[31]
For there is good reason for the saying we so
often hear, “He must be a barbarian or a Greek”:
since we may discern a man's nationality from the
sound of his voice as easily as we test a coin by its ring.
If these qualities be present, we shall have those harmonious accents of which Ennius1 expresses his
approval when he describes Cethegus as one whose
“words rang sweetly,” and avoid the opposite effect,
of which Cicero2 expresses his disapproval by saying,
“They bark, not plead.” For there are many faults
of which I spoke in the first book3 when I discussed
the method in which the speech of children should
be formed, since I thought it more appropriate to
mention them in connexion with a period of life
when it is still possible to correct them.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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