[60]
The style of the exrordiumn
should not resemble that of our purple patches nor
that of the argumentative and narrative portions of
the speech, nor yet should it be prolix or continuously ornate: it should rather seem simple and
unpremeditated, while neither our words nor our
looks should promise too much. For a method of
pleading which conceals its art and makes no vain
display, being as the Greeks say ἀνεπίφατος1 will
often be best adapted to insinuate its way into the
minds of our hearers. But in all this we must be
guided by the extent to which it is expedient to
impress the minds of the judges.
1 i.e. unobtrusive.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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