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| Chapter XXIII. Jests, although at times they may be quite proper, should be altogether banished among clerics. The voice should be plain and frank.
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Chapter XXIII.
Jests, although at times they may be quite proper,
should be altogether banished among clerics. The voice should be
plain and frank.
102. Men of the
world give many further rules about the way to speak,152
which I think we may pass over; as, for instance, the way jesting
should be conducted.153
| 153 Cic. de
Off. I. 29, § 103. | For though at
times jests may be proper and pleasant, yet they are unsuited to the
clerical life. For how can we adopt those things which we do not
find in the holy Scriptures?
103. We must also take care that in relating
stories we do not alter the earnest purpose of the harder rule we have
set before us. “Woe unto you that laugh, for ye shall
weep,”154
says the Lord.
Do we seek for something to laugh at, that laughing here we may weep
hereafter? I think we ought to avoid not only broad jokes, but
all kinds of jests, unless perchance it is not unfitting at the time
for our conversation to be agreeable and pleasant.
104. In speaking of the voice, I certainly
think it ought to be plain and clear.155
| 155 Cic. de
Off. I. 37, § 133. | That it
should be musical is a gift of nature, and is not to be won by
exertion. Let it be distinct in its pronunciation and full of a
manly vigour, but let it be free from a rough and rustic twang.
See, too, that it does not assume a theatrical accent, but rather keeps
true to the inner meaning of the words it utters.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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