If you consult the sort of person whom starvation has taught new tricks, you will have someone to regulate your steps, watch every mouthful as you eat, and go to such lengths as you yourself, by enduring him and believing in him, have encouraged his effrontery to go.
"What, then?" you will ask; "is my voice to begin at the outset with shouting and straining the lungs to the utmost?"
No; the natural thing is that it be aroused to such a pitch by easy stages, just as persons who are wrangling begin with ordinary conversational tones and then pass to shouting at the top of their lungs. No speaker cries "Help me, citizens!" at the outset of his speech.
Therefore, whenever your spirit's impulse prompts you, raise a hubbub, now in louder now in milder tones, according as your voice, as well as your spirit, shall suggest to you, when you are moved to such a performance.
Then let your voice, when you rein it in and call it back to earth, come down gently, not collapse; it should trail off in tones halfway between high and low, and should not abruptly drop from its raving in the uncouth manner of countrymen. For our purpose is, not to give the voice exercise, but to make it give us exercise.
The worship of the flesh, where the trappings on the outside become more important than the dignity on the inside, will reveal itself in many symptoms. Instead of realizing that all human beauty ultimately flows from character, we focus only on the strength in the muscle, or the power in the frame, or the curve in the contour. Rather than being in awe of a greatness in the spirit, we are distracted by the smell of a perfume, or the glimmer in an eye, or the sound of a voice.
We forget that these physical aspects are, quite literally, lifeless without being charged and informed by a glorious soul. Take away that spark, and there is nothing else than a pile of dry kindling.
Filled with dread at the prospect of another night of vacuous socializing, a college friend once raised his glass in mockery: “I want to thank my parents for spending a hundred thousand dollars so I can discover this wisdom of post-modernity, that a woman is measured by her breasts, and a man is measured by his ass. If they aren’t shaped quite right, you can always pad them with cash.” Perhaps said with too much bitterness, but sadly still true.
Given the Roman admiration for fine oratory, it should come as no surprise that Seneca here considers people who worry more about how their voices sound than the content of what they say. Like the bodybuilders who like to admire themselves in the mirror, they fall in love with their own dulcet tones.
When being dragged into teaching became unavoidable, I had to learn the hard way that I spoke too quietly, mumbled behind my hands, and rushed through everything I said. If I was to commit myself to saying something worthwhile, people might as well be able to hear me say it, so I practiced long and hard at articulating, phrasing, and projecting my words. The classroom itself was my training ground.
A few years later, I was asked to help with a school debate team, and I reluctantly agreed, against my better judgment. “I’m not sure I’m the right man for the job.”
“Oh no, you’re perfect for it. I notice how the students listen to you.” Who says flattery doesn’t work?
It was a grueling experience, however, because another teacher I was told to work with was convinced that we only needed to train them in precise elocution, impressive vocabulary, clever witticisms, and sweeping gestures. She also liked to tell them that ridiculing an opponent was a great way to gain points.
“I’ll leave all that stuff to you,” I told her, “since I’m not really cut out for it. Maybe I’ll just give them some suggestions on the logical form of their arguments.”
“That’s nice, but it isn’t what wins debates. Maybe you can take some notes this year, and next year you can follow the rules you learned.”
I can bring myself to tolerate such thinking in others, and yet that is never what I have in mind when I think about winning. My own definition of success, however odd it may seem, comes from a sense of actually doing the job, not from merely being seen to be doing the job.
How it is said does matter, while the meaning of what is said matters more, as the appearance must be in service to the substance, and the body must be in service to the soul.
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