Speak slowly. Seneca, Epistles 4.40.11-14
Seneca
concludes his epistle on how philosophers should talk by telling
Lucilius to speak slowly and earnestly, making no concessions to the
bashfulness that drives some orators never to pause.
Quaedam
tamen et nationibus puto magis aut minus convenire. In Graecis hanc
licentiam tuleris: nos etiam cum scribimus interpungere assuevimus.
Cicero quoque noster, a quo Romana eloquentia exsiluit, gradarius
fuit. Romanus sermo magis se circumspicit et aestimat praebetque
aestimandum. Fabianus, vir egregius et vita et scientia et, quod post
ista est, eloquentia quoque, disputabat expedite magis quam
concitate, ut posses dicere facilitatem esse illam, non celeritatem.
Hanc ego in viro sapiente recipio, non exigo; ut oratio eius sine
impedimento exeat, proferatur tamen malo quam profluat.
Eo
autem magis te deterreo ab isto morbo quod non potest tibi ista res
contingere aliter quam si te pudere desierit: perfrices frontem
oportet et te ipse non audias; multa enim inobservatus ille cursus
feret quae reprendere velis. Non potest, inquam, tibi contingere res
ista salva verecundia. Praeterea exercitatione opus est cotidiana et
a rebus studium transferendum est ad verba. Haec autem etiam si
aderunt et poterunt sine ullo tuo labore decurrere, tamen temperanda
sunt; nam quemadmodum sapienti viro incessus modestior convenit, ita
oratio pressa, non audax. Summa ergo summarum haec erit: tardilocum
esse te iubeo. Vale.
I
think different modes of delivery suit different nations better.
Among the Greeks, you will get away with the wild license of a
Haterius. We Romans, on the other hand, have always been fond of
punctuation, even when we write. Our own Cicero, the fount from which
Roman eloquence took rise, was an ambler, measuring his words with
pauses. Roman speech takes time to look about, to assess the matter
it addresses and give some sense of everything there that warrants
consideration. Fabianus (†) was a man outstanding for his life and
knowledge, and for his eloquence too, though that comes properly last
in the list of his attributes. He would speak at leisure rather than
be in a hurry, with the result that you could call his delivery
fluent rather than fast. I accept this kind of eloquence in a wise
man, but I don't demand it. In order that his speech may proceed
without obstruction, I prefer that it flow rather than overflow.
I
insist on warning you off the sickness of slick delivery all the more
in light of the fact that you cannot achieve proper oratory until you
lose the bashfulness that makes folk jabber on. You should stop to
scratch your forehead and make sure you don't hear yourself talking.
Failing to adhere to this course will yield many mistakes that you
would rather avoid. It is impossible, I repeat, that your speech land
well as long as your bashfulness remains intact. You must practice
talking daily, and carry the zeal you feel for matters into the words
you use to discuss them. Even if you have the words ready and waiting
to rush down without delay or struggle, you must hold them back,
keeping them well in check. For even as a slower gait befits the wise
man, so his speech ought to be restrained rather than wild. This
shall be the final sum of my advice: I order you to make a habit of
speaking slowly. Farewell.
---
(†)
Papirius Fabianus composed works of history and philosophy in the day
of Tiberius and Caligula. He was known to Seneca's father
(Controversiae 2), and
Seneca refers approvingly to his philosophy, which he nurtured in the
school of Quintus Sextius (Moral Epistles 100).