[76]
If, however, we test
such corrupt eloquence by the touchstone of a critical
taste, as, for example, we test inferior dyes with
sulphur, it will lay aside the false brilliance that
deceived the eye and fade to a pallor almost too
repulsive to describe. Such passages shine only in
the absence of the sunlight, just as certain tiny
insects seem transformed in the darkness to little
flames of fire. Finally, while many approve of things
that are bad, no one disapproves of that which is
good.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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