Essay on Aulus Metellus
Ancient Roman art mirrored the reality of the ancient Roman civilization and reveal key values, cultural norms and beliefs of ancient Romans. At the same time, ancient Roman works of art depict many famous people, leading politicians, gods, heroes and other renowned humans as well as non-humans. In such a way, ancient Roman art attempted to capture and preserve in the artistic form outstanding figures, although often artists created their works of art depicting rich people because, in such a way, they just earned for living. At this point, it is possible to refer to the statue of Aulus Metellus, the Roman orator, who personifies the rhetorical skillfulness and importance rhetoric played in the life of Roman society.
The pose of the statue manifests the process of speech. At any rate, the artists depicted Aulus Metellus in the course of the delivery of his speech, as if he is referring to the audience and attempts to persuade them and accept his ideas and message. The pitch and angle of the head of the orator imply that the orator is standing above the crowd of listeners, who stand around him. In such a way, the orator stands above the crowd and delivers his speech. However, judging by the angle of his head, he stands slightly above the crowd.
The direction of the gaze of the orator is directed faraway, as if he is looking slightly above heads of his listeners. In such a way, the orator attempts to persuade the audience that he is looking at every listener in the crowd (Depasse, 2001, p.135). The artist attempted to show that the orator is skilful and uses his rhetorical skills and experience. The orator proves to be skillful and efficient in terms of the development of rhetorical skills and art. The gaze of the orator is distant. He looks as if looking somewhere far away. In such a way, the artist reached the effect, when the audience feels as if the orator is speaking about some really important issues, which affect the audience deeply. The gaze focused on distant objects implies that the orator is full of thoughts, which are important and mirror his focus on really of important issues.
The facial expression of the orator his mouth closed and his hand raised imply that the orator has provoked some disputes in the crowd and the audience probably started to oppose or dispute with the orator, whereas the closed mouth and raised hand of the orator means that he tries to stop protests and claims that contradict to the orator. The arm and hand gestures imply that the orator attempts to keep his audience under control and calm people down (Bonesteel, 2000, p.140). At the same time, his left hand remains steady next to his side that implies the calmness of the orator and his self-control. He is not nervous at all and he attempts to convey his calmness to the audience. He raised his right hand and stretched it right to the audience with his open palm directed to listeners trying to show them that he has no evil intentions and he looks for the better for them.
The hairline and hairstyle of the orator is neat that implies that he is a public person, who pays attention to his look and takes care for it. He seems to belong to the upper class and wants to show that he is a nobleman as he wears a classical hairstyle and clothing, toga, that may be viewed as attributes of his aristocratic origin. The suggested aging of the facial features are light and the orator has just started to age since he is still a relatively young man in his late 30s or 40s. The state of health is apparently good judging by slightly puffy areas of the face, especially on his cheeks. In such a way, he looks to be healthy and wealthy. At any rate, the orator definitely belongs to the upper-class.
The arrangement and style of the attire, including his toga, also prove his belongingness to the upper-class. At the same time, his toga shows that the orator is a civilian. He is not the military by any means. His only weapon is his word and his eloquence. He is calm that means that he apparently is accustomed to talk in face of a large crowd (Collins, 2004, p. 212). The details of gesture body language show clearly that he knows how to keep the attention of his audience and how to control his listeners in the course of the speech. He stays calm, when necessary. He raises his hand to suppress any protests or words, different from his own. His facial expression is calm and steady.
At the same time, betoken both the man’s demeanor or hexis (public image) are obvious. He stays straight. He is capable to manipulate with the audience and control it with the power of his words and speech. Inner attitudes and the engagement of the statue’s subject in the political process of his times are obvious. The orator delivers a speech to the audience, which probably is political or socially important in any way. He is always aware that the audience may disagree with him and soothes the audience by his calmness and steadiness. He delivers an important speech judging by his eye expression (MacGregor, 2002, p.138). These behavioral aspects are caught in the artist’s narrative ‘snapshot’ of an everyday occurrence. He seems to be absolutely accustomed to delivering speeches in public spaces. He is not nervous at all. He manifests his ability to keep his audience under control and deliver his messages clearly. He seems to be quite persuading judging from his body language. He uses his body language to the full extent. He shows that he knows what he wants to say and what body language to use to make his speech persuading.
Since Roman men of consequence lived very much in a face-to-face public arena, it is also possible to assume that the original event represented included spectators. In fact, Aulus Metellus apparently delivered his speech and he used the face-to-face public communication. His speech was delivered to the audience and the orator uses his speech to convey his ideas and messages to the audience. In such a way, he attempts to develop a persuading speech.
Thus, Aulus Metellus was depicted by the artist skillfully and shows how Roman orators looked like and what techniques they used in the course of their speech. The artist showed the power of his body language. The audience of the orator are implicit but it is possible to suggest the audience around and slightly lower than the orator was located.
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