[57]
He was a shrewd man who, when he
asked a rustic witness whether he knew Amphion,
and the witness replied that he did not, dropped
the aspirate and shortened the second syllable,1
whereupon the witness recognised him at once.
Such situations, when it is impossible to speak as
we write, will sometimes make it necessary to speak
in language other than that which we use in
writing.
1 The witness did not recognise the name correctly pronounced Amphion, but recognised it when pronounced Amphion.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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