[5]
At first, our pen must be slow yet sure: we
must search for what is best and refuse to give a
joyful welcome to every thought the moment that
it presents itself; we must first criticise the fruits of
our imagination, and then, once approved, arrange
them with care. For we must select both thoughts
and words and weigh them one by one. This done,
[p. 95]
we must consider the order in which they should be
placed, and must examine all the possible varieties
of rhythm, refusing necessarily to place each word in
the order in which it occurs to us.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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