I think pacing is very important. I complain about it all the time when I watch movies (much to the annoyance of any poor souls happening to accompany me). Therefore, it's only natural that it's taught to pace stories well.

But sweet Altean Jesus how dare they act like Greek classics are good sources of literature?!

I actually happen to find a lot of Greek stories cool, and the whole flowery language thing that happens when you translate originally oral texts is actually really funny to read. Overall, these stories are super important! They built tropes! They established story types!

THEIR PACING SUCKS!

I swear, Odysseus spends more time talking about his fake roleplay form backstory to the swineherd than he does describing the battle between his crew and a six-headed monster with a demon whirlpool as backup (Scylla and Charybdis).

Um

Yeah okay