2.  The voice must not be jerky.  Here we must keep jealous watch over ourselves.  The entire interest of diction arises from a fusion of tones.  The tones of the voice are sentient beings, who love, hold converse, follow each other and blend in a harmonious union.

3.  It is never necessary to dwell upon the sound we have just left; this would be to fall into that jerky tone we wish to avoid.

Of Respiration and Silence.

We place respiration and silence under the same head because of their affinity, for respiration may often be accounted silence.

Of silence.—­Silence is the father of speech, and must justify it.  Every word which does not proceed from silence and find its vindication in silence, is a spurious word without claim or title to our regard.  Origin is the stamp, in virtue of which we recognize the intrinsic value of things.  Let us, then, seek in silence the sufficient reason of speech, and remember that the more enlightened the mind is, the more concise is the speech that proceeds from it.  Let us assume, then, that this conciseness keeps pace with the elevation of the mind, and that when the mind arrives at the perception of the true light, finding no words that can portray the glories open to its view, it keeps silent and admires.  It is through silence that the mind rises to perfection, for silence is the speech of God.

Apart from this consideration, silence recommends itself as a powerful agent in oratorical effects.  By silence the orator arouses the attention of his audience, and often deeply moves their hearts.  When Peter Chrysologue, in his famous homily upon the gospel miracle of the healing of the issue of blood, overcome by emotion, paused suddenly and remained silent, all present immediately burst into sobs.

Furthermore, silence gives the orator time and liberty to judge of his position.  An orator should never speak without having thought, reflected and arranged his ideas.  Before speaking he should decide upon his stand-point, and see clearly what he proposes to do.  Even a fable may be related from many points of view; from that of expression as well as gesture, from that of inflection as well as articulate speech.  All must be brought back to a scene in real life, to one stand-point, and the orator must create for himself, in some sort, the role of spectator.

Silence gives gesture time to concentrate, and do good execution.

One single rule applies to silence:  Wherever there is ellipsis, there is silence.  Hence the interjection and conjunction, which are essentially elliptic, must always be followed by a silence.

Respiration.—­For the act of respiration, three movements are necessary:  inspiration, suspension and expiration.

Its importance.—­Respiration is a faithful rendering of emotion.  For example:  He who reigns in the skies.  Here is a proposition which the composed orator will state in a breath.  But should he wish to prove his emotion, he inspires after every word. He—­who—­reigns—­in—­the—­skies.  Multiplied inspirations can be tolerated on the strength of emotion, but they should be made as effective as possible.