Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

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

In the statement of facts the hand should on most occasions be further extended, the toga allowed to slip back, the gestures sharply distinguished and the voice colloquial, but slightly more emphatic, while there should also be uniformity of tone. Such, at any rate, should be the delivery of a passage such as the following: [*]( pro Lig. i. 2. )

For Quintus Ligarius, since there was no hint of the likelihood of the war in Africa,
or [*](pro Cluenet. v. 11. )
Aulus Cluentius Habitus, this man's father.
But different methods may be called for in this same portion of the speech, in passionate utterances such as,
The mother-in-law weds her son-in-law,
[*](pro Cluent. v. 14. ) or in pathetic passages such
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as,
There in the market-place of Laodicea was displayed a grievous and afflicting spectacle for all the province of Asia to behold.

[*](Verr. xxx. 76 ) The proofs, however, require the utmost variety of delivery. For to state them and distinguish between their various points, and to examine witnesses, we employ something not far removed from a colloquial tone, as is also the case in anticipating objections, which is really another form of statement. But in all these cases we sometimes deride, and sometimes mimic our opponents.

Argument, being as a rule of a livelier, more energetic and aggressive character, demands a type of gesture adapted to its style, that is to say, it should be bold and rapid. There are certain portions of our arguments that require to be pressed home with energy, and in these our style must be compact and concentrated. Digressions, as a rule, are characterised by gentleness, calm and placidity, as, for example, in Cicero's description of the Rape of Proserpine, [*](cp. IV. iii. 13. ) his picture of Sicily, [*](cp. IV. iii. 13. ) or his panegyric of Pompey. [*]( In the lost pro Cornelio: cp. IV. iii. 13. ) For naturally passages which deal with subjects lying outside the main question in dispute demand a less combative tone.

There are occasions on which we may adopt a gentle manner in depreciating our opponents by giving a picture of their character, as in the following passage: [*]( From the lost pro Galio. )

I seemed to see some persons entering the room and others leaving it, while others were staggering to and fro under the influence of wine.
Under such circumstances we may even allow the gesture to match the voice, and may employ a gentle movement from side to side: but this motion should be confined to the hands, and there should be no movement of the flanks.

There are a number of gradations of tone which may be

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employed to kindle the feeling of the judges. The most vehement tones that an orator is ever called upon to use will be employed in passages such as the following: [*](pro Liq. iii. 7 and 6. )
When the war was begun, Caesar, and was, in fact, well on its way to a conclusion.
For he has just said:
I will use my voice to its fullest power, that all the Roman people may hear me.
On the other hand, a lower tone, not devoid of a certain charm, should be employed in passages such as: [*](pro Liq. iii. 9. )
What was that sword of yours doing, 'Tubero, that sword that was drawn on the field of Pharsalus?

But the utterance must be fuller, slower, and consequently sweeter, when the orator says, [*](Phil. ii. xxv. 63. )

But in an assembly of the Homan people, and when he was performing his official functions.
In this passage every sound should e drawn out, we should dwell upon the vowel-sounds and speak fill-throated. Still fuller should be the stream of our voice in the invocation, [*](pro Mil. xxxi. 85. )
You, hills and groves of Alba
; while a tone not far removed from chanting, and dying away to a cadence, should be employed in delivering the phrase, [*](pro Arch. viii. 19. )
Rocks and solitudes answer to the voice.

These are the modulations denounced by Demosthenes [*](de Cor. 90.) and Aeschines, [*](In Ctes. 72. ) but they do not necessarily for that reason merit our disapprobation. For as each of these orators taunts the other with making use of them, it is clear that they were employed by both. We may be sure that Demosthenes did not restrict himself to his ordinary simplicity of tone when he swore by those that fought for their country at Marathon, Plataea and Salamis, [*](De Cor. 60. ) nor did Aeschines employ a colloquial utterance when he lamented for the fate of Thebes. [*](In Ctes. 49. )

There is also an entirely different tone, which might be described as lying almost

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outside the range of the instrument. The Greeks call it bitterness, and it consists in an extravagant acerbity almost beyond the compass of the human voice. It is employed in passages such as, [*](pro Rab. perd. vi. 18. )
Why do you not restrain those cries, the proof of your folly and the evidence of your small numbers?
But the extravagance of which I spoke will come in at the opening, where the orator cries,
Why do you not restrain?

The peroration, if it involves a recapitulation, requires an even utterance of short, clear-cut clauses. If, on the other hand, it is designed to stir the emotions of the judges, it will demand some of the qualities already mentioned. If it aims at soothing them, it should How softly; if it is to rouse them to pity, the voice must be delicately modulated to a melancholy sweetness, which is at once most natural and specially adapted to touch the heart. For it may be noted that even orphans and widows have a certain musical quality in the lamentations which they utter at funerals.

A muffled voice, such as Cicero [*](Brutt. xxxviii. 141. ) says was possessed by Antonius, will also be exceedingly effective under such circumstances, since it has just the natural tone which we seek to imitate. Appeals to pity are, however, of two kinds: they may be marked by an admixture of indignation, as in the passage just quoted [*](§ 162.) describing the condemnation of Philodamus, or they may be coupled with appeals for mercy, in which case their tone will be more subdued.

Therefore although there is a suggestion of the chanting tone in the delivery of such passages as

In an assembly of the Roman people
(for he did not utter these words in a contentious tone), or in
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Ye hills and groves of Alba
(for he did not say this as though he were appealing to them or calling them to witness), the ensuing phrases [*](pro Mil. xxxvii. 102. ) require infinitely greater modulation and longer-drawn harmonies:
Ah, woe is me, unhappy that I am!
and
What shall I reply to my children?
and
You, Milo, had the power to recall me to my country with the aid of these men, and shall I be powerless by their aid to keep you in that same country, your native land and mine?
or when he offers to sell the property of Gaius Rabirius at one sesterce,
Ah, what a sad and bitter task my voice is called on to perform!
[*](pro Rab. Post, xvii. 46. addicit, lit. knocks down : praeconium, lit. the task of the public crier. ) Again,

it is a most effective device to confess in the peroration that the strain of grief and fatigue is overpowering, and that our strength is sinking beneath them, as Cicero does in his defence of Milo: [*](pro Mil. xxxviii. 105. )

But here I must make an end: I can no longer speak for tears.
And in such passages our delivery must conform to our words.

It may be thought that there are other points which should be mentioned in connexion with the duties of the orator in this portion of his speech, such as calling forward the accused, lifting up his children for the court to see, producing his kinsfolk, and rending his garments; but they have been dealt with in their proper place. [*](VI. i. 30.) Such being the variety entailed by the different portions of our pleading, it is sufficiently clear that our delivery must be adapted to our matter, as I have already shown, and sometimes also, though not always conform to our actual words, as I have just remarked. [*](§ 173.)

For instance, must not the words,

This poor wretched, poverty-stricken man,
be uttered in a low, subdued tone, whereas,
A hold and violent fellow and a robber,
is a phrase
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requiring a strong and energetic utterance? For such conformity gives a force and appropriateness to our matter, and without it the expression of the voice will be out of harmony with our thought.

Again, what of the fact that a change of delivery may make precisely the same words either demonstrate or affirm, express reproach, denial, wonder or indignation, interrogation, mockery or depreciation? For the word

thou
is given a different expression in each of the following passages:
  1. Thou this poor kingdom dost on me bestow.
Aen. i. 78.
and
  1. Thou vanquish him in song?
Ecl. iii. 25.
and
  1. Art thou, then, that Aeneas?
Aen i. 617.
and
  1. And of fear,
  2. Do thou accuse me, Drances!
Aen. xi. 383.
To cut a long matter short, if my reader will take this or any other word he chooses and run it through the whole gamut of emotional expression, he will realise the truth of what I say.

There is one further remark which I must add, namely, that while what is becoming is the main consideration in delivery, different methods will often suit different speakers. For this is determined by a principle which, though it is obscure and can hardly be expressed in words, none the less exists: and, though it is a true saying [*](de Or. I. xxix. 132 ) that

the main secret of artistic success is that whatever we do should become us well,
none the less, despite the fact that such success cannot be
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attained without art, it is impossible entirely to communicate the secret by the rules of art.

There are some persons in whom positive excellences have no charm, while there are others whose very faults give pleasure. We have seen the greatest of comic actors, Demetrius and Stratocles, win their success by entirely different merits. But that is the less surprising owing to the fact that the one was at his best in the rôles of gods, young men, good fathers and slaves, matrons and respectable old women, while the other excelled in the portrayal of sharptempered old men, cunning slaves, parasites, pimps and all the more lively characters of comedy. For their natural gifts differed. For Demetrius' voice, like his other qualities, had greater charm, while that of Stratocles was the more powerful.

But yet more noticeable were the incommunicable peculiarities of their action. Demetrius showed unique gifts in the movements of his hands, in his power to charm his audience by the longdrawn sweetness of his exclamations, the skill with which he would make his dress seem to puff out with wind as he walked, and the expressive movements of the right side which he sometimes introduced with effect, in all of which things he was helped by his stature and personal beauty.

On the other hand, Stratocles' forte lay in his nimbleness and rapidity of movement, in his laugh (which, though not always in keeping with the character lie represented, he deliberately employed to awaken answering laughter in his audience), and finally, even in the way in which he sank his neck into his shoulders. If either of these actors had attempted any of his rival's tricks, he would have produced a

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most unbecoming effect. Consequently, every man must get to know his own peculiarities and must consult not merely the general rules of technique, but his own nature as well with a view to forming his delivery.

But there is no law of heaven which prohibits the possession of all or at any rate the majority of styles by one and the same person. I must conclude this topic with a remark which applies to all my other topics as well, that the prime essential is a sense of proportion. For I am not trying to form a comic actor, but an orator. Consequently, we need not study all the details of gesture nor, as regards our speaking, be pedantic in the use we make of the rules governing punctuation, rhythm and appeals to the emotions.