Read the work of St. Basil on _The Six Days’ Work_. He is admirable
in all his writings. More than any one else he knows how to use a
style that is pure, distinct, suitable, and, in general, political
and panegyrical; in arrangement and purity of sentiment he is second
to none. He is fond of persuasiveness and sweetness and brilliancy,
his words flow on like a stream gushing forth spontaneously from
a spring. He employs probability to such an extent, that if any
one were to take his discourses as a model of political language,
and practise himself in them, provided he had some acquaintance
with the rules connected with it, I do not think he would need to
consult any other author, not even Plato nor Demosthenes, whom the
ancients recommend those to study who desire to become masters of the
political and panegyrical style.