[38]
For even though the Greeks surpass us
where circumstances call for delicacy and restraint,
though we acknowledge their superiority in this
respect alone, and therefore do not claim to rival
them in comedy, that is no justification for our
abandonment of this department of oratory, but
rather a reason why we should handle it as best we
can. Now we can at any rate resemble the Greeks
in the method and judgement with which we treat
our matter, although that grace of language, which
our words cannot provide, must be secured by the
admixture of foreign condiments.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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