Institutio Oratoria

For Homer himself assigns to Menelaus [*](Mil. iii. 214. The words which Quintilian translates by non deerrare verbhis are οὐδ᾽ ἀφαμαρτοεπής, no stumbler in speech, rather than correct in speech. ) an eloquence, terse and pleasing, exact (for that is what is meant by

making no errors in words

) and devoid of all redundance, which qualities are virtues of the first type: and he says that from the lips of Nestor [*](Il. i. 249. ) flowed speech sweeter than honey, than which assuredly we can conceive no greater delight: but when he seeks to express the supreme gift of eloquence possessed by Ulysses [*](Il. iii. 221. ) he gives a mighty voice and a vehemence of oratory equal to the snows of winter in the abundance and the vigour of its words.