There are, however, two which we would wish to assume. species of pity; one mixed with indignation, such as was mentioned above in reference to the condemnation of Philodamus; the other in a lower tone, and accompanied with deprecation. 172. Since, though there may be something of scarcely perceptible music in the delivery of the words, But in the assembly of the people of Rome,† &c., for Cicero did not utter them in a tone of invective, and in that of the exclamation, Ye Alban hills, &c., for he did not speak as if he were invoking or calling them to witness, yet the following passages must have been spoken in a manner infinitely more modulated and harmonious, Miserable, unhappy man that I am,§ &c., and, What answer shall I give to my children? &c., and, Could you, Milo, by the means of these judges, recall me to my country, and shall I be unable, by means of the same judges, to retain you in yours? || and he must have adopted a similar tone when he values the property of Caius Rabirius at one sesterce, and exclaimed, O miserable and afflicting duty of my voice! 173. A profession, too, on the part of the orator, that he is sinking from distress and fatigue, has an extraordinary effect in a peroration; as in the same speech for Milo, But there must be an end; for I am no longer able to speak for tears, &c.; and such passages must have the delivery conformable to the language. 174. Other particulars may seem to require notice as belonging to this portion and department of a speech, as to produce accused persons, to take up children in the arms, to bring forward relatives, and to rend garments, but they have been mentioned in the proper place.** 175. Since, then, there is such variety in the different parts of a cause, it is sufficiently apparent that the delivery, as I have endeavoured to show, must correspond to the matter. But the pronunciation must also be adapted to the words, as I observed a little above, not indeed always, but at times. For example, must not the words unhappy man, poor creature, be uttered in a low and subdued tone, and must not courageous, vehement, robber, be spoken in a more elevated and energetic one? By such conformity a force and propriety of meaning • Sect. 162. Pro Mil. c. 37. See sect. 167. + Ibid. Pro Rabir. c. 17. Such was the poverty to which he was reduced. ** VI. 1, 80. is given to our thoughts, and without it the tone would indicate one thing and the thought another. 176. Do not, indeed, the same words, by a change in the mode of pronouncing them, express demonstration, assertion, reproach, denial, admiration, indignation, interrogation, derision, contempt? The syllable tu is uttered in a very different tone in each of the following passages of Virgil: Not to dwell too long on this head, let me observe only that if the reader will conceive in his own mind this, or any other word that he pleases, pronounced in conformity with every variation of feeling, he will then be assured that what I say is true. 177. One remark must, however, be added, namely, that, as the great object to be regarded in, speaking is decorum, || different manners often become different speakers; and for such variety there is a secret and inexplicable cause; and though it is truly said that our great triumph is, that what we do should be becoming, yet this, as it cannot be accomplished without art, can still not be wholly communicated by art. 178. In some, excellences have no charm; in others, even faults are pleasing. We have seen the most eminent actors in comedy, Demetrius and Stratocles,** delight their audiences by qualities of a very different nature. It is not, however, surprising that the one acted gods, young men, good fathers, domestics, matrons, and staid old women, with happy effect, or that the other was more successful in representing passionate old men, cunning slaves, parasites, procurers, and other bustling characters; for their natural endowments were very different, as even the voice of Demetrius was more pleasing, and that of Stratocles more powerful. 179. But what was more observable ⚫ Æn. i. 78. En. xi. 383. † Ecl. iii. 25. Comp. c. 1, sect. 41. ** Of these actors I find no mention elsewhere. En. i. 617. See Cic. de Orat. i. 29, с с 2 was their peculiarity of action, which could not have been transferred from one to the other; as to wave the hand in a particular way, to prolong exclamations in an agreeable tone to please the audience, to puff out the robe with the air on entering the stage, and sometimes to gesticulate with the right side, could have been becoming in no actor but Demetrius; for in all these respects he was aided by a good stature and comely person. 180. On the contrary, hurry, and perpetual motion, and a laugh not altogether in unison with his mask, (a laugh which he uttered to please the people, and with perfect consciousness of what he was doing,) and a depression of the head between the shoulders, were extremely agreeable in Stratocles. But whatever excellence in either had been attempted by the other, the attempt would have proved an offensive failure. Let every speaker, therefore, know himself, and, in order to form his delivery, consult, not only the ordinary rules of art, but his own abilities. 181. Yet it is not absolutely impossible that all styles, or at least a great number, may suit the same person. The conclusion to this head must be similar to that which I have made to others, an admonition that moderation must have the utmost influence in regard to it; for I do not wish any pupil of mine to be an actor, but an orator. We need not, therefore, study all the niceties of gesture, nor observe, in speaking, all the troublesome varieties of stops, intervals, and inflexions of tone for moving the feelings. 182. Thus, if an actor on the stage had to pronounce the following verses, Quid igitur faciam? non eam, ne nunc quidem, Quum arcessor ultro? an potiùs ita me comparem, What, therefore, shall I do? not go? not now, Shall I resolve no longer to endure These harlots' impudence? he would display all the pauses of doubt, and adopt various inflexions of the voice and gestures of the hand; but oratory is of another nature, and will not allow itself to be too much seasoned, for it consists in serious pleading, not in mimicry. 183. Delivery, accordingly, that is accompanied with perpetual movement of the features, that fatigues the * Comp. sect. 74. + Ter. Eun. init. audience with gesticulation, and that fluctuates with con stant changes of tone, is deservedly condemned. Our old rhetoricians, therefore, wisely adopted a saying from the Greeks, which Popilius Lænas inserted in his writings as borrowed from our orators, that this is restless pleading.* 184. Cicero, in consequence, who has given excellent precepts with regard to other matters, affords us similar directions with respect to this; directions which I have already quoted from his Orator; and he makes observations of a like nature, in reference to Antonius, in his Brutus. ‡ Yet a mode of speaking somewhat more vivacious than that of old has now become prevalent, and is even required; and to some portions of a speech it is very well adapted. But it must be kept so far under control, that the orator, while he aims at the elegance of the player, may not lose the character of a good and judicious man. • Inotiosam actionem.] The commentators have hitherto been unable to find any Greek phrase resembling the Latin, or correspondent to it, except that Gesner very happily refers to Lucian Philopatr. c. 25, Tηv Toλváσxodov μalημarikýv, i. e. astrology. From this example, however, we need not doubt that the Greek rhetoricians had among them the expression äσxoλos vπóкρious, . . . which would characterize the delivery of those qui satagebant, non agebant, as it is expressed in sect. 126. Spalding. † He refers, I think, to sect. 122. Gesner. C. 38. "His gesture was such as to correspond to his thoughts, without beating time to his words. His hands, his shoulders, the form of his body, the stamp of his foot, his attitude, his gait, and indeed all his movements, were adapted to what came from his mind." BOOK XII. INTRODUCTION. 1. I have now arrived at by far the most important part of the work which I had contemplated. Had I imagined, when I first conceived the idea of it, that its weight would have been so great as that with which I now feel myself pressed, I should have earlier considered whether my strength would be able to bear it. But, at the commencement, the thought of the disgrace that I should incur if I did not perform what I had promised, kept me to my undertaking; and afterwards, though the labour increased at almost every stage, yet I resolved to support myself under all difficulties, that I might not render useless what had been already finished. 2. For the same reason at present, also, though the task grows more burdensome than ever, yet, as I look towards the end, I am determined rather to faint than to despair. What deceived me, was, that I began with small matters; and though I was subsequently carried onwards, like a mariner by inviting gales, yet, as long as I treated only of what was generally known, and had been the subject of consideration to most writers on rhetoric, I seemed to be still at no great distance from the shore, and had many companions who had ventured to trust themselves to the same breezes. 3. But when I entered upon regions of eloquence but recently discovered,* and attempted only by very few, scarcely a navigator was to be seen that had gone so far from the harbour as myself; and now, when the orator whom I have been forming, being released from the teachers of rhetoric, is either carried forward by his own efforts, or desires greater aid from the inmost recesses of philosophy, I begin to feel into how vast an ocean I have sailed, and see that there is Calum undique et undique pontus,+ On all sides heaven, and on all sides sea. I seem to behold, in the vast immensity, only one adventurer * Because the ancient orators used but a rude kind of language, not having discovered that regular and numerous composition which was afterwards adopted by Thrasymachus and Gorgias, and brought to such height of excellence by Isocrates. Turnebus. + Æn. v 9. |