[16]
Further the attention of the mind must be
directed not to some one thing, but simultaneously to
a number of things in continuous sequence. The
result will be the same as when we cast our eyes
along some straight road and see at once all that is on
and near it, obtaining a view not merely of its end,
but of the whole way there. Dread of the shame
of failure is also a powerful stimulant to oratory,
[p. 143]
and it may be regarded as a matter for wonder that,
whereas when writing we delight in privacy and
shrink from the presence of witnesses, in extempore
pleading a large audience has an encouraging effect,
like that which the sight of the massed standards
has on the soldier.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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