[26]
As I have already said, the following type
of simile comes more readily to hand: “As oarsmen
are useless without a steersman, so soldiers are useless without a general.” Still it is always possible
to be misled by appearances in the use of simile,
and we must therefore use our judgment in their
employment. For though a new ship is more useful
than one which is old, this simile will not apply to
friendship: and again, though we praise one who is
liberal with her money, we do not praise one who
is liberal with her embraces. In these cases there is
similitude in the epithets old and liberal, but their
force is different, when applied to ships and friendship, money and embraces.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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