[72]
Still we
must make the venture; for as Cicero1 says, use
softens even these words which at first seemed harsh.
On the other hand the power of onomatopoeia is denied
us. Who would tolerate an attempt to imitate
[p. 113]
phrases like the much praised λίγξε βιός,2 “the
bow twanged,” and σῖζεν ὀφθαλμός3 “the eye
hissed”? We should even feel some qualms about
using balare “to baa,” and hinntre, “to whinny,” if
we had not the sanction of antiquity to support us.
Quintilian. With an English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1920.
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