Even when we turn to the judge and the praetor has given us permission to speak, we should not burst out talking right away, but take a brief pause for reflection. Caution on the part of the one about to speak pleases the audience, and allows the judge time to compose himself.
Homer teaches this through the example of Ulysses, whom he describes as standing still with eyes fixed on the ground and sceptre held steady before he releases his storm of eloquence.32 During this pause, there are certain ‘delaying tactics’, as actors call them, that are not inappropriate, such as stroking our head, looking at our hands, snapping our fingers, feigning a struggle, revealing anxiety with a sigh or whatever suits us better. These tactics can be continued for a longer period if the judge is not yet paying attention.
Our stance should be upright, our feet placed parallel and a little apart, or perhaps the left one set forwards just a bit. The knees should be unbent but not stiff, the shoulders relaxed, our facial expression serious, not mournful or blank or apathetic. The arms should be at a slight distance from our sides, the left hand placed as I have explained above,33 the right, as we are about to begin, extended beyond the fold of the toga in as modest a gesture as possible, as if waiting for the signal to commence.
The following are all mistakes: looking at the ceiling, rubbing the face to give it a rude appearance, jutting the head forwards insolently, knitting the eyebrows to look fiercer, unnaturally pushing the hair back from the forehead for shock value; also (a common practice of the Greeks) feigning thought by twitching fingers or lips, coughing loudly, jutting one foot far forwards, clutching part of the toga with the left hand, standing with legs spread apart, or stiff, or bent backwards, or stooping, or hunching our shoulders like wrestlers.