Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.

Many of the rules which I have given will require modification by those who have to plead before judges seated on a dais. [*]( Astonish (in a note on the Divination of Cicero) explains that in minor cases tried by tribuni, triumviri, quaestores and other minor officils, the judges sat on ordinary benches, not on a raised tribuat. ) For in such

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cases the face must be raised somewhat higher, so that the speaker's eyes may be fixed on the president of the court: for the same reason his gestures must also be carried a little higher, while there are other details which will readily occur to my reader without any mention from me. Similar modifications will be likewise necessary for those who plead sitting. [*](Cp. XI. i. 44, which shows that the cases in question are those submitted to arbitration. ) For this is done, as a rule, only in cases of minor importance, where delivery will necessarily be more restrained, and certain defects are inevitable.

For example, when the speaker sits on the left side of the judge, he will have to advance his right foot, while if he be seated on the right, many of his gestures must be made from right to left, in order that they may be addressed to the judge. Personally, I note that many speakers start up at the conclusion of individual periods, while some proceed to walk to and fro for a little: it is for them to decide whether this is becoming or not: I will merely remark that, when they do this, they are not pleading seated.

It was a common custom, which has not entirely disappeared, to drink or even to eat while pleading; but I shall not permit my ideal orator to do anything of the kind. For if a man cannot endure the burdens imposed by oratory without having recourse to such remedies, he should not find it a serious hardship to give up pleading altogether, a course which is far preferable to acknowledging his contempt both for his profession and his audience.

With regard to dress, there is no special garb peculiar to the orator, but his dress comes more under the public eye than that of other men. It should, therefore, be distinguished and manly, as, indeed, it ought to be with all men of position. For

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excessive care with regard to the cut of the toga, [*]( In putting on the toga, it was thrown first over the left shoulder, so that about 6 feet hung in front and about 12 behind. This longer portion was then carried round under the right arm and then diagonally across the chest (like a balleus, or belt) and over the left shoulder again. A fold of this portion hanging in front formed the sinus. The original feet hanging in front from the left shoulder now hung below the rest. A portion was pulled up from above and Allowed to hang over the edge of that portion of the toga which Quintilian compares to a balleus. This was known as the umbo, and is described by Quintilian as pars quae ultima imponitur. He recommends that a considerable portion should be thus pulled up and allowed to hang fairly low in front over the edge of the balteus, that the weight of the hanging portion might balance the remainder of the original 6 feet of toga hanging from the left shoulder, keep it in place and prevent it from slipping lack into its original position. The toga was very nearly semicircular in shape, which explains Quintilian's statement that it should be round. For further details see Companion to Latin Studies, Camb. Univ. Press, p. 191. ) the style of the shoes, or the arrangement of the hair, is just as reprehensible as excessive carelessness. There are also details of dress which are altered to some extent by successive changes in fashion. The ancients, for example, wore no folds, and their successors wore them very short.

Consequently it follows that in view of the fact that their arms were, like those of the Greeks, covered by the garment, they must have employed a different form of gesture in the exordium from that which is now in use. However, I am speaking of our own day. The speaker who has not the right to wear the broad stripe, [*](Worn by senators.) will wear his girdle in such a way that the front edges of the tunic fall a little below his knees, while the edges in rear reach to the middle of his hams. For only women draw them lower and only centurions higher.

If we wear the purple stripe, it requires but little care to see that it fills becomingly; negligence in this respect sometimes excites criticism. Among those who wear the broad stripe, it is the fashion to let it hang somewhat lower than in garments that are retained by the girdle. The toga itself should, in my opinion, be round, and cut to fit, otherwise there are a number of ways in which it may be unshapely. Its front edge should by preference reach to the middle of the shin, while tie back should be higher in proposition as the girdle is higher

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behind than in front.

The fold is most becoming, if it fall to a point a little above the lower edge of the tunic, and should certainly never fall below it. The other fold which passes obliquely like a belt under the right shoulder and over the left, should neither be too tight nor too loose. The portion of the toga which is last to be arranged should fall rather low, since it will sit better thus and be kept in its place. A portion of the tunic also should be drawn back in order that it may not fall over the arm when we are pleading, and the fold should be thrown over the shoulder, while it will not be unbecoming if the edge be turned back.

On the other hand, we should not cover the shoulder and the whole of the throat, otherwise our dress will be unduly narrowed and will lose the impressive effect produced by breadth at the chest. Tire left arm should only be raised so far as to form a right angle at the elbow, while the edge of the toga should fall in equal lengths on either side.

The hand should not be overloaded with rings, which should under no circumstances encroach upon the middle joint of the finger. The most becoming attitude for the hand is produced by raising the thumb and slightly curving the fingers, unless it is occupied with holding manuscript. But we should not go out of our way to carry the latter, for it suggests an acknowledgement that we do not trust our memory, and is a hindrance to a number of gestures.

The ancients used to let the toga fall to the heels, as the Greeks are in the habit of doing with the cloak: Plotius and Nigidius [*]( Plotins Gallus, a rhetorician, and Nigidius Figulus, an encyclopaedic writer, both contemporaries of Cicero. ) both recommend this in the books which they wrote about gesture as practised in their own day. I am consequently all the more

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surprised at the view expressed by so learned a man as Plinius Secundus, especially since it occurs in a book which carries minute research almost to excess: [*]( This work of the elder Pliny was called Studiusus. ) for he asserts that Cicero was in the habit of wearing his toga in such a fashion to conceal his varicose veins, despite the fact that this fashion is to be seen in the statues of persons who lived after Cicero's day.

As regards the short cloak, bandages used to protect the legs, mufflers and coverings for the ears, nothing short of ill-health can excuse their use. But such attention to our dress is only possible at the beginning of a speech, since, as the pleading develops, in fact, almost from the beginning of the statement of facts, the fold will slip down from the shoulder quite naturally and as it were of its own accord, while when we come to arguments and commonplaces, it will be found convenient to throw back the toga from the left shoulder, and even to throw down the fold if it should stick.