[134]
The statement of fact as a rule requires slower and
what I may be allowed to call more modest feet;
and the different kinds of feet should, as far as
possible, be intermixed. For while the style of this
portion of our speech is generally marked by restraint
of language, there are occasions when it is called
upon to soar to greater heights, although on the
other hand its aim will at all times be to instruct the
audience and impress the facts upon their minds, a
task which must not be carried out in a hurry. Indeed
my personal opinion is that the statement of fact
should be composed of long cola and short periods.
Arguments,
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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