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[2]
For if we make an absolute
divorce between the two, nature will still be able to
accomplish much without the aid of education,
while the latter is valueless without the aid of
nature. If, on the other hand, they are blended in
equal proportions, I think we shall find that the
average orator owes most to nature, while the perfect orator owes more to education. We may take
a parallel from agriculture. A thoroughly barren
soil will not be improved even by the best cultivation,
while good land will yield some useful produce
without any cultivation; but in the case of really
rich land cultivation will do more for it than its own
natural fertility.
Quintilian. With an English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1920.
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