[42]
Consequently when it is possible to say “I have a young
son,” it is quite superfluous to say, “Being desirous of
children I took a wife, a son was born whom I
acknowledged and reared and brought up to manhood.” For this reason some of the Greeks draw a
distinction between a concise statement (the word
they use is σύντομος) and a brief statement, the
former being free from all superfluous matter, while
the latter may conceivably omit something that
requires to be stated.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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