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[2]
For while the former have the authority of
evidence or even of legal decisions, the latter also
either have the warrant of antiquity or are regarded
as having been invented by great men to serve as
lessons to the world. He should therefore be acquainted with as many examples as possible. It is
this which gives old age so much authority, since
the old are believed to have a larger store of knowledge and experience, as Homer so frequently bears
witness. But we must not wait till the evening of
our days, since study has this advantage that, as far
as knowledge of facts is concerned, it is capable of
giving the impression that we have lived in ages
long gone by.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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