George P. Marsh, Lectures on the English
Language (London: John Murray, 1863) p. 299.
George P. Marsh
LECTURES ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Ancient Culture
Mode of reading among the ancients:
ancient habits of thought.
§ 3. The Oriental nations, whose manuscripts resemble those of
the ancients in wanting capitals, italics and punctuation, are
leisurely readers, and as they follow the writing with the eye,
they very frequently articulate the words, or at least move the
lips, as we are apt to do in deciphering a difficult chirography.
Indeed, such is the difficulty of reading manuscript so penned,
that in cases where etiquette or other reasons require a written
instead of a verbal message, the letter is sometimes accompanied by
a reader to explain its purport to the recipient. A curious passage
in the 'Confessions' of St. Augustine seems to imply that the
ancients usually articulated the words in their private reading;
for it is remarked as a noteworthy particular in the habits of St.
Ambrose, that he read by the eye alone, when engaged in private
study.
"When Ambrose was reading," says Augustine, "his eye passed over
the page, and his mind searched out the sense of his author, but
his organs of speech were silent. We often saw him studying in this
inaudible way, and never otherwise, and we supposed that he feared,
that if he read aloud, he should be interrupted by those who heard
him with questions about the meaning of obscure passages; or,
perhaps, the desire of sparing his voice, which was easily
fatigued, was still a better reason for this silent study."--Conf.
lib. vi. § 3.
But the ancient habits of thought were wholly
irreconcilable with the inconsecutive, discontinuous style of
relation or discussion and expression so prevalent in our time.
Sententious, indeed, and highly elliptical the classical writers
often were, but the thoughts were nevertheless consequent, and
logically connected, though some links of the chain might be left
to the reader's sagacity to supply.
...
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