[17]
As a result,
those who flaunt tasteless and insipid thoughts,
couched in an uncouth and inharmonious form, think
that they are the equals of the ancients; those who
lack ornament and epigram, pose as Attic; those
who darken their meaning by the abruptness with
which they close their periods, count themselves the
superiors of Sallust and Thucydides; those who are
[p. 85]
dreary and jejune, think that they are serious rivals
to Pollio, while those who are tame and listless, if
only they can produce long enough periods, swear
that this is just the manner in which Cicero would
have spoken.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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