[2]
Even the untrained often possess the gift of invention, and no
great learning need be assumed for the satisfactory
arrangement of our matter, while if any more
recondite art is required, it is generally concealed,
since unconcealed it would cease to be an art, while
all these qualities are employed solely to serve the
interests of the actual case. On the other hand, by
the employment of skilful ornament the orator
[p. 213]
commends himself at the same time, and whereas his
other accomplishments appeal to the considered
judgment of the learned, this gift appeals to the
enthusiastic approval of the world at large, and the
speaker who possesses it fights not merely with
effective, but with flashing weapons.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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