Letter 54: On Laconicism. To be laconic is not merely, as you suppose, to write few words, but to say a great deal in few words. Thus I call Homer very brief and Antimachus lengthy.
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Gregory to Nicobulus, on brevity.
To be laconic does not mean merely to use few words, as you seem to suppose. It means to say a great deal in few words. By this standard, I call Homer very brief and Antimachus very long. Why? Because I measure length by the substance, not by the number of letters.
Ep. LIV.
On Laconicism. To be laconic is not merely, as you suppose, to write few words, but to say a great deal in few words. Thus I call Homer very brief and Antimachus lengthy. Why? Because I measure the length by the matter and not by the letters.
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Gregory to Nicobulus, on brevity.
To be laconic does not mean merely to use few words, as you seem to suppose. It means to say a great deal in few words. By this standard, I call Homer very brief and Antimachus very long. Why? Because I measure length by the substance, not by the number of letters.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.