Institutio Oratoria

. Of moral essays there are various forms: some are akin to aphorisms and commence with a simple statement

he said

or

he used to say

: others give the answer to a question and begin

on being asked

or

in answer to this he replied,

while a third and not dissimilar type begins,

when someone has said or done something.

Some hold that a moral essay may take some action as its text;

take for example the statement

Crates on seeing an ill-educated boy, beat his paedagogus,

or a very similar example which they do not venture actually to propose as a theme for a moral essay, but content themselves with saying that it is of the nature of such a theme, namely

Milo, having accustomed himself to carrying a calf every day, ended by carrying it when grown to a bull.

All these instances are couched in the same grammatical form [*]( The sense is not clear: it appears to refer to the stereotyped form in which the chria was couched. ) and deeds no less than sayings may be presented for treatment.