[7]
There is nothing
so preoccupied, so distracted, so rent and torn by so
many and such varied passions as an evil mind. For
when it cherishes some dark design, it is tormented
with hope, care and anguish of spirit, and even when
it has accomplished its criminal purpose, it is racked
by anxiety, remorse and the fear of all manner of
punishments. Amid such passions as these what
room is there for literature or any virtuous pursuit?
You might as well look for fruit in land that is choked
with thorns and brambles.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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