of his country's greatness and superiority. So he wished that he should possess the gift of the gab of the great orators like Demosthenes and Cicero. They were gifted with the power of eloquence and were great orators. They had the power to convince a person like this King of the Country's merit and felicity. Had he possessed the great power of eloquence like that of Demosthenes and Cicero he would have been able to celebrate the praise of his own dear country. He needed the style of these great orators to convince the king of the merit and superiority of his motherland.
Though Gulliver tried to prove that his country was the best, the King's view was that the history of Gulliver's country seemed to be a heap of conspiracies, rebellions, murders, massacres, and revolution. Through these words, he exposes the hypocrisy, hatred, envy, malice, and ambition of the people of Gulliver's country. Swift satirically exhibits here the hollowness of the people and the government of his country.
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