_ 722 is: "Haec scaena actuosa est: magis enim in gestu
quam in oratione est constituta." Of gestures emphatic and yet not foreign
to everyday life Quintilian notes (XI. 3. 123): "Femur ferire--et usitatum
et indignantis decet"; a movement plainly employed in _Mil._ 204 and
_Truc._ 601. But, says Quintilian further (ib.): "Complodere manus
scaenicum est et pectus caedere."[82]
One of the notable "hits" of the ancient stage is recorded by Donatus ad
_Phor._ 315: Ambivius (as Phormio) entered "oscitans temulenter atque
aurem minimo scalpens digitulo ... et labia lingens ut ebrius et ructans."
But Ambivius' potations resulted in an extremely spirited and lifelike
imitation of the parasite character and he was forthwith forgiven his
drunkenness.
Passing mention must be made of the Terentian Mss. illustrations, though
they add but little weight to the foregoing. For a complete list of their
sources and editions see Sittl, "Gebaerden der Griechen und Roemer," Chap.
XI, p. 203 ff.[83] But whatever be the exact date of the original, in our
extant copies the old traditional gestures are lost and the gesture of
everyday life supplied. In fact, in the analyses appended by Leo, van
Wageningen and Warnecke, in the works cited above, we arrive at little but
that the gestures natural to any Italian-born person in a like situation
are reproduced, such as "gestus abeuntis, cogitantis, parasiti," etc.
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