Book 12
10.57
He was a shrewd man who, when he asked a rustic witness whether he knew Amphion, and the witness replied that he did not, dropped the aspirate and shortened the second syllable, The witness did not recognise the name correctly pronounced Amphion, but recognised it when pronounced Amphion. whereupon the witness recognised him at once. Such situations, when it is impossible to speak as we write, will sometimes make it necessary to speak in language other than that which we use in writing.
10.58
There is another threefold division, whereby, it is held, we may differentiate three styles of speaking, all of them correct. The first is termed the plain subtilis ( lit. = finely woven) applied to style has three meanings: (a) refined, (b) precise, (c) plain. See Sandys on Cic. Or. vi. 20. (or ἰσχνόν ), the second grand and forcible (or ἁδρόν ), and the third either intermediate or florid, the latter being a translation of ἀνθηρόν.
