[52]
We must also beware of confusing our utterance by excessive volubility, which
results in disregard of punctuation, loss of emotional
power, and sometimes in the clipping of words. The
opposite fault is excessive slowness of speech, which
is a sign of lack of readiness in invention, tends by
its sluggishness to render our hearers inattentive,
and, further, wastes the time allotted to us for speaking,1 a consideration which is of some importance.
Our speech must be ready, but not precipitate, under
control, but not slow,
1 aquam perdit. Lit. wastes water. The reference is to the clepsydra or water-clock employed for the measurement of time.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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