[89]
For
the orator should be as unlike a dancer as possible,
and his gesture should be adapted rather to his
thought than to his actual words, a practice which
was indeed once upon a time even adopted by the
more dignified performers on the stage. I should,
therefore, permit him to direct his hand towards his
body to indicate that he is speaking of himself, or to
point it at some one else to whom he is alluding,
together with other similar gestures which I need
not mention. But, on the other hand, I would not
allow him to use his hands to imitate attitudes or to
illustrate anything he may chance to say.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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