[15]
For whatever we say that falls
outside the five divisions of the speech already laid
down is a digression, whether it express indignation,
pity, hatred, rebuke, excuse, conciliation or be designed to rebut invective. Other similar occasions
for digression on points not involved by the question
at issue arise when we amplify or abridge a topic,
make any kind of emotional appeal or introduce any
of those topics which add such charm and elegance
to oratory, topics that is to say such as luxury,
avarice, religion, duty: but these would hardly
seem to be digressions as they are so closely attached
to arguments on similar subjects that they form part
of the texture of the speech.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.