THE DRAMATIC VALUES IN PLAUTUS

Auctor ad Herennium we find (III. 15.26): "Convenit igitur in
vultu et pudorem nec acrimoniam esse, in gestu et venustatem nee
turpitudinem, ne aut histriones aut operarii videamur esse."7(}
That the nature and liveliness of gesture on the stage was determined
by the character portrayed, it is almost needless to say.71
Cicero's analysis (de Or. III. 59.220) of the difference between
theatrical and forensic gesture implies that the former illustrates.
individual words and ideas, while the latter comprehends more
broadly the general thought and sentiment.72 It is most unfortunate
that we have lost Cicero's treatise De Gestu Histrionis.73
By Cicero's time a more restrained mode of acting was evidently
considered good taste ; witness de Off. (I. 36. 130) : "Histrionum
non nulli gestus ineptiis non vacant, et quae sunt recta et
simplicia laudantur."74 But the passages cited above bear ample
testimony to the vigor of histrionic gesticulation even at this later
and far more cultivated epoch. Again we repeat, what must have
been the energy and abandon of the original Plautine actor ?75
Apart from the rhetoricians, the most fruitful literary source of
our information on gesture is Donatus' commentary on Terence.
The trustworthiness of this has been the subject of much argument.
SittF6 accuses him of speaking merely from the standpoint of a
professor of rhetoric, as comedies of Terence were no longer
given in the time of Donatus. Weinberger, in his "Beitrage zu
den Buhnenaltherthumern aus Donats Terenz-commentar, "77
admonishes us to be very careful not to put too high a value on the
commentary. Van Wageningen78 is of the opinion that much of
the work was inspired by Donatus' having seen in his own time
70C£. de Or. III. 56.214, III. 22.83, Quint. XI. 3.125, 181-2.
71Quint. XI. 3. II2.
72Cf. Quint. XI. 3.89. 73Cic. ad At!. VI. 1.8.
HC£. de Or. III. 26.102, Quint. XI. 3.71, 89.
"For further treatment of the gestures of orators see Pauly-Wissowa,
Real·Encyclopadie, s. v. histrio: Warnecke in Neue Jahrbiicher, 1910, p. 593 ;
Sittl, Die Gebarden der Griechen und Romer, Chap. XI ; Mart. Cap. 43. In
the other rhetoricians of the later Empire there is much copying of Cicero
and Quintilian, but nothing of significance for our purpose, unless it be the
comparison of the rigid training recommended to the embryo orator. For
further citations, V. Pauly.Wissowa, op. cit.
760p. cit., p. 203.
77 Wiener Studien, Vol. XIV, p. 120.
78Scaen. Rom., p. 52. Cf. Karsten in Mnem. XXXII, (1904) , pp. 209-251,
287-322, who concludes that at least four hands aided in the commentaries.
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