Non-Verbal Communication in Ancient Rome: Eyebrow Gestures

: This article analyses the communicative power of eyebrows in ancient Rome within the framework of broader research into gestures from the same period. Our research uses the corpus of Latin literature to describe evidence of gestures in said texts. It then identifies the expressions used by the authors to refer to them and describes how they were performed. Moreover, by analysing the context, it explains the meanings the authors attribute to them. Although the texts do not describe these gestures with the precision required by non-verbal communication research today, our analysis of the selected extracts has enabled us to identify four free eyebrow gestures—contracting, raising, relaxing, and lowering—and associate a meaning to them. In this regard, we have uncovered that Roman writers introduce eyebrow gestures in their work to communicate emotions such as arrogance and humility, and anger or seriousness, and even to identify certain characters. In turn, these gestures are also used to express disapproval and assent in place of


Introduction
There is no doubt that the face harbours a wealth of communicative potential, and this is precisely what Latin authors perceived and reflected in their work.Latin literature therefore represents an important source for examining the meanings Romans attributed to facial gestures.This article concludes our study into different facial gestures in ancient Rome 1 by analysing eyebrow gestures, which Pliny the Elder (Naturalis historia 11, 138) defined as part of the soul: in his [superciliis] pars animi, "and in them [the eyebrows] a part of the soul is situated".
After many years of neglect following the publication of Sittl's canonical work in 1890, research into non-verbal communication in ancient Greece and Rome has undoubtedly seen an upward trend in recent years, with many articles being written across diverse fields such as anthropology, art, languages, etc. 2 Nevertheless, none of these studies aim to produce a repertory of gestures appearing in Latin literature.Certainly, although Sittl's work is hugely important thanks to the wide-ranging information included, it inevitably contains errors and misunderstandings, and suffers from a lack of systematisation in line with current theoretical perspectives on non-verbal aspects of communication.
As already mentioned, the research we have been conducting aims to gather a repertory of gestures in Latin literature.This repertory specifies, on the one hand, the way in which each gesture is performed and, on the other hand, the basic meanings attributed to them by Romans. 3In this sense, we should point out that our research obviously follows the opposite path to gestural research today, which starts from the gestures themselves and then attempts to explain their meaning.Our approach requires us to first uncover evidence of gestures and then attempt to define and characterise them.This is not without its difficulties, since references to how the gesture is performed are often vague and imprecise, and meaning must be inferred from a context with a nuanced interpretation.
Before launching into the main subject of the article, we first need to define the term "gesture" as the basis for our analysis.We take gesture to mean any bodily or facial behaviour that takes on a communicative value in relation to a direct addressee or to a possible observer and that may be controlled by a sender. 4In this vein, gesture would include facial movements, 5 i.e., those made with the mouth, chin, eyes, forehead, and eyebrows.As already stated, this article will specifically focus on eyebrows.It should also be noted that whilst we focus on eyebrow movement, this has repercussions on the forehead, which may wrinkle horizontally or vertically as a result.In this sense, Roman writers may refer to a certain gesture made with the eyebrows by mentioning, or omitting, its effect on the forehead, or even referring only to the wrinkles seen on the latter.

Materials and Methods
Our aim is to locate eyebrow gestures in Latin literature (3rd c.BC-5th c. AC), identify as best we can the often vague expressions the authors use to refer to them, and, by analysing the context, associate them with a meaning.In this sense, research into gestures in ancient Rome relies on written corpora and cannot aim to achieve the same highly detailed description used in current gesture research supported by direct observation of spontaneous or induced behaviour.Indeed, modern research can even specify the direction of wrinkles on the forehead or the speed of eyebrow movement, for example, whereas these aspects cannot be retrieved from our corpus alone.Indeed, many texts allude to the communicative power of eyebrows, particularly with regard to affairs of the heart. 6lthough they do not include any description of gestures being performed, we are able to infer their presence in certain instances.In other works, gestures are mentioned by modifying the nouns supercilium or frons with an adjective referring to the meaning of the gesture, albeit without actually identifying it clearly.These include triste, horridum, trux, graue, seuerum, durum, priscum, censorium, patricium, ingens, and grande for supercilium, and tristis, seuera, proterua, dura, pristina, serena, laeta, tranquilla, humana, and urbana for frons. 7Indeed, our research does not consider these kinds of expressions.It only includes gestures whose performance is described, regardless of how vague and imprecise this may be.
When establishing the different eyebrow gestures Latin authors mention in their work, we first need to look at how Roman treatise writers considered them, especially Quintilian.The rhetorician not only supports what we have highlighted on the communicative power of eyebrows in Institutio oratoria 11, 3, 78-79 (multum et superciliis agitur) but also outlines different possible meanings for eyebrow gestures: his [superciliis] contrahitur attollitur remittitur . . .ira enim contractis, tristitia deductis, hilaritas remissis ostenditur.Adnuendi quoque et renuendi ratione demittuntur aut adleuantur. 8intilian offers a basic initial description of eyebrow gestures made by Romans, looking at both performance and meaning.Thus, he distinguishes four free gestures 9 made with the eyebrows: contracting (contrahitur), raising (attollitur), relaxing (remittitur), and lowering (deductis).We have found these same four gestures in Latin texts and, therefore, we will focus our analysis on them.

Raised Eyebrows
Eyebrows are raised by contracting the epicranius muscle, which causes horizontal wrinkles on the forehead.Latin texts describe this gesture through verbs of vertical motion (bottom to top) that mean "raise" or "lift," such as adleuare, erigere, subducere, tollere, and its compound form adtollere.All these verbs take the noun supercilium as a direct object, generally in the singular form.The adjective arduus ("raised" or "high"), qualifying the noun supercilium, can also be used to describe this gesture.
Latin authors use the gesture as an emblem for disapproval and as an affect display of anger and an arrogant attitude.

Disapproval
In the aforementioned passage (Institutio oratoria 11, 3, 78-79), Quintilian argues that whilst lowering one's eyebrows is a sign of approval, raising them expresses disapproval (renuendi ratione . . .adleuantur).Despite this, there is barely any instance of this gesture in the corpus.We have only found one example alluding to the gesture without actually describing it.In Apuleius, Metamorphoses 6, 7, Jupiter agrees to a request from Venus by not performing the gesture for disapproval: nec rennuit Iouis caerulum supercilium 10 The meaning of disapproval is probably tied to the usual Greek and Roman sign for disagreement: slightly raising one's head and arching the eyebrows.

Anger
Somewhat tied to disapproval, this gesture is also an affect display of anger that, at lower intensity levels, turns into irritation or displeasure.
The gesture expresses a less intense affect display of anger in other texts, linked more to irritation or displeasure. 16hus, in Catullus 67, 41-46, the poet develops the motif of paraclausithyron, even bringing an inanimate object-the ianua ("door")-to life.The door is given a voice to defend itself against the accusations of the exclusus amator, or rejected lover, locked outside his beloved's door.As witness to the lovers' behaviour, the door fears its smears could lead the anonymous character to react by raising their eyebrows, i.e., show irritation: praeterea addebat quendam, quem dicere nolo nomine, ne tollat rubra supercilia. 17 The displeasure conveyed through this gesture 18 can be found in Seneca's De beneficiis 1, 1, 5, in reference to good deeds.The philosopher argues it is a doer's intent that matters, rather than their actions or the outcome.Seneca criticises both those reluctant to fulfil a request or plea by depicting two gestures-furrowing the forehead (frontem adducere) and turning the face away (uoltum auertere (Fornés Pallicer and Puig Rodríguez-Escalona 2010))-and those who agree to a request but arch their eyebrows in displeasure (subducere supercilia): quis non, cum aliquid a se peti suspicatus est, frontem adduxit, uoltum auertit, occupationes simulauit, longis sermonibus et de industria non inuenientibus exitum occasionem petendi abstulit et uariis artibus necessitates properantes elusit, in angusto uero conprensus aut distulit, id est timide negauit, aut promisit, sed difficulter, sed subductis superciliis, sed malignis et uix exeuntibus uerbis? 19

Arrogance
The kinesic act of raising one's eyebrows is an affect display of arrogance.As Pliny states in Naturalis historia 11, 138, the eyebrows in particular express pride and arrogance that come from the heart, travel up to the eyebrows, and remain there: 20 [supercilia] haec maxime indicant fastum; superbia aliubi conceptaculum sed hic sedem habet; in corde nascitur, h<u>c subit, hic pendet.nihil altius simul abruptiusque inuenit in corpore, ubi solitaria esset. 21us, according to ancient Romans, eyebrows were the home of arrogance, to such an extent that the noun supercilium took on the metonymic sense of "arrogance." 22In the same vein, the post-classical adjective superciliosus took on the meanings of two eyebrow gestures: on the one hand, "arrogant," and on the other, "stern," which, as we will see below, comes from the gesture for frowning. 23he meaning of arrogance is commonly used in the specific context of describing philosophers.Indeed, philosophers portrayed in Greek and Roman texts are arrogant, proud, and deliberately distant characters when compared to their contemporaries.They outwardly demonstrate their intellectual superiority over their fellow citizens and determinedly act with laughable seriousness.This description often becomes a caricature, especially in Greek comedies and satires, where philosophers are depicted with raised eyebrows 24 and a wrinkled forehead.Indeed, a furrowed forehead was a defining characteristic for all stoics and philosophers in general from at least the 3rd century BC and indicated philosophers' work ethic and concentration-a highly positive value, although popular custom linked it to arrogance (López Cruces 2008; Grau Guijarro 2017).

Lowered Eyebrows
The gesture for lowered eyebrows is generally expressed in Latin with verbs meaning "lower" or "dip," such as demittere or deducere, both formed with the prefix deto indicate a vertical downwards movement.

Approval
Quintilian uses the expression supercilia demitti to refer to the eyebrow movement for approval.One may surmise the gesture comprises lowering one's eyebrows and keeping the forehead wrinkle-free, in complete contrast to the raised eyebrow gesture with the opposite meaning of disapproval.This is the only text where we have found this sense attributed to lowered eyebrows.Nevertheless, it must surely be linked to the head nod gesture which, in line with current usage, was used in Antiquity to show agreement, understanding, or approval. 34

Humility
This same gesture can also be an affect display of humility as opposed to arrogance, which, as we have seen, is expressed through raising one's eyebrows.The eyebrow gesture must clearly be accompanied by an eye movement lowering the gaze alongside the brow and, in all probability, the head (itself an expression of humility, as highlighted by Quintilian). 35Hence, the texts sometimes refer to the eyebrow gesture and, at other times, the eye or head movement, or both at the same time. 36mmianus Marcellinus alludes to the gesture in 27, 3, 15 with the words humum spectantia, "eyebrows pointing at the ground."Here, Ammianus criticises the sumptuous lifestyle enjoyed by Rome's bishops when they should really live like certain provincial bishops, who, in their inexpensive robes and eyebrows pointed at the ground, are always humble before God and the faithful: Qui esse poterant beati re uera, si magnitudine urbis despecta, quam uitiis opponunt, ad imitationem antistitum quorundam prouincialium uiuerent, quos tenuitas edendi potandique parcissime, uilitas etiam indumentorum, et supercilia humum spectantia, perpetuo numini, uerisque eius cultoribus, ut puros commendant, et uerecundos. 37he gesture can be interpreted in a similar vein in Jerome, Epistulae 22, 27, 7 (CSEL  54, p. 184), where women are criticised for pretending to fast and faint, lowering their eyebrows to feign humility: 38 Sunt quippe nonnullae exterminantes facies suas, ut pareant hominibus ieiunare; quae, statim ut aliquem uiderint, ingemiscunt, demittunt supercilium et operta facie uix unum oculum, liberant ad uidendum. 39

Seriousness, Sadness
As we saw in the earlier passage from Quintilian (Institutio oratoria 11, 3, 78-79), the first meaning the rhetorician assigns to lowered eyebrows (supercilia deducere) is tristitia, a Latin noun signifying both sadness and seriousness.Quintilian does not describe the gesture but merely mentions lowered eyebrows.Nevertheless, we believe this may be similar to the oblique eyebrow gesture that current research links to expressing sorrow and discouragement. 40This sloping comes from contracting certain muscles whose joint action tends to lower and contract eyebrows: The superciliary muscles draw both eyebrows together and the ends crease into a typical fold, causing particular wrinkles to appear on the forehead similar to a frown.This is likely to be the gesture that appears in physiognomy treatises such as De physiognomonia 97 (Förster 1893, vol.2, pp.122-123) to characterise men with a sad or serious nature: wrinkled forehead, eyebrows turned inwards, and taut eyelids: Tristis homo ita intelligitur: uultus tenuis, frons rugosa, supercilia introrsus conuersa, cilia intenta. 41e gesture is also found in Juvenal, where he alludes to it with the syntactic unit fronte obducta.The verb obduco means "to cover" and "to cast a shadow over," although dictionaries also include the meaning "to contract," "to frown," and "to wrinkle" with the object uultum or frontem. 42This latter meaning is assigned to obduco in clear reference to the wrinkled forehead seen on despondent individuals, as we mentioned earlier.
The passage in Juvenal (9, 1-2) sees the poet address Naevolus, a prostitute who looks serious and despondent.Abandoned by his lover, Naevolus states he feels dejected.Juvenal asks him to explain why he seems so serious and miserable, and describes him with the adjective tristis and the syntactic unit fronte obducta: Scire uelim quare totiens mihi, Naeuole, tristis occurras fronte obducta 43 Although the expression fronte obducta, "gloomy face," does not itself describe a gesture, a few verses further along (Juvenal 9, 8-9) refer to the wrinkles on Naevolus's forehead: unde repente/tot rugae? 44This sentence does indeed indicate a gesture being performed, likely lowered eyebrows, leading to wrinkles appearing on the forehead. 45

Frowning
Lowered eyebrows in a frown involve raising the far ends of one's eyebrows whilst lowering and drawing the others towards the bridge of the nose, causing vertical furrows on the forehead.By simultaneously contracting the orbicularis oculi in the eyelids and the depressor and corrugator supercilii, the eyebrows drop and come together to form the common image of a scowl or frown. 46t is expressed in Latin through verbs meaning "to bring together," "to draw together," and "to contract," such as contrahere, adtrahere, or adducere, or verbs meaning "to twist" or "to turn," such as torquere and its compound contorquere, where the affix constresses the action of coming together and takes on the meaning "to turn together" or "to bring together in a turn."We find the noun supercilium used as a direct object in all instances, often in the plural.In turn, the syntactic units contractio superciliorum and contractio frontis are used, the latter referring to a forehead contraction due to eyebrow movement.It is also formulated with the verb capero or caperro, meaning "to wrinkle" or "to knit."This verb is seen in ancient or stylistically archaic authors, especially in its participle form (caperratus) used with frons and, to a lesser extent, supercilium. 47ncient physiognomy treatises considered frowns and wrinkled foreheads to be a sign of a tough, stern nature. 48In this vein, the gesture is used to describe characters defined by seriousness, particularly rulers, whose frown is a sign of their serious nature, and confers authority and respectability.Historia Augusta (Verus 10, 6) contains a portrayal of Emperor Verus, referring to his furrowed eyebrows as inspiring respect and reverence.The gesture is described through the intensifying comparative adjective adductior (from the perfect participle of the verb adduco) qualifying the noun frons, and used alongside the complementing syntactic unit in supercilia, which could be translated as "with a forehead furrowed towards the eyebrows."Thus, according to the text, the gesture grants him a venerable appearance (uenerabilis).

Sternness
As previously stated, furrowed eyebrows and a wrinkled forehead for physiognomic treatise authors represented a stern temperament.It is therefore not surprising that the gesture expresses sternness.
Thus, when using the expression contractione frontis, "with a frown," in Epistulae 108, 20, Jerome is reflecting on Paula's sternness and serious face (tristitia uultus) in setting her wayward daughter straight: Si uidisset aliquam comptiorem, contractione frontis et uultus tristitia arguebat errantem. 53n turn, and as we will see below, in certain instances the opposing gesture of relaxing one's eyebrows after contracting the forehead, leaving it soft and wrinkle-free, is synonymous with dropping a stern approach.

Anger
Quintilian (Institutio oratoria 11, 3, 78-79) uses the verb contrahere ([superciliis] contrahitur) to refer to frowning and links it to anger. 54This gesture has several nuances in the texts, ranging from anger to irritation or displeasure, and, as Ekman and Friesen 55 state, it involves changes in three areas of the face: The eyebrows are lowered and come together, the eyelids become tawt, and the lips may either tighten or part depending on the individual expressing the emotion.
Apuleius specifically mentions the gesture as a sign of anger in Metamorphoses 6, 13, using the verb contorqueo in the syntactic unit contortis superciliis.The fragment narrates Venus's irritation when Psique succeeds in the second labour the goddess sets her.In extreme annoyance, Venus offers a bitter smile in an attempt to mask her anger.Nevertheless, her scowl or frown betrays her: 56 nec tamen apud dominam saltem sec ndi laboris periculum secundum testimonium meruit, sed contortis superciliis subridens amarum sic inquit. 57 Jerome's Epistulae 54, 2, 1-2 (CSEL 54, p. 467), frowning combines a raised arm-and even fist-and puffed cheeks (tumido ore). 58When urging Furia to remain a widow, Jerome presumes patricians would make these gestures, reacting angrily to his words.He includes a quote from Horace, where the participle iratus and the verb desaeuio ("to give in to anger") are combined to heighten the portrayal of the angry naysayers: adducentur supercilia, extendetur brachium iratusque Chremes 59 tumido desaeuiet ore.Consurgent proceres et aduersum epistulam meam turba patricia detonabit me magum, me seductorem clamitans et in terras ultimas asportandum. 60 Amphitruo 52-53, Plautus uses frowning to express the feeling of anger, although here the eyebrow gesture is reflected through moving the forehead (contrahere frontem).The passage comes from Mercury's speech in the prologue.The God's words allude to the audience's gesture of annoyance when he announces a tragedy will be performed: quid?contraxistis frontem, quia tragoediam dixi futuram hanc? 61owning is also an affect display for the weaker feeling of displeasure, 62 although this is often not easy to distinguish from anger, as is seen in Cicero's Pro A. Cluentio 72.

Arrogance
As we have already stated, according to Pliny, eyebrows express and harbour arrogance and pride.In this sense, and similar to raising one's eyebrows, frowning is used in Latin literature as an affect display of arrogance.In turn, it is also used to describe and ridicule philosophers, albeit to a lesser extent. 65Thus, although frowning is sometimes used to mock philosophers' arrogance, its origin likely lies in a positive depiction of their serious disposition and capacity for concentration, in a similar vein to what we have pointed out regarding raised eyebrows.
The verb ponere and its compound form deponere, used with supercilium as a direct object, express the same meaning of reverting one's eyebrows to their original position (i.e., in relaxation) after having lowered, contracted, or raised them.The imperative mood of this verb can be found in many texts.Thus, it is used to urge an individual to cease making an eyebrow gesture.
In the proverbial invitation for readers to approach the work with goodwill (captatio beneuolentiae), 70 in Martial 1, 4, 1-6, the Bilbilis native entreats Emperor Domitian to relax his eyebrows (pone supercilium) before reading the text.In other words, to revert his stern gesture and indulge the poet's humour just as he would condone the banter when celebrating victory.He further urges the emperor read his verses with the same "forehead" as when Thymele and Latinus 71 perform-two mimes he surely enjoyed in a calm state of mind.The allusion here refers to a relaxed, wrinkle-free forehead, i.e., not making any eyebrow gesture at all.Contigeris nostros, Caesar, si forte libellos, terrarum dominum pone supercilium.Consueuere iocos uestri quoque ferre triumphi, materiam dictis nec pudet esse ducem qua Thymelen spectas derisoremque Latinum, illa fronte precor carmina nostra legas. 72uthors often used the combination pone supercilium to indicate readers should not interpret their work as a serious literary genre.For instance, this can be seen in Priapea 1, 1-2, where the same expression as used in Martial appears, albeit this time addressing readers: Carminis incompti lusus lecture procaces, conueniens Latio pone supercilium. 73sonius uses the same words 74 in De Bissula 3, 1-2.Addressing his readers, he states he renounces serious poetry for light-hearted romantic poetry; borrowing both the verses from Priapea and the reference to Thymele in Martial's poem: Carminis incompti tenuem lecture libellum, pone supercilium, seria contractis expende poemata rugis: nos Thymelen sequimur. 75e poet reminds the reader that frowning (supercilium) and a wrinkled forehead (contractis rugis) suit "serious" poetry unlike his own, which he defines as "in the style of Thymele," a dancer and comic actress already mentioned by Martial.
In turn, the verb explico ("to lengthen/stretch") with the object frontem can also allude to relaxed eyebrows. 76When inviting Maecenas to his villa and praising the pleasures of a simple, modest table for rich men too in Carmina 3, 29, 12-15, Horace states these very pleasures have often smoothed out the wrinkles on a worried forehead (sollicitam frontem).In this sense, relaxing one's eyebrows and having a wrinkle-free forehead expresses a calm, joyful state of mind: Plerumque gratae diuitibus uices mundaeque paruo sub lare pauperum cenae sine aulaeis et ostro sollicitam explicuere frontem. 77e verb porrigo and its compound form exporrigo also mean "to lengthen" and can be found in the two quintessential Latin comedy writers, Plautus (porrectiore fronte) and Terence (exporge frontem).
Plautus uses the expression porrectiore fronte, where porrectiore is an intensifying comparative adjective formed from the perfect participle of the verb porrigo.In Casina 281-282, old Lysidamus orders his servant Chalinus to speak to him with a more relaxed forehead.He adds it is ridiculous to look serious (tristem) in front of someone in higher authority.Thus, he asks him to change the serious gesture reflected in his wrinkled forehead: Lysidamus.Primum ego te porrectiore fronte uolo mecum loqui: Stultitiast ei te esse tristem quoius potestas plus potest. 78 turn, Micio asks Demea to relax her forehead (exporge frontem) in Terence, Adelphi 837-842, making the gesture's meaning clear further on when he reiterates his request with the words, "at least look cheerful today" (hodie modo hilarum fac te): Micio: tace: non fiet.mitte iam istaec; da te hodie mihi: exporge frontem.Demea: scilicet ita tempu' fert: faciundumst.ceterum ego rus cras cum filio cum primo luci ibo hinc.Micio: de nocte censeo: hodie modo hilarum fac te. 79us, in line with Quintilian's assertion, the relaxed eyebrows and a wrinkle-free forehead seen in the examples above would signify joy, 80 as long as the person in question ceases to perform the gesture for frowning-an affect display of sternness or seriousness.In this vein, the meaning of joy does not come from making a gesture, but rather from no longer making a different one.
Nevertheless, relaxed eyebrows and a smooth forehead in certain instances are more tied to no longer making the eyebrow gesture for arrogance.Indeed, the expression ponere supercilium in the future tense is seen in Historia Augusta, Aurelianus 27, 5 and has this very meaning.Here, we read the end of the letter that Zenobia, Queen of the East, sends to Emperor Aurelian in reply to his missive asking for her surrender with a promise to spare her life.Zenobia rejects any surrender in her letter, announces she is expecting aid from overseas, and states that upon the troops' arrival, the gesture made by Aurelian when demanding her surrender will change: quid?si igitur illa uenerit manus, quae undique speratur, pones profecto supercilium, quo nunc mihi deditionem, quasi omnifariam uictor, imperas. 81us, the author refers to Aurelian's eyebrows to allude to his arrogance, and emphasises this attitude by using the verb imperas and the comparison quasi omnifariam uictor.
This gesture has the same meaning 82 in Prudentius, Psycommachia 285-288 (Budé, p. 69).The allegorical poem depicts the struggle between vice and virtue in the human heart.Hope addresses a defeated Vice, urging him to leave his pride behind and learn to lower his eyebrows: desine grande loqui; frangit deus omne superbum; magna cadunt, inflata crepant, tumefacta premuntur.disce supercilium deponere, disce cauere ante pedes foueam, quisquis sublime minaris! 83Therefore, the gesture of relaxing one's eyebrows in the corpus of Latin literature comes from no longer making an eyebrow gesture expressing either sternness or arrogance. 84

Discussion
To review, the corpus of Latin literature sets out four eyebrow movements, specifically, those mentioned by Quintilian in Institutio oratoria 11, 3, 78-79: raising, lowering, frowning, and relaxing.Although the texts do not describe these gestures with the precision required by non-verbal communication research today, our analysis of the selected extracts has not only enabled us to identify these but also associate a meaning to them, thus fulfilling the aim of this article.We have noted how raised and lowered eyebrows, respectively, serve as emblems for disapproval and approval.Therefore, these two opposite gestures have, in this sense, opposing meanings.There are, however, very few examples of their being used this way in Latin literature.In turn, there are many more instances of the four gestures used as affect displays.Thus, raised eyebrows transmit anger and arrogance, whilst lowered eyebrows indicate humility (the opposite of arrogance), seriousness, or sadness.These latter two emotions are closely linked in Latin and use either the same noun (tristitia) or adjective (tristis).Furthermore, frowning expresses sternness, anger, and arrogance, whilst relaxed eyebrows and a smooth forehead come from an individual no longer making an eyebrow gesture expressing either sternness or arrogance.
In this sense, eyebrow gestures in ancient Rome include synonymous gestures since both raising one's eyebrows and frowning express anger and arrogance. 85n addition, Latin writers do not use gestures but rather eyebrow positions to describe the nature of certain characters.In this sense, they align themselves with authors of ancient physiognomy treatises who infer psychological traits on the basis of physical features.Hence, serious and stern characters are depicted with frowns, whereas irritable ones have raised eyebrows.
Thus, we have shown that Roman authors use eyebrow gestures as affect displays of a limited set of emotions: arrogance, sternness, seriousness or sadness, and humility.The first two emotions are seen much more frequently.Indeed, Roman authors closely tied eyebrows in particular to arrogance and sternness, as shown by the use of the noun supercilium, which metonymically takes on the meanings of "arrogance" and "sternness."Similarly, from the post-classical period onwards, the adjective superciliosus came to be associated with "arrogant" and "stern." In this regard, we should highlight the higher general prevalence of eyebrow gestures in post-classical and later works, and particularly those by late Christian authors, which include many examples when compared to the scant references in ancient (Plautus, Terence) and classic (Cicero, Catullus) writers. 86Moreover, post-classical and later authors mainly use these gestures to express arrogance and sternness.
In short, and as we stated above, although this research is based on a written corpus, our analysis has enabled us to uncover gestures and meanings used by Latin authors in their work.Moreover, we have outlined here the repeated use of eyebrow gestures.Nevertheless, the works show a more limited expressive range than one would expect in this regard, since the authors primarily and increasingly use these gestures to convey sternness and arrogance.

7
In general, most syntagms with supercilium and an adjective externalise sternness or, to a lesser extent, anger.As already mentioned, although they do not describe the gesture performed, one can assume that they refer mainly to frowning.With regard to syntactic units with frons, they allude either to a furrowed forehead expressing sternness or anger (trux, seuera), or to a wrinkle-free forehead expressing calmness and composure (serena, humana).

8
"It is by means of the eyebrows that we contract, raise or relax . . .For they show anger by contraction, sadness by depression and joy by their relaxation.They are also lowered or raised to express approval or disapproval respectively."9 We will not be looking into bound gestures, i.e., those where another body part is involved in addition to eyebrows.Our focus will be free gestures, i.e., those solely performed with the eyebrows, albeit affecting the forehead.10 "Nor did Jupiter's cerulean brow nod nay."The expression echoes Zeus's response to Thetis in Ilias 1, 528.11 Physiognomy treatises infer psychological traits based on observing physical features.Although these treatises concentrate on physical features rather than gestures, and are thus problematic sources from which to draw conclusions for our analysis, they do highlight the detailed nature of ancient Roman gestural analysis in using emotional facial expressions as a basis for many of their opinions on inherent character traits.Cf. (Fornés Pallicer and Puig Rodríguez-Escalona 2011).
15 "Barbarus walks angrily with puffed cheeks and arched eyebrows."16 The gesture's meaning of irritation or anger clearly justifies the metaphorical sense seen in Priapea 49, 3-4: non est/mentula subducti nostra supercilii, "mine is not a penis with raised eyebrow."In turn, the passage in Petronius 91, 7 is difficult to analyse given its fragmented nature; indeed, it has been intuited that there is a missing section after the gesture is referred to.Nevertheless, Giton's gesture of raising his eyebrows high on learning Encolpius still loves him could be interpreted as an affect display of indignation.We cannot overlook, however, Petronius wanting to allude to surprise when mentioning the gesture.17 "She added besides one whom I do not choose to mention by name, lest he should raise his red eyebrows."18This gesture also appears in Greek literature to express displeasure.See Plutarch, Moralia 68d.

25
"What childish nonsense!Do we arch our eyebrows over this sort of problem?Do we let our beards grow long for this reason?Is this the matter which we teach with sour and pale faces?" 26 Seneca also describes the wise man in Dialogi 2 (De constantia sapientis) 3, 1, as raising his eyebrows high when speaking: sublato alte supercilio.Moreover, in Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 94, 9, Seneca uses the expression ingens supercilium, "enormous eyebrows," which we could take to mean raised eyebrows, referring to the philosopher solemnly expounding platitudes: ista quae ingenti supercilio philosophi iactant, "such pronouncements philosophers make with raised eyebrows."Later, we also see the link between raised eyebrows and pretentious philosophers from Arnobius Afer in Aduersus nationes 2, 50, 1. 27 "In the entrance hall of the palace on the Palatine a large number of men of almost all ranks had gathered together, waiting an opportunity to pay their respects to Caesar.And there in a group of scholars, in the presence of the philosopher Favorinus, a man who thought himself unusually rich in grammatical lore was airing trifles worthy of the schoolroom, discoursing on the genders and cases of nouns with arched eyebrows and an exaggerated gravity of voice and expression, as if he were the interpreter and sovereign lord of the Sibyl's oracle."28 Cf.likewise Ammianus Marcellinus 16, 12, 4; Jerome, Commentarii in Hiezechielem 11, 37, 1049-1052 (CC SL 75, p. 512); Paulinus of Nola, Carmina 31, 518 (CSEL 30, p. 325); and Pelagius, Epistola ad Demetriadem 20 (PL 30, 31B).In addition to being used to caricature arrogant philosophers, Greek literature also used raised eyebrows to symbolise arrogance, e.g., Cratinus, fr.348 K.-A.(cf.Favi (2002)  In 29, 2, 12, Ammianus Marcellinus used the expression ardua imperii supercilia, "the high eyebrows of power," regarding Emperor Valens' arrogance in asserting his power.30 "Furthermore, that during the entire period of his he never once invite anybody into his vehicle, or during his consulship he never allowed any private individual as a co-consul, unlike deified princes, and many like habits which he, raising his eyebrows up high, observed as though they were most just laws, I pass by, remembering that I set them down when they occurred."

31
The horn simile not only recalls the expression used by comic poet Amphis (fr.13 K.-A.) to ridicule Plato-terms worth including in the aforementioned caricaturing of philosophers-but also the compound Greek adjective ὀφρυανασπασίδαι used by Hegesander of Delphi (fr. 2 Page) signifying "those who raise their eyebrows like horns."32 "Therefore, he decided that Lupicinus, who was at that time commander-in-chief, should be sent to settle the troubles either by argument or by force; he was indeed a warlike man and skilled in military affairs, but one who raised his eyebrows like horns and spoke pompously as if he were wearing the cothurnus of a tragic actor, and about whom men were long in doubt whether he was more covetous or more cruel."33 "These sorts of people Isaiah decribes as the daughters of Judah, fluttering with their blinking eyes and casting themselves high with a lofty neck.For there are those who raise their eyebrows in this way, with an inflated heart, a puffe-up breast, a twisted neck, who graze the ground with the bottoms of their feet, but who balance themselves in their body and poise themselves as though hanging in the void by a needle, who make their way with their footsteps ahead of them while they lean their heads back behind them; they gaze upon heaven, yet they despise the earth, as though they are affected by a pain in their neck, so that they cannot bend it."34 See Sittl (1890, p. 92), where a nod can be limited to lowering one's eyebrows to express approval.This is likely to be the movement Claudian alludes to rather than describes in Carmina minora 31, 57-58: reditusque secundo/annue sidereo laeta supercilio, "grant me a safe return as with a movement of your eyebrows you, a goddess, can do."35 Cf. note 21.

36
For instance, Persius refers to lowering one's gaze and head as a sign of humility in Saturae 3, 5, 80: obstipo capite et figentes lumine terram, "with their heads bent, eyes fixed on the ground."In turn, Virgil alludes to lowered eyebrows as an affect display in a similar sense in Aeneis 12, 220: demisso lumine, "with downcast eye."37 "These men might be truly happy, if they would disregard the greatness of the city behind which they hide their faults, and live after the manner of some provincial bishops, whose moderation in food and drink, plain apparel also, and eyebrows pointing at the ground, commend them to the Eternal Deity and to his true servants as pure and reverent men." 38 Humility or modesty may well be what the gesture is meant to express in Ambrose, De Tobia 3, 10, 1 (CSEL 32/2, p. 523).Railing against usury, Ambrose describes the behaviour of the lender, who, when discussing the loan's interest rate, smiles and lowers his eyebrows: dejecto supercilio fenerator arridet, "the lender smiles with downcast eyebrows."39 "Some women indeed actually disfigure themselves, so as to make it obvious that they have been fasting.As soon as they catch sight of anyone they lower their eyebrows and begin sobbing, covering up the face, all but a glimpse of one eye, which they just keep free to watch the effect they make."40 As described by Darwin (1872, p. 179) and Ekman and Friesen (1975, p. 117).See also García Fernández (1991, pp.120-21).

41
"The sad man should be understood as follows: his face is thin, his brow wrinkly, his eyebrows turned inwards and his eyelids taut."The expression fronte obducta must surely be related to phrases such as deme supercilio nubem, "take the cloud from your brow," found in Horace, Epistulae 1, 18, 94-95.The image of a clouded frown could well allude to the gesture in question, reflecting seriousness and sadness.This is what Pomponius Porphyrio seems to say in his comment about the passage in Horace (Commentum in Horati Epistulas 1, 18, lemma 94): Deme supercilio nubem.Ne te, inquit, tristem praebeas aut nimis seuerum.Nam propter ha<e>c multi odium contraxer<u>nt, "Take the cloud from your brow.Don't get too sad or too serious, he says.Because for these reasons many have been hated."The expression is also used in Greek literature, for instance, Pseudo-Aristotle, Physiognomonica 809b and 812a; Sophocles, Antigona 528; and Euripides, Hippolitus 173.It also persists in later authors such as Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra 3, 2, 52: "Will Caesar weep?/He has a cloud in's face."46 (García Fernández 1991, p. 116).This work states that the gesture is part of an ancient reaction to protect one's eyes from real or imaginary danger (García Fernández 1991, p. 215).

50
"And what I am to say of his eyebrow, which then did not seem to men to be a high brow, but a guarantee for the State?There was such a solemnity in his eye, there were such wrinkles in his forehead, that this eyebrow seemed to be sponsor for the year's security."51 "Or have your seen an old Silenus with a bald forehead, a good-sized fellow with a fat belly, furrowed eyebrows and a wrinkled forehead, a detestable swindler that smells to heaven, curse him, chock-full of cursed vice and villainy. ..?" 52 "Dame, you have chosen (notwithstanding my counsel) a young man to your lover, who, it seems to me, is dull, fearful, without any grace, and has a great horror of the furrowed eyebrows of your odious husband."53 "If she chanced to notice any sister too attentive to her dress, she reproved her for her error with a frown and serious face."54 Frowning also expresses anger or wrath in Greek literature; see, for example, Aristophanes, Ranae 822-825; Antiphanes 2, 2; Lucian of Samosata, Vitarum Auctio 7; and Alciphron, Epistulae 1, 13 (3, 3) 2. See also note 85.
55 Ekman and Friesen (1975, pp.82-98) and, specifically with regard to eyebrows, p. 82: "The anger brow: The eyebrows are drawn down and together. . .The drawing together of the inner corners of the eyebrow usually produces vertical wrinkles between the eyebrows."For anger expressed through mouth gestures, see Fornés Pallicer and Puig Rodríguez-Escalona 2009.56   Similarly, in Ilias 15, 101-104, Hera tries to hide her anger by smiling, but her eyebrows give her away.57 "But, in her mistress's eyes at least, the danger of her second labour earned her no favourable commendation.Venus knitted her eyebrows and said with a bitter smile."58 See note 13. 59 This is one of Terence's characters in Heautontimorumenos.Cf.Horace, Ars Poetica 93-94.See, Dherin (2011, pp.219, 240).60 "Men will frown and raise their arms at me; with puffed cheeks will angry Chremes rave.Our great men will rise from their chairs and in answer to this letter of mine the patrician mob will thunder out: 'Magician, seducer; transport him to the ends of the earth'."61 "What?Frowning because I said this was to be a tragedy?" 62 This gesture has the same meaning in Greek.For instance, Aristophanes, Nubes 581-583 or Pseudo-Lucian of Samosata, Demosthenis encomium 16.

63
"Then the profligate fláneur, who battened on what he could make out of the courts, although he had this money hidden away and was brooding over it with eager hopes, frowned-you know his face and the hypocritical expression he used to assume-and . . . he roundly asserted that Oppianicus had left him in the lurch, adding, to support his words, that his own vote, as they were all to vote openly, would be cast for conviction."64 "Therefore, let those who disparage our interpretation give the Scripture from which the Evangelist took this testimony and interpreted it about the Lord and Savior, when he was led out from Egypt into the land of Israel.And when they are not able to find it, let them cease wrinkling their foreheads and frowning and crinkling their noses and cracking their knuckles."65 This also expresses arrogance in Greece.See for instance, Anthologia Palatina 7, 440.66 "Is this way we discuss with contracted brow and our wrinkled forehead?"67 Cf.Muñoz García de Iturrospe (2020).See also Jerome, Epistulae 57, 3, 3 (CSEL 54, pp.506-7) and 125, 18, 2 (CSEL 54, pp.137-38); Commentarii in Hiezequielem 11, 34 (CSEL 75, p. 488); Dialogus aduersus Pelagianos 2, 14, 5-6 (CC SL 80, pp.71-72); in Epistolam ad Ephesios 2, 4 (PL 26, 525C); Contra Rufinum 1, 13, 1-4 (CC SL 79, p. 12); and Aduersus Iouinianum 1, 34 (PL 23, 269B).

68
"Some with a frown and bombastic words, balanced one against the other philosophize concerning the sacred writings among weak women."69 "We observe others and from a glance of the eyes, from a contracting or relaxing of the eyebrows, from an air of sadness, from an outburst of joy, from a laugh, from speech, from silence, from a raising or lowering of the voice, and the like, we shall easily judge which of our actions is proper, and which is out of accord with duty and Nature."70 A further example of relaxed eyebrows and a smooth forehead can be found in Martial 14, 183, where the author uses the verb soluere with the accusative frontem to describe the gesture.Here, after reading the Batrachomachia (Battle of the Frogs and Mice)-a comic epic parodying the Iliad that Martial attributes to Homer-the poet urges the reader to learn to relax their forehead with his trifles: Et frontem nugis soluere disce meis, "learn to relax your brow at my trifles."71 Thymele and Latinus also appear in Juvenal 1, 35-36 and 8, 196-197. 14