Rhetoric Day 112.1

Posted on August 22, 2011 by David Oliver
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[I]n speaking conserve stability mainly by using for the Introduction a voice as calm and composed as possible. . . . And it is appropriate to use rather long pauses – the voice is refreshed by respiration and the windpipe is rested by silence. We should also relax from continual use of the full voice and pass to the tone of conversation; for, as the result of changes, no one kind of tone is spent, and we are complete in the entire range. . . . [A]t the end of the speech it is proper to deliver long periods in one unbroken breath, . . . and the voice, which has been used in a variety of tones, is restored to a kind of uniform and constant tone.

 - Cicero "Ad Herennium"

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