Humor

Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory

Translated by H.E. Butler (1920)

Humor in Rhetoric


The Difficulty of Using Humor Successfully in Oratory: Demonsthenes and Cicero			I now turn to a very different talent, namely that which dispels the graver emotions of the judge by exciting his laughter, frequently diverts his attention from the facts of the case, and sometimes even refreshes him and revives him when he has begun to be bored or wearied by the case. How hard it is to attain success in this connection is shown by the cases of the two great masters of Greek and Roman oratory. For many think Demosthenes was deficient in his faculty, and that Cicero used it without discrimination. Indeed, it is impossible to suppose that Demonsthenes deliberately avoided all display of humor, since his few jests are so unworthy of his other excellences that they clearly show that he lacked the power, not merely that he disliked to use it. Cicero, on the other hand, was regarded as being unduly addicted to jests, not merely outside the courts, but in his actual speeches as well. Personally (though whether I am right in this view, or have been led astray by an exaggerated admiration for the prince of orators, I cannot say), I regard him as being the possessor of a remarkable turn of wit. For his daily speech was full of humor, while in his disputes in court and in his examination of witnesses he produced more good jests than any other, while the somewhat insipid jokes which he launches against Verres are always attributed by him to others and produced as evidence: wherefore, the more vulgar they are, the more probable it is that they are not the invention of the orator, but were current as public property. I wish, however, that Tiro, or whoever it may have been that published the three books of Cicero's jest, had restricted their number and had shown more judgment in selecting have been less exposed to the censure of his calumniators, although the latter will, in any case, as in regard to all the manifestations of his genius, find it easier to detect superfluities than deficiencies.
Problems Related to the Use of Humor in Rhetoric			The chief difficulty which confronts the orator in this connection lies in the fact that sayings designed to raise a laugh are generally untrue (and falsehood always involves a certain meanness), and are often deliberately distorted, and further, never complimentary: while the judgments formed by the audience on such jests will necessarily vary, since the effect of a jest depends not on the reason, but and emotion which it is difficult, if not impossible, to describe. For I do not think that anybody can give an adequate explanation, though many have attempted to do so, of the cause of laughter, which is excited not merely by words or deeds, but sometimes even by touch. Moreover, there is great variety in the things which raise a laugh not merely at those words or action which are smart or witty, but also at those which reveal folly, anger or fear. Consequently, the cause of laughter is uncertain, since laugher is never far removed from derision. For, as Cicero says, "Laughter has its basis in some kind or other of deformity or ugliness," and whereas , when we point to such a blemish in others, the result is known as wit, it is called folly when the dame jest is turned against ourselves.
The Irresistibility of Humor			Now, though laughter may be regarded as a trivial matter, and an emotion frequently awakened by buffoons, actors or fools, it has a certain imperious force of its own which it is very hard to resist. It often breaks out against our will and extorts confession of its power, not merely from our face and voice, but convulses the whole body as well. Again, it frequently turns the scale in matters of great importance, as I have already observed: for instance, it often dispels hatred or anger. A proof of this is given by the story of the young men of Tarntum, who had made a number of scurrilous criticisms of Pyrrhus over the dinner table: they were called upon to answer for their statements, and, since the charge was one that admitted neither of denial nor of excuse, they succeeded in escaping, thanks to a happy jest which made the king laugh; for one of the accused said, "Yes, and if the bottle hadn't been empty, we should have killed you!" a jest which succeeded in dissipating the animosity which the charge had aroused.
Nature and Opportunity as Essential to Humor			Still, whatever the essence of humor my be, and although I would not venture to assert that it is altogether independent of art (for it involves a certain power of observation, and rules for its employment have been laid down by writers both of Greece and Rome), I will insist on this much, that is depends mainly on nature and opportunity. The influence of nature consists not merely in the fact that one man is quicker or cleverer than another in the invention of jests (for such a power can be increased by teaching), but also in the possession of some peculiar charm of look or manner, the effect of which is such that the same remarks would be less entertaining if uttered by another. Opportunity, on the other hand is dependent on circumstances, and is of such importance that with its assistance not merely the unlearned, but even mere country bumpkins are capable of producing effective witticisms: while much again may depend on some previous remark made by another which will provide opportunity for repartee. For wit always appears to greater advantage in reply than in attack.
The Difficulty of Teaching Other How to be Humorous			We are also confronted by the additional difficulty that there are no specific exercises for the development of humor nor professors to teach it. Consequently, while convivial gatherings and conversation give rise to frequent displays of wit, since daily practice develops the faculty, oratorical wit is rare, for it has no fixed rules to guide it, but must adapt itself to the ways of the world. There has, however, never been anything to prevent the composition of themes such as will afford scope for humor, so that our controversial declamations may have an admixture of jests, while special topics may be set which will give the young student practice in the play of wit. Nay, even those pleasantries in which we indulge on certain occasions of festive license (and to which we give the name of mots, as, indeed, they are), if only a little more good sense were employed in their invention, and they were seasoned by a slight admixture of seriousness, might afford a most useful training. As it is, they serve merely to divert the young merrymakers...
Applications of Humor to Oratory			The essence, however, of the subject which we are now discussing is the excitement of laugher, and consequently the whole of this topic is entitled by the Greeks. It has the same primary division as other departments of oratory, that is to say, it is concerned with things and words. The applications of humor to oratory may be divided into three heads: for there are three things out of which we may seek to raise a laugh, to wit, others, ourselves, or things intermediate. In the first case we either reprove or refute or make light of or retort or deride the arguments of others. In the second we speak of things which concern ourselves in a humorous manner and, to quote the words of Cicero, say things which have a suggestion of absurdity. For there are certain sayings which are regarded as folly if they slip from us unawares, but as witty if uttered ironically. The third kind consists, as Cicero also tells us, in cheating expectations, in taking words in a different sense from what was intended, and in other things which affect neither party to the suit, and which I have, therefore, styled intermediate. Further, things designed to raise a laugh may either be said or done. In the latter case laughter is sometimes caused by an act possessing a certain element of seriousness as well, as in the case of Marcus Caelius the praetor, who, when the consul Isauricus broke his curule chair, had another put in its place, the seat of which was made of leather thongs, by way of allusion to the story that the consul had once been scourged by his father: sometimes, again, it is aroused by an act which passes the grounds of decency, as in the case of Caelius's box, a jest which was not fit for an orator or any respectable man to make. On the other hand the joke may lie in some remark about a ridiculous look or gesture; such jests are very attractive, more especially when delivered with every appearance of seriousness; for there are no jests so insipid as those which parade the fact that they are intended to be witty. Still, although the gravity with which a jest is uttered increases its attraction, and the mere fact that the speaker does not laugh himself makes his words laughable, there is also such a thing as a humorous look, or gesture, provided always that they observe the happy mean. Further, a jest will either be free and lively, like the majority of those uttered by Aulus Galba, or abusive, like those with which Junius Bassus recently make us familiar, or bitter, like those of Domitius Afer. Much depends on the occasion on which as jest is uttered. For in social gatherings and the intercourse of every day a certain freedom is not unseemly in persons of humble rank, while liveliness is becoming to all. Our jests should never be designed to wound, and we should never make it our ideal to lose a friend sooner than lose a jest. Where the battles of the courts are concerned I am always better pleased when it is possible to indulge in gentle raillery, although it is, of course, permissible to be abusive or bitter in the words we use against our opponents, just as it is permissible to accuse them openly of crime, and to demand the last penalty of the law. But in the curt as elsewhere it is regarded as inhuman to hit a man when he is down, either because he is the innocent victim of misfortune or because such attacks may recoil on those who make them. Consequently, the first points to be taken into consideration are who the speaker is, what is the nature of the case, who is the judge, who is the victim, and what is the character of the remarks that are made. It is most unbecoming for an orator to distort his features or use uncouth gestures, tricks that arouse such merriment in farce. No less becoming are ribald jests, and such as are employed upon the stage. As for obscenity, it should not merely be banished from his language, but should not even be suggested. For even if our opponent has rendered himself liable to such a charge, our denunciation should not take the form of a jest. Further, although I want my orator to speak with wit, on every possible occasion, but most sacrifice a jest sooner than sacrifice his dignity. Again, no will endure an accuser who employs jests to season a really horrible case, nor an advocate for the defence who makes merry over one that calls for pity. Moreover, there is a type of judge whose temperament is too serious to allow him to tolerate laugher. It may also happen that a just directed against an opponent may apply to the judge or to our own client, although there are some orators who do not refrain even from jests that may recoil upon themselves. This was the case with Sulpicius Longus, who, despite the fact that he was himself surpassingly hideous, asserted of a man against whom he was appearing in a case involving his status as a free man, that even his face was the face of a slave. To this Domintius After replied. "Is it our profound conviction, Longus, that an ugly man must be a slave?" Insolence and arrogance are likewise to be avoided, nor must our jests seem unsuitable to the time or place, or give the appearance of studied premeditation, or smell of the lamp, while those directed against the unfortunate are, as I have already said, inhuman. Again, some advocates are men of such established authority and such known respectability, that any insolence shown them would only hurt the assailant. As regards the way in which we should deal with the friends I have already given instructions. It is the duty not merely of an orator, but of any reasonable human being, when attacking one whom it is dangerous to offend to take care that his remarks do not end in exciting serous enmity, or the neccessity for a groveling apology. Sarcasm that applies to a number of persons in injudicious: I refer to cases where it is directed against whole nations or classes of society, or against rank and pursuits which are common to many. A good man will see that everything he says is consistent with his dignity and the respectability of his character; for we pay too dear for the laugh we raise if it is at the cost of our own integrity.
Appropriate Topics of Humor			It is, however, a difficult task to indicate the sources from which laughter may be legitimately derived or the topics where it may be naturally employed. To attempt to deal exhaustively with the subject would be an interminable task and a waste of labor. For the topics suitable to jest are no less numerous than those from which we may derive reflections, as they are called, and are, moreover, identical with the latter. The powers of invention and expression come into play no less where jests will depend in part on the choice of words, in part derived either from his character as revealed in his words and actions, or from external sources; for all forms of raillery come under one or other of these heads; if the raillery is serious, we style it as sever; of, on the other hand, it is of a lighter character, we regard it as humorous. These themes for jest may be pointed out to the eye or described in words or indicated by some mot. It is only on rare occasions that it is possible to make them visible to the eye, as Gaius Julius did when Helvius Mancia kept clamouring against him. "I will show you what you're like!" he cried, and then, as Mancia persisted in asking him to do so, pointed with his finger at the picture of a Gaul painted on a Cimbric shield, a figure to which Mancia bore a striking resemblance. There were shops round the forum and the shield had been hung up over one of them by way of a sign. The narration of a humorous story may often be used with clever effect and is a device eminently becoming to an orator.
			On the other hand brevity in wit gives greater point and speed. It may be employed in two ways, according as we are the aggressors, or are replying to our opponents; the method, however, in both cases is to some extent the same. For there is nothing that can be said in attack that cannot be used in riposte. But there are certain points which are peculiar to reply. For remarks designed for attack are usually brought ready-made into court, after long thought at home, whereas those made in reply are usually improvised during a dispute or the cross-examination of witnesses. But though there are many topics on which we may draw for our jests, I must repeat that not all these topics are becoming to orators: above all doubles entendres and obscenity, such as is dear to the Atellan farce, are to be avoided, as also are those coarse jibes so common on the lips of the rabble, where the ambiguity of words is turned to the service of abuse. I cannot even approve of a similar form of jest, that sometimes slipped out even from Cicero, thought not when he was pleading in the courts: for example, once when a candidate, alleged to be the son of a cook, solicited someone else's vote in his presence, he said, Ego quoque tibi favebo. I say this not because I object absolutely to all play on words capable of two different meanings, but because such jests are rarely effective, unless they are helped out by actual facts as wee as similarity of sound. For example, regard the jest which Cicero leveled against that same Isauricus, whom I mentioned above, as being little less than sheer buffoonery. "I wonder," he said, "why your father, the steadiest of men, left behind him such a stripy gentleman as yourself." On the other hand, the following instance of the same type of wit is quite admirable: when Milo's accuser, by way of proving that he had lain in wait for clodius, alleged that he had put up at Bovillae before the ninth hour in order to wait until Clodius left his villa, and kept repeating the question, "When was Clodius killed" . Cicero replied, "Late!" a retort which in itself justifies us in refusing to exclude this type of wit altogether.
Using Humor to Refute Charges			Refutation consists in denying, rebutting, defending or making light of a charge, and each of these affords scope for humour. Manius Curius, for example, showed humor in the way in which he denied a charge that had been brought against him. His accuser had produced a canvas, in every scene of which he was depicted either as naked and in prison or as being restored to freedom by his friends paying off his gambling debts. His only comment was, "Did I never win, then"? Sometimes we rebut a charge openly, as Cicero did when he refuted the extravagant lies of Vibius Curius about his age: "Well, then," he remarked, "in the says when you and I used to practice declamation together, you were not even born." At other times we may rebut it by pretending to agree. Cicero, for example, when Fabia the wife of Dolabella asserted that her age was thirty, remarked, "That is true, for I have heard it for the last twenty years." Sometimes too it is effective to add something more biting in place of the charge which is denied, as eas done by Junius Bassus when Domitia the wife of Passienus complained that by the way of accusing her of meanness he had alleged that she even sold old shoes. "No," he repied, "I never said anything of the sort." I said you bought them." A witty travesty of defence was once produced by a Roman knight who was charged by Augustus with having squandered his patrimony. "I thought it was my own," he answered. As regards making light of a charge, there are two ways in which this may be done. We may throw cold water on the excessive boasts of our opponent, as was done by Gaius Caesar, when Pomponius displayed a wound in his face which he had received in the rebellion of Sulpicius and which he boasted he had received while fighting for Caesar: "You should never look round," he retorted, "when you are running away." Or we may do the same with some charge that is brought against us, as was done by Cicero when he remarked to those who reproached him for marrying Pubilia, a young unwedded girl, when he was already over sixty, "Well, she will be a woman tomorrow." Some style this type of jest consequent and, so on the ground that both jests seem to follow so naturally and inevitably, class it with the jest which Cicero leveled against Curio, who always began his speeches by asking indulgence for his youth : "You will find your exordium easier every day," he said. Another method of making light of a statement is to suggest a reason. Cicero employed this method against Vatinius. The latter was lame and, wishing to make it seem that his health was improved, said that he could now walk as much as two miles. "Yes," said Cicero, "for the days are longer."
Humor as Deception of Anticipation			There remains the prettiest of all forms of humor, namely the jest which depends for success on deceiving anticipations or taking another's words in a sense other than he intended. The unexpected element may be employed by the attacking party, as in the example city by Cicero, "What does this man lack save wealth and virtue?" or in the remark of Afer, "For pleading causes he is most admirably-dressed". Or it may be employed to meet a statement made by another, as it was by Cicero on hearing a false report of Vatinius' death: he had met one of the latter's freedmen and asked him, "Is all well?" The freedman answered, "All is well." To which Cicero replied, "Is he dead, then?"
Humor as the Effects of Absurdity and Insult			Effects of mild absurdity are produced by the simulation of folly and would, indeed, themselves, be foolish were they not fictitious. Take as an example the remark of the man who, when people said, "It will do for lunch." There are also sayings closely resembling absurdities which derive great point from their sheer irrelevance, like the reply of Dolabella's slave, who, on being asked whether his master had advertised a sale of his property, answered, "He has sold his house." Sometimes you may get out of a tight corner by giving a humorous explanation of your embarrassment, as the man did who asked a witness, who alleged that he had been wounded by the accused, whether he had any scar to show for it. The witness proceeded to show a huge scar on his thigh, on which he remarked, "I wish he had wounded you in the side." A happy use may also be made of insult. Hispo, for example, when the accuser charged him with scandalous crimes, replied, "You judge my character by your own"; while Fulvius Propinquus, when asked by the representative of the emperor whether the documents which he produced were autographs, replied, "Yes, Sir, and the handwriting is genuine, too!"
			Such, I have either learned from others or discovered from my own experience to be the commonest sources of humor. But I must repeat that the number of ways in which one may speak wittily are of no less infinite variety than those in which one may speak seriously, for they depend on persons, place, time and chances, which are numberless. I have, therefore, touched on the topics of humor that I may not be taxed with having omitted them; but with regard to my remarks on the actual practice and manner of jesting, I venture to assert that they are absolutely indispensable.
A Distinction: Humor and Urbane Wit			To these Domintius Marusus, who wrote an elaborate tratise on Urbanity, adds several types of saying, which are not laughable, but rather elegant sayings with a certain charm and attraction of their own, which are suitable even to speeches of the most serious kind : they are characterized of a certain urbane wit, but not of a kind to raise a laugh. And as a matter of fact his work was not designed to deal with humor, but with urbane wit, a quality which he regards as peculiar to this city, though it was not till a late period that it was understood in this sense, after the word Urbs had come to be accepted as indicating Rome without the addition of any proper noun. He defines it as follows: "Urbanity is a certain quality of language compressed into the limits of a brief saying and adapted to delight and move men to every kind of emotion, but specially suitable to resistance or attack according as the person or circumstances concerned may demand." But this definition, if we except the quality of brevity being essential I do not know, since in the same book he asserts that many speaker have revealed their urbanity in narrative. And a little later he gives the following definition, which is, as he says, based on the views expressed by Cato: "Urbanity is the characteristic of a man who has produced many good sayings and replies, and who, whether in conversation, in social or convivial gatherings, in public speeches, or under any other circumstances, will speak with humor and appropriateness. If any orator do this, he will undoubtedly succeed in making his audience laugh."

Source: Quintilian. Institutes of Oratory. 4 vols. Trans. H.E. Butler. London: William Heinemann, 1920.

Thanks to Lisa Flesch for her help in preparing this text.

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