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APPLAUSE (Lat. applaudere, to strike ...
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See also:APPLAUSE (See also:Lat. applaudere, to strike upon, clap) , primarily the expression of approval by clapping of hands, &c.; generally any expression of approval. The See also:custom of applauding is doubt-less as old and as widespread as humanity, and the variety of its forms is limited only by the capacity for devising means of making a See also:noise. Among civilized nations, however, it has at various times been subject to certain conventions. Thu's the See also:Romans had a set See also:ritual of applause for public performances, expressing degrees of approval: snapping the See also:finger and thumb, clapping with the See also:flat or hollow See also:palm, waving the flap of the toga, 2 From Beneventum he followed the older See also:line of the Via See also:Appia to Trevicum; thence, leaving the See also:main road at Aquilonia, he went to Ausculum (" quod versu dicere non est "), the mod. See also:Ascoli Satriano, by a by-road, for the milestones which have been found there, though they probably belong to the Via Traiana, cannot be in their See also:original position, but must have been transplanted thither (Th. See also:Mommsen in Corp. Inscrip. Lat., ix. 1883, No. 6016)—and on to Herdoniae (why Mommsen says that he See also:left Herdoniae on the left, op. cit. p. 592, is not clear), where he joined the line of the later'Via Traiana. for which last the See also:emperor See also:Aurelian substituted a handkerchief (orarium), distributed to all See also:Roman citizens (see See also:STOLE). In the See also:theatre, at the See also:close of the See also:play, the See also:chief actor called out " Valete et plaudite! ", and the See also:audience, guided by an unofficial choregus, chaunted their applause antiphonally. This was often organized and paid for (See also:Bottiger, Uber das Applaudieren See also:im Theater bei den See also:Allen, Leipz., 1822). When See also:Christianity became fashionable the customs of the theatre were transferred to the churches. See also:Eusebius (His'. Eccl. vii. 30) says that See also:Paul of See also:Samosata encouraged the See also:congregation to applaud his See also:preaching by waving See also:linen cloths (bObvacs), and in the 4th and 5th centuries applause of the See also:rhetoric of popular preachers had become an established custom. Though, however, applause may provide a healthy stimulus, its abuse has led to attempts at abolishing or restricting it even in theatres. The institution of the See also:claque, See also:people hired by performers to applaud them, has largely discredited the custom, and indiscriminate applause has been See also:felt as an intolerable interruption to serious performances. The reverential spirit which abolished applause in See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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