Institutio Oratoria
Quintilian
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.
From such impressions arises that ἐνάργεια which Cicero [*]( Perhaps an allusion to Part. Or. vi. 20. ἐνάργεια =clearness. ) calls illumination and actuality, which makes us seem not so much to narrate as to exhibit the actual scene, while our emotions will be no less actively stirred than if we were present at the actual
Or,Aen. ix. 474.
- Sudden her fingers let the shuttle fall
- And all the thread was spilled,
or the description of the horse at the funeral of Pallas,ib. xi. 40.
- In his smooth breast the gaping wound
his trappings laid aside? [*](ib. xi. 89.) And how vivid was the image of death conceived by the poet when he wrote-
And dying sees his own dear Argive home? [*](ib. x. 783. ) Again, when we desire to awaken pity,
we must actually believe that the ills of which we complain have befallen our own selves, and must persuade our minds that this is really the case. We must identify ourselves with the persons of whom we complain that they have suffered grievous, unmerited and bitter misfortune, and must plead their case and for a brief space feel their suffering as though it were our own, while our words must be such as we should use if we stood in their shoes.
I have often seen actors, both in tragedy and comedy, leave the theatre still drowned in tears after concluding the performance of some moving role. But if the mere delivery of words written by another has the power to set our souls on fire with fictitious emotions, what will the orator do whose duty it is to picture to himself the facts and who has it in his power to feel the same emotion as his client whose interests are at stake?