[15]
There
lies the truth of the whole matter. We must aim
at speaking as well as we can, but must not try to
speak better than our nature will permit. For to
make any real advance we need study, not selfaccusation. And it is not merely practice that will
enable us to write at greater length and with
increased fluency, although doubtless practice is
most important. We need judgement as well. So
long as we do not he back with eyes turned up to the
ceiling, trying to fire our imagination by muttering
to ourselves, in the hope that something will present
itself, but turn our thoughts to consider what the
circumstances of the case demand, what suits the
characters involved, what is the nature of the occasion and the temper of the judge, we shall acquire
the power of writing by rational means. It is thus
that nature herself bids us begin and pursue our
studies once well begun.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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