BOOK X. i. 6–9

words adapted to each individual thing, they would require less care, since they would automatically be suggested by the matter in hand. But since some words are more literal, more ornate, more significant 10 or euphonious than others, our orator must not merely be acquainted with all of them, but must have them at his fingers’ ends and before his very eyes, so that when they present themselves for his critical selection, he will find it easy to make the appropriate choice. 7 I know that some speakers make a practice of learning lists of synonyms by heart, in order that one word out of the several available may at once present itself to them, and that if, after using one word, they find that it is 15 wanted again after a brief interval, they may be able to select another word with the same meaning and so avoid the necessity of repetition. But this practice is childish and involves thankless labor, while it is really of very little use, as it merely results in the assembly of a disorderly crowd of words, for the speaker to snatch the first that comes to hand.

8 On the contrary, discrimination is necessary in the acquisition of our stock of words; for we are aiming at true oratory, not at the fluency of a cheapjackA peddler or someone who sells goods of little value with loud, superficial enthusiasm.. And we shall attain our aim by reading and listening to the best writers and orators, since we shall thus learn not merely the words by which things are to be called, but when each particular word is most appropriate. 9 For there is a place in oratory for almost every word, with the exception only of a very few, which are not sufficiently seemly. Such words are indeed often praised when they occur in writers of iambicsA form of satirical verse. or of the old comedyA genre of Greek drama known for frank and sometimes coarse language.,