"Negestus noster sit gestus histrionis vel operarii, similiter et vox et vultus" : "pronuntiatio" in Geoffrey de Vinsauf’s lecture on the art of poetry

The article focuses on the instructions concerning pronuntiatio, embraced in two poetical treaties of Geoffrey de Vinsauf (De Vino Salvo): the Documentum de modo et de arte dictandi et versificandi (before 1208) and the Poetria nova (between 1208 and 1214). According to the author of the poetriae, it is the delivery that makes a poetical work complete. It merits codification as strict as the rules of the former parts of poetical creation - inventio, dispositio, elocutio, and memoria - moreover, it determines the value of the whole. Description of the mechanism of the pronunciation presented by Geoffrey depends on the contemporary philosophy of language. The pronuntiatio, defined as the combination of three languages - languages of mouth, face and gestures - is a visual projection of the speech, performing in the three dimensions simultaneously. The delivery constitutes a manifestation of the ethos of the orator and the poet. Evidently, Geoffrey‘s conception of the oratory stays under the influence of, beside Quintilian and Cicero, St. Augustine. Evoking a short passus of the Rhetorica ad Herennium, Geoffrey indicates the basic restriction concerning rhetorical performances: the gestures of the orator cannot be identical to those of the actor or the craftsman (Rhet. Her. 3.26). Not only does this distinction highlight the importance of the moderation as the main virtue of the delivery, but also, discussed almost wrathly, seems to be a sign of the medieval controversies over the theatre and the representation of the comoediae.