This text is part of:
[2]
In
this portion of my work I will give but one golden
rule: to do all these things, he must understand
what he reads. But above all his reading must be
manly, combining dignity and charm; it must be
different from the reading of prose, for poetry is
song and poets claim to be singers. But this fact
does not justify degeneration into sing-song or the
effeminate modulations now in vogue: there is an
excellent saying on this point attributed to Gaius
Caesar while he was still a boy: “If you are singing,
you sing badly: if you are reading, you sing.”
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