Institutio Oratoria
Quintilian
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.
It is likewise inartistic to accumulate long series of verbs, nouns or other parts of speech, since even merits produce tedium unless they have the saving grace of variety.
The principles by which the connexion of words is guided are not sufficient in the case of commata and cola, though even here beginnings and ends should harmonise; but our structural effect will very largely depend on the relative order of these two types of clause. For in the following instance [*](Phil. Il. xxv. 63. By his vomiting he filled his lap and the whole judgement seat with fragments of undigested food. ) vomens frustis esculentis gremium suum el totum tribunal implevit [the order is satisfactory, since the fact of his having filled the whole judgement seat with his vomiting is the more important of the two]. On the other hand (for I shall repeat the same illustrations for different purposes to make them more familiar) in the following passage, [*](pro Arch. viii. 19. Rocks and solitude answer to the human voice and wild beasts are often pacified and brought to a halt by the influence of music. ) saxa alque solitudines voci respondent, bestiae