[19]
Moreover, the orator should reach such a pitch of
excellence that, while premeditation may still be the
safer method, it will not necessarily be the better,
since many have acquired the gift of improvisation not
merely in prose, but in verse as well, as, for example,
Antipater of Sidon and Licinius Archias (for whose
powers we have the unquestionable authority of
Cicero1), not to mention the fact that there are
many, even in our own day, who have done this and
are still doing it. I do not, however, regard this
accomplishment as being particularly valuable in
itself, for it is both unpractical and unnecessary, but
mention it as a useful example to encourage students
[p. 145]
training for the bar, in the hope that they may be
able to acquire this accomplishment.
1 De Or. iii. 194; Pro Arch. viii. 18.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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