[13]
For though he
will necessarily have a natural bent for some special
department of oratory, he will not feel repelled by
the others, and by sheer application will develop his
other qualities until they equal those in which he
naturally excels. The skilled gymnast will once again
provide us with a parallel: if he undertakes to train
a pancratiast,1 he will not merely teach him how
to use his fists or his heels, nor will he restrict
his instructions to the holds in wrestling, giving
special attention to certain tricks of this kind,
but will train him in every department of the
science. Some will no doubt be incapable of attaining proficiency in certain exercises; these must
specialise on those which lie within their powers.
1 The pancration was a mixture of wrestling and boxing.
Quintilian. With an English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1920.
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