Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.

But words require to be used in different ways. For example, horrible things are best described by words that are actually harsh to the ear. But as a general rule it may be laid down that the best words, considered individually, are those which are fullest or most agreeable in sound. Again, elegant words are always to be preferred to those which are coarse, and there is no room for low words in the speech of a cultivated man.

The choice of striking or sublime words will be determined by the matter in hand; for a word that in one context is magnificent may be turgid in another, and words which are all too mean to describe great things may be suitable enough when applied to subjects of less importance. And just as a mean word embedded in a brilliant passage attracts special attention, like a spot on a bright surface, so if our style be of a plain character, sublime and brilliant words will seem incongruous and tasteless excrescences on a flat surface.

In some cases instinct, and not reason, must supply the touchstone, as, for example, in the line: [*](Aen. viii. 641. )

  1. A sow was slain to ratify their pacts.
Here the poet, by inventing the word porca, succeeded in producing an elegant impression, whereas if lie had used the masculine porcuis, the very reverse would have been the case. In some cases, however, the incongruity is obvious enough. It was only the other day that we laughed with good reason at the poet who wrote:
  1. The youngling mice had gnawed
  2. Within its chest the purple-bordered gown.
    3. [*]( Camillus originally means a young boy. )
v7-9 p.223

On the other hand, we admire Virgil [*](Georg. i. 181. ) when he says:

  1. Oft hath the tiny mouse,
    etc.
For here the epithet is appropriate and prevents our expecting too much, while the use of the singular instead of the plural, and the unusual monosyllabic conclusion of the line, both add to the pleasing effect. Horace [*](A. P. 139. ) accordingly imitated Virgil in both these points, when he wrote,
  1. The fruit shall be a paltry mouse.