[55]
Sometimes the breath,
although capable of sustained effort and sufficiently
full and clear, lacks firmness when exerted, had for
that reason is liable to become tremulous, like bodies
which, although to all appearances sound, receive
insufficient support from the sinews. This the Greeks
call βρασμός.1 There are some too who, owing to
the loss of teeth, do not draw in the breath naturally,
but suck it in with a hissing sound. There are
others who pant incessantly and so loudly that it
is perfectly audible within them: they remind one
of heavily-laden beasts of burden straining against
the yoke.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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