Cicero has been severely censured in this connexion, although he was far more given to boasting of his political achievements than of his eloquence, at any rate, in his speeches.
[17]
As a result, those who are
beneath him feel a grudge against him (for those who
are unwilling to yield and yet have not the strength
to hold their own are always liable to this failing),
while his superiors laugh at him and the good
disapprove. Indeed, as a rule, you will find that
arrogance implies a false self-esteem, whereas those
who possess true merit find satisfaction enough in
the consciousness of possession.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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