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[2]
In my opinion we should aim
[p. 415]
at a happy mean. The unripe brow of boyhood
should not be prematurely robbed of its ingenuous
air nor should the young speaker's powers be brought
before the public while yet unformed, since such a
practice leads to a contempt for study, lays the
foundations of impudence and induces a fault which
is pernicious in all departments of life, namely, a self-confidence that is not justified by the speaker's
resources.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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