On Oratory and Orators: With Notes Historical and Explanatory, Volume 1

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J. and J. Richardson, 1808
 

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Page 46 - The man resolv'd and steady to his trust, Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just, May the rude rabble's insolence despise, Their senseless clamours, and tumultuous cries: The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles, And the stern brow, and the harsh voice defies, And with superior greatness smiles.
Page 392 - ... 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 gesture ; and the whole frame, the look and the voice of a man, are responsive to the passions of the mind, as...
Page 46 - Their senseless clamours and tumultuous cries ; The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles, And the stern brow and the harsh voice defies, And with superior greatness smiles. Not the rough whirlwind that deforms Adria's black...
Page 398 - ... in it very clownish, and is as hurtful to the voice as the other method is salutary. In short, there is a certain straining to which the flute will not suffer you to rise, but bring you down to the proper note, and there is somewhat in the lowering the voice, which, on the other hand, is very grave, but must sink through all the several degrees of the scale.
Page 17 - ... Among every free people, especially in peaceful, settled governments, this single art has always eminently flourished, and always exercised the greatest sway. For what can be more surprising, than that, amidst an infinite multitude, one man should appear, who shall be the only, or almost the only man capable of doing what Nature has put in every man's power? Or, can...
Page 309 - ... conclusion to which Sulpicius impelled them. " No two things," says Cicero, " were ever more unlike than they are to each other. The one, in a polite, delicate manner, sets forth his subject in well-chosen expressions. He still keeps to his point; and, as he sees with the greatest penetration what he has to prove to the court, he directs to that the whole strength of his reasoning and eloquence, without regarding other arguments.
Page 395 - ... 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.
Page 287 - Themistocles had, as to chuse rather to forget than remember. And I heartily thank Simonides the Ceian, who is said to have been the first inventor of the art of memory ; for they say, that as he was supping at Crannon in Thessaly, at the house of one Scopas, a man of...
Page 392 - Wretch that I am, whither shall I retreat? whither shall I turn me ? to the capitol ? the capitol swims in my brother's blood. To my family? there must I see a wretched, a mournful and afflicted mother...
Page 17 - Is there any thing so commanding, so grand, as that the eloquence of one man should direct the inclinations of the people, the consciences of judges, and the majesty of senates? Nay, farther, can aught be esteemed so great, so generous, so public-spirited, as to assist the suppliant, to rear the prostrate, to communicate happiness, to avert danger, and to save a...

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