How to speak well

Seneca on how to speak well

Pg.57 : letters from a Stoic

Speak Slow and Steady

For rapid and forceful speech

suits a mountebank more

Neither also drip out words

For you should not keep listener's ear on a stretch

Just as you run downhill

you cannot stop when you want to

Do not rush at the speed of speech

that has no control over itself

Jargon-laden , confused and ill-chosen words

Can't afford pleasure either, due to sheer emptiness

As speech that is unadorned and plain

alone lifts the veil over Truth

Speech is about healing the minds

quietening the terrors, soothening irritations

shaking up illusions, checking indulgences,

regulating greed

And these cannot be brought in Hurry

I bid you be slow of speech!

-Seneca