§11.3.1pronuntiatio a plerisque actio dicitur, sed prius nomen a voce, sequens a gestu videtur accipere.
Delivery is called action by most people, but the former name seems to be derived from the voice, the latter from gesture.
namque actionem Cicero alias quasi sermonem alias eloquentiam quandam corporis dicit.
For Cicero sometimes calls action as it were discourse, sometimes a kind of eloquence of the body.
idem tamen duas eius partes facit, quae sunt eaedem pronuntiationis, vocem atque motum.
Yet he himself makes two parts of it, which are the same as those of delivery: voice and motion.
§11.3.2qua propter utraque appellatione indifferenter uti licet.
Wherefore one may use either term indifferently.
habet autem res ipsa miram quandam in orationibus vim ac potestatem; neque enim tam refert, qualia sint, quae intra nosmet ipsos composuimus, quam quo modo efferantur; nam ita quisque, ut audit, movetur.
But the thing itself has a wonderful power and authority in speeches; for it does not matter so much what kind of things they are which we have composed within ourselves, as in what manner they are delivered; for everyone is moved just as he hears.
quare neque probatio ulla, quae modo venit ab oratore, tam firma est, ut non perdat vires suas, nisi adiuvatur adseveratione dicentis.
Therefore no proof, which has just come from the orator, is so strong that it does not lose its strength unless it is assisted by the earnestness of the speaker.
adfectus omnes languescant necesse est, nisi voce, vultu, totius prope habitu corporis inardescunt.
It is necessary that all emotions languish unless they are set on fire by the voice, the face, and almost the whole carriage of the body.
§11.3.3nam cum haec omnia fecerimus, felices tamen, si nostrum illum ignem iudex conceperit; nedum eum supini securique moveamus, ac non et ipse nostra oscitatione solvatur.
For when we have done all these things, we are happy nonetheless if the judge catches that fire of ours; far less could we move him while we are listless and careless, and if he himself is not dissolved by our yawning.
§11.3.4documento sunt vel scenici actores, qui et optimis poetarum tantum adiiciunt gratiae, ut nos infinito magis eadem illa audita quam lecta delectent; et vilissimis etiam quibusdam impetrant aures, ut, quibus nullus est in bibliothecis locus, sit etiam frequens in theatris.
Proof is found even in stage actors, who add so much grace even to the best of poets that those very same things delight us infinitely more when heard than when read; and they win an audience even for some of the cheapest works, so that those which have no place in libraries have even a crowded house in theaters.
§11.3.5quodsi in rebus, quas fictas esse scimus et inanes, tantum pronuntiatio potest, ut iram, lacrimas, sollicitudinem adferat, quanto plus valeat necesse est, ubi et credimus? equidem vel mediocre orationem commendatam viribus actionis adfirmarim plus habituram esse momenti quam optimam eadem illa destitutam.
But if in things which we know to be feigned and empty, delivery can do so much as to bring anger, tears, and anxiety, how much more powerful must it be when we also believe? Indeed, I would affirm that even a mediocre speech recommended by the powers of action will have more weight than the best speech destitute of those same powers.
§11.3.6siquidem et Demosthenes, quid esset in toto dicendi opere primum, interrogatus pronuntiationi palmam dedit eidemque secundum ac tertium locum, donec ab eo quaeri desineret, ut eam videri posset non praecipuam, sed solam iudicasse; §11.3.7ideoque ipse tam diligenter apud Andronicum hypocriten studuit, ut admirantibus eius orationem Rhodiis non immerito Aeschines dixisse videatur: quid si ipsum audissetis? et M. Cicero unam in dicendo actionem dominari putat.
Since indeed even Demosthenes, when asked what was first in the whole work of speaking, gave the palm to delivery, and to the same the second and third place, until they ceased to ask him, so that he might seem to have judged it not the principal, but the only thing; And therefore he himself studied so diligently under Andronicus the actor, that when the Rhodians admired his speech, Aeschines seems not without reason to have said: 'What if you had heard him himself?' And M. Cicero thinks that action alone dominates in speaking.
§11.3.8hac Cn.
By this he hands down that Cn.
Lentulum plus opinionis consecutum quam eloquentia tradit, eadem C. Gracchum in deflenda fratris nece totius populi Romani lacrimas concitasse, Antonium et Crassum multum valuisse, plurimum vero Q. Hortensium.
Lentulus attained more reputation than by eloquence; by the same C. Gracchus, in bewailing the death of his brother, excited the tears of the whole Roman people; Antonius and Crassus were very powerful, but Q. Hortensius most of all.
cuius rei fides est, quod eius scripta tantum intra famam sunt, qua diu princeps oratorum, aliquando aemulus Ciceronis existimatus est, novissime, quoad vixit, secundus, ut appareat placuisse aliquid eo dicente, quod legentes non invenimus.
Of which fact the proof is that his writings are so far below his reputation, by which he was long thought the chief of orators, sometimes the rival of Cicero, and lastly, as long as he lived, the second; so that it appears that something pleased when he was speaking which we do not find when reading.
§11.3.9et hercule cum valeant multum verba per se, et vox propriam vim adiiciat rebus, et gestus motusque significet aliquid, profecto perfectum quiddam fieri, cum omnia coierunt, necesse est.
And indeed, while words are very powerful in themselves, and the voice adds its own power to things, and gesture and motion signify something, it is surely necessary that some perfect thing is produced when all have come together.
§11.3.10sunt tamen qui rudem illam, et qualem impetus cuiusque animi tulit, actionem iudicent fortiorem et solam viris dignam, sed non alii fere quam qui etiam in dicendo curam et artem et nitorem, et quidquid studio paratur, ut adfectata et parum naturalia solent improbare, vel qui verborum atque ipsius etiam soni rusticitate, ut L. Cottam dicit Cicero fecisse, imitationem antiquitatis adfectant.
There are, however, some who judge that rough action, and such as the impulse of each one's mind has brought, is stronger and alone worthy of men; but they are scarcely other than those who also in speaking are accustomed to disapprove of care, art, polish, and whatever is prepared by study, as affected and lacking in nature, or those who, by the rusticity of words and even of the sound itself, affect an imitation of antiquity, as Cicero says L. Cotta did.
§11.3.11verum illi persuasione sua fruantur, qui hominibus, ut sint oratores, satis putant nasci; nostro labori dent veniam, qui nihil credimus esse perfectum, nisi ubi natura cura iuvetur.
But let those enjoy their opinion who think that for men to be orators, it is enough to be born; let them grant indulgence to our labor, who believe that nothing is perfect except where nature is assisted by care.
in hoc igitur non contumaciter consentio primas partes esse naturae.
In this, therefore, I agree, not obstinately, that the first parts belong to nature.
§11.3.12nam certe bene pronuntiare non poterit, cui aut in scriptis memoria aut in iis, quae subito dicenda erunt, facilitas prompta defuerit, nec si inemendabilia oris incommoda obstabunt.
For certainly he will not be able to deliver well, to whom either memory in written things or a prompt facility in those things which are to be spoken suddenly is lacking, nor if irremediable defects of the mouth stand in the way.
corporis etiam potest esse aliqua tanta deformitas, ut nulla arte vincatur.
There can also be some such deformity of the body that it cannot be overcome by any art.