[18]
For just as the
slave-dealer regards strength and muscle, and above
all, the beard and other natural characteristics of
manhood as blemishes, and softens down all that
would be sturdy if allowed to grow, on the ground
that it is harsh and hard, even so we conceal the
manly form of eloquence and power of speaking
closely and forcibly by giving it a delicate complexion
of style and, so long as what we say is smooth and
[p. 309]
polished, are absolutely indifferent as to whether our
words have any power or no.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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