[89]
Whichever of these two forms
we employ, we must take care, first that our fiction
is within the bounds of possibility, secondly that it
is consistent with the persons, dates and places involved and thirdly that it presents a character and
sequence that are not beyond belief: if possible,
it should be connected with something that is
admittedly true and should be supported by some
argument that forms part of the actual case. For if
we draw our fictions entirely from circumstances
lying outside the case, the liberty which we have
taken in resorting to falsehood will stand revealed.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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