[143]
For we
shall really be indulging in a species of versification
if we seek to lay down one law for all varieties of
speech: further, to do so would lay us open to the
charge of the most obvious affectation, a fault of
which we should avoid even the smallest suspicion,
while we should also weary and cloy our audience by
the resulting monotony; the sweeter the rhythm,
the sooner the orator who is detected in a studied
adherence to its employment, will cease to carry
conviction or to stir the passions and emotions. The
judge will refuse to believe him or to allow him to
excite his compassion or his anger, if he thinks that
he has leisure for this species of refinement.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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