Wisdom of the Ancient (Quintilian in this case)

While reviewing selections from Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory as I prepare to teach my rhetorical theory class, I came across a passage that spoke to why I've taken the plunge, and added almost-daily blogging to my already overstuffed regimen. Here's the passage:

This exhortation of mine, however, is not designed to intimate that I should wish the orator to be a philosopher, since no other mode of life has withdrawn itself further from the duties of civil society, and all that concerns the orator. Which of the philosophers, indeed, ever frequented courts of justice, or distinguished himself in public assemblies? Which of them ever engaged even in the management of political affairs on which most of them have given such earnest precepts? But I should desire the orator, whom I am trying to form, to be a kind of Roman wise man, who may prove himself a true statesman, not by discussions in retirement, but by personal experience and exertions in public life

Quintilian's slam on philosophers is, perhaps, a touch overstated, but the challenge he sets for orators/rhetors is reasonable: get in the mix. While academic writing offers much to me, the timelines for academic publications are (necessarily) so elongated that exciting political/cultural/social moments come and go, flitting across my radar screen without ever rising to the level I require for my more sustained writing. The blog allows me to at least touch on these issues, thereby freeing me to address my larger projects without enduring a sense of loss about what I'm NOT able to address in those forums. Whether I ultimately achieve Quintilian's goal and become a true statesman addressing the "duties of civil society" remains to be seen, but on a personal level, I feel a greater sense of balance than I did in my pre-blog days. I hope Quintilian would count this as an "exertion in public life," even if my hitrate is microscopic relative to Peter Pan's.