[43]
Such faults are due to the
practice of the schools, where we are free to feign
what we will with impunity, because we are at
liberty to invent facts. But this is impossible when
we are confronted with realities, and it was an
excellent remark that Cassius made to a young
orator who said, “Why do you look so fiercely at
me, Severus?” To which he replied, “I was doing
nothing of the kind, but if it is in your manuscript,
here you are!” And he fixed his eyes on him with
the most ferocious scowl that he could muster.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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