“When you really must speak, and those present
suggest themes and texts for your discussion, carp
at all the hard ones and make light of them as not
fit, any one of them, fora real man. But when they
have made their selection, That is to say, when the audience had selected, from the different topics suggested by individuals, the one that they preferred. unhesitatingly say ‘whatever comes to the tip of your unlucky tongue.’ A quotation from an unknown poet, which had become a proverb (Athenaeus 5, 217 c). « Proverbial for putting the cart before the horse. 
Take no pains at all that the first thing, just because it really is first, shall be said at the appropriate
time, and the second directly after it, and the third
after that, but say first whatever occurs to you first;
and if it so happens, don’t hesitate to buckle your
leggings on your head and your helmet on your leg.*
But do make haste and keep it going, and only don’t
stop talking. If you are speaking of a case of assault
or adultery at Athens, mention instances in India
or Ecbatana. Cap everything with references to
Marathon and Cynegeirus, without which you cannot
succeed at all. Unendingly let Athos be crossed in
ships and the Hellespont afoot; let the sun be
shadowed by the arrows of the Medes, and Xerxes
flee the field and Leonidas receive admiration; let
the inscription of Othryades be deciphered, and let
allusions to Salamis, Artemisium, and Plataea come
thick and fast. Over everything let those few
words of yours run riot and bloom, and let ‘sundry’




 

and ‘forsooth’ be incessant, even if there is no need
of them; for they are ornamental even when uttered
at random.