[3]
What use is it if we employ a lofty
tone in cases of trivial import, a slight and refined
style in cases of great moment, a cheerful tone when
our matter calls for sadness, a gentle tone when it
demands vehemence, threatening language when
supplication, and submissive when energy is required, or fierceness and violence when our theme is
one that asks for charm? Such incongruities are as
unbecoming as it is for men to wear necklaces and
pearls and flowing raiment which are the natural
adornments of women, or for women to robe
[p. 157]
themselves in the garb of triumph, than which there can
be conceived no more majestic raiment.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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