[12]
In drawing this distinction between what is expedient and what is
becoming, I have followed rather the usage of common speech than the strict law of truth; unless,
indeed, the elder Africanus1 is to be regarded as
having failed to consult his true interests, when he
retired into exile sooner than wrangle over his own
innocence with a contemptible tribune of the people,
or unless it be alleged that Publius Rutilius2 was
ignorant of his true advantage both on the occasion
when he adopted a defence which may almost be
compared with that of Socrates, and when he preferred to remain in exile rather than return at Sulla's
bidding.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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