[23]
The
application of humour to oratory may be divided
into three heads: for there are three things out of
which we may seek to raise a laugh, to wit, others,
ourselves, or things intermediate. In the first case
we either reprove or refute or make light of or
retort or deride the arguments of others. In the
[p. 451]
second we speak of things which concern ourselves in a humorous manner and, to quote the
words of Cicero,1 say things which have a suggestion of absurdity. For there are certain sayings
which are regarded as folly if they slip from us
unawares, but as witty if uttered ironically.
1 de Or. II. lxxi. 289.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.