§1.11.12debet etiam docere comoedus, quomodo narrandum, qua sit auctoritate suadendum, qua concitatione consurgat ira, qui flexus deceat miserationem.
The comic actor must also teach how to narrate, with what authority to persuade, with what excitement anger should rise, and what modulation of voice is becoming to pity.
quod ita optime faciet, si certos ex comoediis elegerit locos et ad hoc maxime idoneos, id est, actionibus similes.
This he will do best if he chooses certain passages from comedies which are most suitable for this purpose, that is, similar to pleadings.
§1.11.13iidem autem non ad pronuntiandum modo utilissimi verum ad augendam quoque eloquentiam maxime accommodati erunt.
Moreover, these same passages will be not only most useful for delivery but also highly adapted to increasing eloquence.
§1.11.14et haec, dum infirma aetas maiora non capiet; ceterum, cum legere orationes oportebit, cum virtutes earum iam sentiet, tum mihi diligens aliquis ac peritus adsistat, neque solum lectionem formet, verum ediscere etiam electa ex iis cogat et ea dicere stantem clare et quemadmodum agere oportebit, ut protinus pronuntiationem, vocem, memoriam exerceat.
And these things indeed, while tender age cannot receive greater things; but when it is necessary to read speeches and when he already perceives their virtues, then let some diligent and experienced person assist me, and let him not only form the reading, but also compel him to learn by heart selected passages from them and to deliver them standing, clearly, and in the manner that they ought to be acted, so that he may immediately exercise delivery, voice, and memory.
§1.11.15ne illos quidem reprehendendos puto, qui paulum etiam palaestricis vacaverunt.
Nor do I think those are to be blamed who have devoted a little time even to physical exercises.
non de his loquor, quibus pars vitae in oleo, pars in vino consumitur, qui corporum cura mentem obruerunt (hos enim abesse ab eo quem instituimus quam longissime velim); §1.11.16sed nomen est idem iis, a quibus gestus motusque formantur, ut recta sint brachia, ne indoctae rusticae manus, ne status indecorus, ne qua in proferendis pedibus inscitia, ne caput oculique ab alia corporis inclinatione dissideant.
I am not speaking of those whose life is spent partly in oil, partly in wine, and who have overwhelmed their mind with the care of their bodies (for I should wish these to be as far removed as possible from the boy whom we are training); but the name is the same for those by whom gesture and movement are formed, so that the arms may be straight, that the hands may not be uncultivated and rustic, that the posture may not be unbecoming, that there be no ignorance in advancing the feet, and that the head and eyes may not disagree with the other inclination of the body.
§1.11.17nam neque haec esse in parte pronuntiationis negaverit quisquam, neque ipsam pronuntiationem ab oratore secernet, et certe, quod facere oporteat, non indignandum est discere, cum praesertim haec chironomia, quae est, ut nomine ipso declaratur, lex gestus, et ab illis temporibus heroicis orta sit et a summis Graeciae viris atque ipso etiam Socrate probata, a Platone quoque in parte civilium posita virtutum et a Chrysippo in praeceptis de liberorum educatione compositis non omissa.
For no one would deny that these things are a part of delivery, nor will anyone separate delivery itself from the orator; and certainly, one should not be ashamed to learn what ought to be done, especially since this "chironomia," which is, as is declared by its very name, the law of gesture, both originated from those heroic times and was approved by the greatest men of Greece and even by Socrates himself, and was also placed by Plato among the civic virtues, and was not omitted by Chrysippus in his precepts composed on the education of children.
§1.11.18nam Lacedaemonios quidem etiam saltationem quandam tanquam ad bella quoque utilem habuisse inter exercitationes accepimus.
For we have heard that the Lacedaemonians indeed had even a certain dance among their exercises, as being useful also for wars.
neque id veteribus Romanis dedecori fuit; argumentum est sacerdotum nomine ac religione durans ad hoc tempus saltatio, et illa in tertio Ciceronis de Oratore libro verba Crassi, quibus praecipit, ut orator utatur laterum inclinatione forti ac virili, non a scena et histrionibus sed ab armis aut etiam a palaestra; cuius disciplinae usus in nostram usque aetatem sine reprehensione descendit.
Nor was that a disgrace to the ancient Romans; the proof is the dance lasting to this time under the name and religion of priests, and those words of Crassus in the third book of Cicero's "De Oratore," in which he directs that the orator should use a strong and manly inclination of the sides, not from the stage and actors, but from weapons or even from physical exercise; the use of which discipline has descended even to our age without blame.
§1.11.19A me tamen nec ultra pueriles annos retinebitur nec in his ipsis diu.
But by me it will neither be retained beyond the years of boyhood, nor even in those very years for long.
neque enim gestum oratoris componi ad similitudinem saltationis volo, sed subesse aliquid ex hac exercitatione puerili, unde nos non id agentes furtim decor ille discentibus traditus prosequatur.
For I do not wish the gesture of the orator to be formed into the likeness of a dance, but that something from this boyhood exercise should underlie, whence, without our aiming at it, that grace delivered to the learners may secretly follow us.