[127]
I know, too, that some authorities
warn us not to walk with our backs turned to the
judges, but to move diagonally and keep our eyes
fixed on the panel. This cannot be done in private
trials, but in such cases the space available is small
and the time during which our backs are turned is of
the briefest.1 On the other hand, we are permitted
at times to walk backwards gradually. Some even
jump backwards, which is merely ludicrous.
1 The normal arrangement was for the president of the court and judges to sit on a tribunal or dais. The advocates and parties to the suit were on the ground in front. When pleading before a large jury the orator could walk diagonally, half-facing the jury, without at any rate turning his back on too many at a time. When, however, there was but a single judge, as in a private trial, the feat would he more difficult, But apparently the court took up less room in such cases, and the orator's peregrinations would be but small. See ยง 134 note.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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