[13]
Often too
the attractions of freedom of speech will lure him
into a rashness of language perilous not merely to
the interests of the case, but to those of the speaker
[p. 445]
himself. It was not without good reason that Pericles used to pray that no word might occur to his
mind that could give offence to the people. But
what he felt with regard to the people, I feel with
regard to every audience, since they can cause just
as much harm to the orator as the people could
ever do to Pericles. For utterances which seemed
courageous at the moment of speaking, are called
foolish when it is found that they have given offence.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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