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CHAPTER XIV.

Of the Head, the Eyes, the Shoulders, and the Body.

UPON the subject of the positions and motions of the head, the best instructions are to be derived from Quintilian.

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“As the head gives the chief grace to the person, so does it principally contribute to the expression of grace in delivery. "It must be held in an erect and natural position. For when “hung down it expresses humility, when turned upwards arrogance, when inclined to one side it expresses languor; " and when stiff and rigid it indicates a degree of barbarity in "the mind. Its movements should be suited to the character " of the delivery, they should accord with the gesture, and fall " in with the action of the hands,' and the motions of the body. "The eyes are always to be directed as the gesture points; except when we have occasion to condemn, to refuse, or to "require any object to be removed; on which occasions we "should at the same moment express aversion in our counten"ance, and reject by our gesture, as in these passages:

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* The according motions of the hand and head are of the following nature. When the hand approaches the head, the head bends forwards to meet it; when the hand moves from the head, the head is, in general, held back or averted. In submission when the hands are prone and the arms descend, it bends downwards and accords with the movement of the hands and arms. Fig, 100, 101, &c..

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"The head is capable of many appropriate expressions. "For besides those motions, which by a nod signify assent, or rejection, or approbation; there are other motions of the head "known and common to all, which express modesty, doubt, "admiration and indignation. But to use the gesture of the "head alone unaccompanied by any other gesture, even on the stage, is considered faulty. It is also a fault to shake or nod "the head too frequently; but to toss it violently or to agitate "the hair by rolling it about, is the action of a madman.'

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Præcipuum vero in actione, sicut in corpore ipso, caput est, cum ad illum, de quo dixi, decorem, tum etiam ad significationem decoris. Illa sunt, ut sit primo rectum, et secundum naturam. Nam et dejecto humilitas et supino arrogantia et in latus inclinato languor, et præduro et rigente barbaria quædam mentis ostenditur. Tum accipiat aptos ex ipsa actione motus, ut cum gestu concordet et manibus ac lateribus obsequatur. Aspectus enim semper eodem vertitur, quo gestus, exceptis quæ aut damnare aut non concedere, aut à nobis removere oportebit: ut idem illud vultu videamur aversari, manu repellere:

Dii talem terris avertite pestem.

Haud equidem tali me dignor honore.

Significat vero plurimis modis. Nam præter annuendi, renuendi, confirmandique motus, sunt et verecundiæ et dubitationis et admirationis, et indignationis noti et communes omnibus. Solo tamen eo facere gestum scenici quoque doctores vitiosum putaverunt. Etiam frequens ejus nutus non earet vitio: adeo jactare id, et comas excutientem rotare, fanaticum est. Quint. l. xi. c. 3.

3 The observations of Cresollius upon the positions and action of the head will be found also worthy of attention: they supply a good commentary on Quintilian."

Sententia (Platonis scil.) hæc fuit, totum hominem in capite vultuque esse. Sed perspicue Philosophiæ dux et magister in problematis, θειοτάτην τῶν περὶ ἡμᾶς κεφαλὴν omnium partium divinissimum esse caput asseruit.

Sit igitur in monitis meis hoc primum, ut caput sit erectum, et statum habeat naturalem. quod sit veluti in medio positum inter extrema vitiosa. . . . Vis hujus præceptionis hæc est, eam capitis adhibendam esse moderationem ut neque nimium deprimatur, nec plus justo attollatur. . . . . Quæ naturæ compositio est et decori splendor ut eleganter et ingeniose animadvertit Sanctus Gregorius Nyssenus (de Opif. hom.) Caput, inquit, super humeros positum, non compressum, non humile et abjectum, dλλ' ipeíoμarı dźwλóyw Tw auxin iTixETα. Sed decore specioseque firmatum collo insidet. . . . . .

Ut vitiosa capitis elatio superbientis animi arrogantiam et inanem insolentiam arguit, ita

The most usual motions and positions of the head may according to this great critic be enumerated as follow. In the

nimia ejus demissio odiosam humilitatem significat; (ut ait Quint. 1. xi. c. 3.) Sunt vero quidam qui partem in anteriorem proni et aliquantulum demisso vultu, sic in ea positione hærent, nunquam ut cervicem attollant, ne si quidem de rebus cœlestibus et altissimo beatorum domicilio sit agendum. In quibus contenti sunt duntaxat oculos, qua ratione possunt erigere, eosque distortissimos, cum horrore nonnunquam intuentium, quod in quibusdam ego animadverti: : caput autem non commutant magis, quam si corneum sit aut

æneum.

De tollendo capite p. 108. Attolli debet sed moderate, sic ut cum manu lateribusque consentiat, cum divinitas omnia è cœlo tuens describitur et res humanas providentissime gubernans, cum beatæ mentes ad nos superne devolantes, cum immortalium divorum cœtus, qui ævo perpetuo fruuntur; cum sol, luna, splendor stelliferi globi, signorum ortus obitusque, cum tonitrua, cum aeris prodigia, ut flammiferæ et crinitæ stellæ, ut præliantes inter se acies, ut lapsus divinitus ignis ad hominum scelus puniendum, ut alia de quibus historia prodiderunt, cum denique de iis dicitur, quæ excitatam altitudinem habent et exaggeratam, nosque vehementer exsuperant, ut montes, ut colossi, ut insanæ substructiones ædificiorum, et similia quæ facile animadverti possunt. Sed hi gestus breviter celeriterque fiunt, nisi forte longiori orationi, is qui dicit, Deum optimum maximum, cœlitesve alloquatur, ut cum Cicero extrema Verrina, Jovem, Minervam, Apollinem, Dianam, Mercurium, et reliquam veterum geniorum turbam affatur.

In descriptions of triumphant circumstances, and in panegyrics, he allows the head to be held up it is to be hung down on the contrary occasions, p. 118.

Magnopere id cavendum ne caput unquam penitus in tergum reflectatur. Nam quæ a. tergo sunt, ut exempli gratia, si quis anticam orientem solem posuerit et notare velit occidentem, id potius modica ipsius capitis atque manus in latus revocatione, quam perfecta conversione et inconsiderato illo motu significari solet. At hæc quidem rudimenta sunt actionis, quæ a parvis pueris opinor tenentur.

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Sed ecce tibi aliud genus hominum. . . . . in gestu parcos, an nimis in motu religiosos, qui una manuum actione contenti, caput non magis movent, quam si ænei sint, aut homines foenei, aut stipites hæreant.

Rhetoris hæc Rufi statua est. Si saxea Rufus.

Cur id ais semper saxeus ipse fuit.
Ρητωρ ἦν ἐικῶν, ὁ δὲ ῥήτωρ ἔικονος ἐικών.

Auson. Epig. 51.

Anthol.

Debet igitur esse motus in capite, qui sit cum partium reliquarum actione congruens. Verum enimvero an solo capite fieri gestus possit, quærunt magistri. Id perspicue vitiosum pronuntiat Quintilianus, quod nescio an universum doctis hominibus probetur ; si de tota id oratione intelligit subscriptorem me habet, et sententiæ adstipulatorem suæ. Sed quis nescit oratorem aliquando, sine ullo mannum gestu capite annuere? .. .. Hic gestus decet eos maxime, qui consilio, virtute, sapenitia, magnam sibi apud alios auctoritatem

notation, the head and eyes may, without confusion, be con

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The last look of the eyes, named vacuity, is observed, when the eye is directed towards an object, but without speculation, the focus evidently not being adjusted to the distance, but falling short, when the eye appears (most wonderfully) to the spectators not to see any object distinctly."

For the motions of the body or trunk, th best instruction will also be found in Quintilian.

"The sides should bear their part in the gesture. The motion

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pepererunt, quorum capitis commotio non leve pondus et momentum adjungit orationi; quare in sacris admonitis et concionibus ad rem quasi in animis hominum defingendam utilis adhiberi videmus. Caput etiam moderate agitare ii solent qui rem improbant, qui negant, qui fieri non posse, aut esse minus honestum significant; in quo senilis, aut maturæ jam ætatis effigies cernitur, quæ plurima tacita significatione et non modo verbis, animi notiones in hominum cognitionem efferre solet.

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"also of the whole body contributes much to the effect in delivery: so much that Cicero is of opinion that more can be "done by its gesture, than even by the hands themselves. Thus he says in his work De Oralore. No affected motions "of the fingers, no measured cadence of their articulations. "Let the gesture rather regulate itself by the movements of "the whole trunk, and by the manly inflexion of the sides.'

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The gestures of the arms and hands are not therefore to be so executed, as if they proceeded from the trunk as from a rigid log: but are to be always supported by the accompaniment of the body. Not by affected and ridiculous contortions, but by the manly and free exertions of the muscles of the body, the general consent of which is indispensable for the production of graceful motion. The raising up or shrugging of the shoulders in order to express indifference or contempt is merely theatrical, and should be sparingly used even on the stage. Quintilian condemns it altogether in an orator. "Some people raise up "their shoulders in speaking, but this is a fault in gesture. "Demosthenes, in order to cure himself of it, used to stand in a narrow pulpit, and practised to speak with a spear hanging over his shoulder; in such a manner, that if in the heat of

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Latera cum gestu consentiant. Facit enim aliquid et totius corporis motus: adeo ut Cicero plus illo agi, quam manibus ipsis putet. Ita enim dicit in Oratore; Nulla argutiæ digitorum, non ad numerum articulus cadens, trunco magis toto se ipse moderans et virili laterum flexione. Quint.

The words of Cicero which Quintilian seems here to quote from memory are, Laterum inflexione hac forti ac virili. . . . . Manus autem minus arguta, digitis subsequens verba non exprimens. De Orat. l. iii. c. 59.

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