Quintilian and Milton in Purgatory

Quintilian: I never spoke of imitation as imitation of an act or method, but of an elegance whose execution must always be merited by its matter.

Milton: And I chose the eloquent elocution of Cicero.

Quintilian: But the matter?

Milton: The highest possible service to justice.

Quintilian: Indeed, John, but I spoke of matter as execution in delivery.

Milton: And I delivered admirably. I did not choose that my opponent would deign to refrain from personal attacks on my blindness.

Quintilian: Did Sophocles impugn the gods for Oedipus’s calamity?

Milton: As my blindness was not the result of God’s disfavor.

Quintilian: In defense of one’s country, or in defense of regicide, the invective tone has no elegant home.

Milton: Different times required different methods. As you yourself instructed, mere imitation would merely produce a crippled copy.

Quintilian: Genres have laws and genres have order.

Milton: Yes, and purgatory has rules. Why are you here?

Quintilian: To save your soul.