[27]
For words are not cut
to suit metrical feet, and are therefore transferred
from place to place to form the most suitable combinations, just as in the case of unhewn stones their
very irregularity is the means of suggesting what
other stones they will best fit and what will supply
them with the surest resting-place. On the other
hand, the happiest effects of language are produced
when it is found possible to employ the natural
order, apt connexion and appropriate rhythm.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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