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[25] For his employment of words such as olli,1 quianam,2 moerus,3 pone4 and pellacia5 gives his work that impressive air of antiquity which is so attractive in pictures, but which no art of man can counterfeit. But we must not overdo it, and such words must not be dragged out from the deepest darkness of the past. Quaeso is old enough: what need for us to say quaiso?6 Oppido was still used by my older contemporaries, but I fear that no one would tolerate it now. At any rate, antegerio,7 which means the same, would certainly never be used by anyone who was not possessed with a passion for notoriety.

1 Archaic for illi.

2 Because.

3 Archaic for murus (Aen. x. 24.).

4 Behind.

5 Deceitfulness (Aen. ii. 90).

6 quaeso = pray, oppido quite, exactly.

7 Quite, very.

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