Institutio Oratoria

Consequently when it is possible to say

I have a young son,

it is quite superfluous to say,

Being desirous of children I took a wife, a son was born whom I acknowledged and reared and brought up to manhood.

For this reason some of the Greeks draw a distinction between a concise statement (the word they use is σύντομος ) and a brief statement, the former being free from all superfluous matter, while the latter may conceivably omit something that requires to be stated.

Personally, when I use the word brevity, I mean not saying less, but not saying more than occasion demands. As for repetitions and tautologies and diffuseness, which some writers of textbooks tell us we must avoid, I pass them by;

they are faults which we should shun for other reasons beside our desire for brevity.