[4]
If a speaker
use them sparingly and only as occasion demands,
they will serve as a seasoning to his style and
[p. 445]
increase its attractions. If, on the other hand, he
strains after them overmuch, he will lose that very
charm of variety which they confer. Some figures,
however, are so generally accepted that they have
almost ceased to be regarded as figures: consequently
however frequently they may be used, they will
make less impression on the ear, just because it has
become habituated to them.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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