[10]
There is greater variety required in the praise of
men. In the first place there is a distinction to be
made as regards time between the period in which
the objects of our praise lived and the time preceding their birth; and further, in the case of the
dead, we must also distinguish the period following
their death. With regard to things preceding a
man's birth, there are his country, his parents and his
ancestors, a theme which may be handled in two
ways. For either it will be creditable to the objects of
our praise not to have fallen short of the fair fame of
their country and of their sires or to have ennobled
a humble origin by the glory of their achievements.
Quintilian. With an English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1920.
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