[56]
Some indeed actually affect this mannerism, as though to suggest that they are struggling
with the host of ideas that crowd themselves upon
them and oppressed by a greater flood of eloquence
than their throats are capable of uttering. Others,
again, find a difficulty in opening their mouths, and
seem to struggle with their words; and, further,
although they are not actually faults of the voice,
yet since they arise out of the use of the voice,
I think this is the most appropriate place for
referring to the habit of coughing and spitting with
frequency while speaking, of hawking up phlegm
from the depths of the lungs, like water from a
well,1 sprinkling the nearest of the bystanders with
saliva, and expelling the greater portion of the
breath through the nostrils.
1 trochea is a windlass used for raising water from a well.
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