hope that the honor of my country may advance, and wherever that banner waves, there glory may pursue and freedom be established."

These illustrations show considerable degree of elaboration and finish, and as such are entitled to just praise and admiration. Yet it not unfrequently happens that a simple, unaffected, yet forcible termination to a speech will be as effective and appropriate as one that is more diffuse and ornate.

If the matter of discussion has been kept well in hand and has not been spread over too broad a field, if the rein has been held tightly on the imagination, then a simple and graceful ending will be as serviceable as one that abounds in lofty sentiments and ornate and polished diction. This was the style of peroration adopted by Demosthenes in his reply to Æschines. He simply implored the gods to give his enemies a better spirit toward him or hurl them to speedy destruction on sea and land if they remained obdurate.

CHAPTER IX.

ACTION-VOICE AND GESTURE.

AN orator may possess all the requirements mentioned in the preceding chapters in the highest perfection, but if he be deficient in proper action, in a flexible voice and appropriate gesture, his most elaborate efforts will fall lifeless and awaken no responsive thrill in the hearts of his hearers. While his knowledge, his preparation, his training, may be all and even more than we have indicated, he himself must be the conductor to transmit the combined result of all these to his audience. The remarks of Cicero ("De Oratore") on the question of suitable action are so forcible and eloquent that we cannot do better than give them verbatim :

"But the effect of all these particulars depends upon the action. Action is the predominant power in eloquence. Without it the best speaker can have no name, and with it a middling one may obtain the highest. It is said that Demosthenes, when asked what was the first constituent in eloquence, answered, that action was the first, the second and the third. This makes the story told by schines much better; after he had lost a cause he retired in disgrace from Athens to Rhodes, where, at the request of the Rhodians, he read that fine oration

which he pronounced against Ctesiphon, who was defended by Demosthenes; after he had finished it, he was requested next day to read that which was pronounced by Demosthenes for Ctesiphon, which he did with a charming full voice. When everybody was expressing their applause, 'How would you have applauded,' says he, if you had heard the author himself deliver it?' By this he intimated what a vast influence action had, since the change of the actor could make the same speech appear in quite a different light. Yet, doubtless, in all cases truth has the advantage of imitation, but if in action nature were sufficient for our purpose, we should have no occasion for having recourse to the rules of art. But since the passions of the soul, which are to be chiefly expressed or represented by action, are often so confused as to be quite obscured and almost obliterated, the causes of this obscurity must be dispelled, and advantage must be taken of those that are most unclouded and accessible. For nature has given every passion its peculiar expression in the look, the voice and the gestures, and the whole frame, the look, and the voice of a man are responsive to the passions of the mind, as the strings of a musical instrument are to the fingers that touch them. For as a musical instrument has its different keys, so every voice is sharp, full, quick, slow, loud or low, and each of these keys have different degrees, which beget other strains, such as the smooth and the sharp, the contracted and lengthened, the continued and interrupted, the broken and divided, the tender, the shrill and the swelling; all these require to be managed with art and discretion, and the orator makes use of them as the painter does of his colors, to give variety to his piece.

Anger has a peculiar pronunciation, which is quick, sharp and broken. The tone of pity and grief is different, it is full, moving, broken, and mournful. Fear is low, diffident, and humble. Vehemence demands a strain that is intense, strong and majestically threatening. Pleasure is diffusive, soft, tender, cheerful and

gay. Uneasiness is of another sort, it is oppressive without commiseration, and its tone is grave and uniform. "All these emotions should be accompanied with action, not theatrical action, limited to particular words, but extended to the whole discourse, aiding the sense, not by pointing, but by emphasis, a strong, manly action, borrowed from the use of arms, or the school of arts, and not from stage performers. The hand ought not to saw the air, and the fingers in moving should follow the words, and not precede, as it were, to point them out. The arm ought to be stretched forward, as if to brandish the bolts of eloquence; and the stamping the foot ought to take place either in the beginning or the end of a debate. But all depends upon the face, and all the power of the face is centered in the eyes. All action depends upon the passions, of which the face is the picture, and the eyes the interpreters, for this is the only part of the body that can express all the passions; nor can anyone who looks another way create the same emotions.

"A great deal consists in the right management of the eyes, for the features of the face ought not to be altered too much, lest we become ridiculous or disgustful. It is by the vividness or the languor of the eye, by a dejected or a cheerful look, that we express the emotions of the heart, and accommodate what we say to what we feel. Action is, as it were, the language of the body,

and therefore ought to correspond to the thought. For nature, as she has supplied the horse and the lion with a mane, a tail and ears, to express their feelings, has endowed the eyes of mankind with the same properties. Therefore, in the action of an orator, the look takes place next to the voice, for the eyes direct the features. But nature has given a particular force to all the modifications of action; therefore we see it has great effect upon the ignorant, the vulgar, and the greatest upon foreigners, who are unacquainted with our tongue. Words affect none but him who understands the language, and sentiments that are pointed often escape the undiscerning. But an action expressive of the passions of the mind is a language universally understood, for the same expressions have the same effects in all circumstances, and all men know them in others by the same characters which express them in themselves." (Guthrie's Translation.)

Closely allied to the appropriate action of the body is the conduct and management of the voice. We cannot do better than give the observations of the same eminent author on this subjeet:

"The chief excellence," says Cicero, "to be admired in a good delivery is a fine voice. If an orator possess not a good voice, it ought, such as it is, to be improved. I shall not here point out in what manner the voice becomes susceptible of improvement; but I think it of great importance that the means of improving it should be cultivated. But the train of my discourse leads me to repeat the observation I made a little while ago, that what is most useful is most becoming. I know not how this happens, but it is certain that in speaking nothing