De copia verborum.
I:1 I. Sed haec eloquendi praecepta, sicut cognitioni sunt necessaria, ita non satis ad vim dicendi valent, nisi illis firma 12 quaedam facilitas, quae apud Graecos ἕξις nominatur; accesserit; ad quam scribendo plus an legendo an dicendo conferatur, solere quaeri scio. Quod esset diligentius nobis examinandum, si qualibet earum rerum possemus una esse contenti:
§ 1. haec eloquendi praecepta. The reference is generally to the theoretical part of the work, which has just been completed, but specially to the two books immediately preceding, in which Quintilian deals with elocutio (φράσις, ‘style’). In Books III-VII he has treated of inventio (including dispositio); and the transition to Books VIII and IX is marked in the words ‘a dispositione ad elocutionis praecepta labor’ vii. §17 ad fin. He passes now to the exercises necessary for practice: quo genere exercitationis ad certamina praeparandus sit (sc. orator) (§4.)
sicut ... ita = μὲν ... δὲ. So quemadmodum ... sic 5 §17: cp. §14 below. More commonly ut ... ita: §§4, 15, 62, 72, 74: 3 §§28, 31. Frequent in Livy: e.g. xxi. 35, 10 pleraque Alpium ab Italia sicut breviora ita arrectiora sunt: cp. 39, 7.
cognitioni: so most edd. except Halm and Hild (see Crit. Notes). The word denotes ‘theoretical knowledge,’ and is set over against vis dicendi: for a similar opposition between theory and practice (scientia ... exercitatio) see Tac. Dial. 33. The reading may be supported by a reference to qui sciet §2, qui ... sciet ... perceperit §4. Cp. viii. pr. §1 Quam (rationem inveniendi et inventa disponendi) ut ... penitus cognoscere ad summam scientiae necessarium est ita, &c.: ib. §28, qui rationem loquendi primum cognoverit ... deinde haec omnia exercitatione plurima roborarit. In ii. 18, 1 cognitio is used to distinguish θεωρητική from πρακτική and ποιητική. Cp. too iii. 1, 3 ut ... adliceremus ... iuventutem ad cognitionem eorum quae necessaria studiis arbitrabamur.—The reading cogitatio would have to be understood in a wider sense than it has in ch. 6, or in 3 §19: Hild takes it of ‘toute la préparation oratoire qui précède le discours proprement dit.’
vim dicendi: ‘true eloquence,’ as in §8 vim orandi, 2 §16 vim dicendi atque inventionis non adsequuntur: 6 §2 vim cogitandi: xii. 1, 33 vis ac facultas dicendi expugnat ipsam veritatem. Cp. viii. pr. 30 praeparata dicendi vis: xii. 10, 64. Bonn. Lex., p. 233.—The vis of a thing is its essence, that which makes it what it is: Cic. de Am. §15 id in quo est omnis vis amicitiae. So with the genitive of a gerund it gives the idea contained in the infinitive when used as a noun: cp. de Fin. v. §76 percipiendi vis (i.e. τὸ αἰσθάνεσθαι) ita definitur a Stoicis: ibid. ii. §17 Zenonis est ... hoc Stoici: omnem vim loquendi (πᾶν τὸ φθέγγεσθαι) in duas tributam esse partes. See Nägelsbach, Lat. Stil., (8th ed.) p. 45: and cp. ratio collocandi 3 §5, pronuntiandi ratio 1 §17: ratio delendi 3 §31.
non satis ... valent, nisi, &c. For the necessity of practice in addition to theory cp. 5 §19: also i. pr. §§18, 23, 27: ii. 13, 15: vii. 10, 14-15: Cic. de Orat. i. §§109-110: Dion. Hal. de Comp. Verb. 26 ad fin. οὐ γὰρ αὐτάρκη τὰ παραγγέλματα τῶν τεχνῶν ἐστὶ ... δίχα μελέτης τε καὶ γυμνασίας.
firma quaedam facilitas, a ‘sure readiness’: cp. §44 qui confirmare facultatem 12 dicendi volent: §59 dum adsequimur illam firmam, ut dixi, facilitatem: 2 §12: 7 §18 sq.: xii, 9, 21 vires facilitatis.
ἕξις: §59 and 5 §1. Pliny, Ep. ii. 3, 4 (of Isaeus) ad tantam ἕξιν studio et exercitatione pervenit. See Schäfer on Dion. de Comp. i. p. 7.—In the sphere of morals the ἕξις is the fixed tendency that results from repeated acts: ἐκ τῶν ὁμοίων ἐνεργειῶν αἱ ἕξεις γίνονται Eth. Nic. ii. 1, 1103a, 31.—Prof. Mayor compares Cicero’s use of habitus constans, de Inv. i. §36: ii. §30.
scribendo ... legendo ... dicendo: i. pr. §27 haec ipsa (natural gifts) sine doctore perito, studio pertinaci, scribendi, legendi, dicendi multa et continua exercitatione per se nihil prosunt. So §2 eloquentia ... stilo ... lectionis. Reading is covered by chs. i ii: chs. iii-v treat of writing; and ch. vii. of extemporary declamation.
conferatur: frequent in this sense in Quint. (cp. συμφέρειν): (1) with ad, as here, i. 8, 7: ii. 19, 1: vii. 1, 41: xii. 1, 1 and passim: (2) with in, 7 §26: (3) with dat., §§27, 63, 71, 95: i. 1, 6, &c. Bonn. Lex., p. 155.
solere quaeri (ζητεῖσθαι): the subject is treated, e.g., by Crassus in Cic. de Orat. i. chs. 33-34. For quaeri cp. i. 4, 26: ib. 12 §1 (quaeri solet): x. 5, 13.
qualibet ... una: v. 10, 117, quamdiu quilibet unus superfuerit. In reverse order i. 12, 7 una res quaelibet: xii. 1, 44 unum ex iis quodlibet. The collocation does not occur in Cicero.
I:2 verum ita sunt inter se conexa et indiscreta omnia ut, si quid ex his defuerit, frustra sit in ceteris laboratum. Nam neque solida atque robusta fuerit umquam eloquentia nisi multo stilo vires acceperit, et citra lectionis exemplum labor ille carens rectore fluitabit; et qui sciet quae quoque sint modo dicenda, 13 nisi tamen in procinctu paratamque ad omnes casus habuerit eloquentiam, velut clausis thesauris incubabit.
§ 2. conexa et indiscreta. Et is intensive: ‘so closely, nay, inseparably connected.’ So i. 2, 3: iuncta ista atque indiscreta sunt. Indiscretus in this sense occurs Tac. Hist. iv. 52 and often in Pliny: not in Cicero. For the use of the perf. part. pass. instead of a verbal adj., cp. Sall. Iug. 43, §5 invictus: ib. 2 §3 incorruptus: 76 §1 infectum: Livy ii. 1, 4 inviolatum: ib. 55 §3 contemptius (‘more contemptible’). So intactus, inaccessus, &c.
neque ... et = οὔτε ... τε, as 3 §23: 4 §3: 5 §22.
solida ... robusta ... vires. Hild notes that the figure is taken from a living organism which gathers strength from the nourishment supplied to it: cp. §§19, 31, &c. Tac. Dial. 21: oratio autem sicut corpus hominis ea demum pulchra est in qua non eminent venae nec ossa numerantur, sed temperatus ac bonus sanguis implet membra et exsurgit toris ipsosque nervos rubor tegit et decor commendat: cp. 23.
multo stilo: ‘by much practice in writing.’ Cic. de Orat. i. §150 Stilus optimus et praestantissimus dicendi effector ac magister (where see Wilkins’ note). Quintilian returns to this subject below 3 §1 sq.: cp. 6 §§1 and 3: 7 §§4 and 7.
citra lectionis exemplum: ‘without the models which reading supplies.’ Citra is common in this sense (for sine, sometimes praeter) in Quint. (Bonn. Lex. p. 127) and other post-Aug. writers. So 7 §7 citra divisionem: xii. 6, 4 plusque, si separes, usus sine doctrina quam citra usum doctrina valet. Cp. Ov. Trist. v. 8, 23 peccavi citra scelus (‘short of’): Plin. Ep. ii. 1, 4 citra dolorem tamen.
labor ille, sc. scribendi.
fluitabit, like a vessel drifting about without a pilot (carens rectore). The writing will want method, and the definiteness of aim which models would impose. So vii. pr. §2 sic oratio carens hac virtute (sc. ordine) tumultuetur necesse est et sine rectore fluitet nec cohaereat sibi, multa repetat, multa transeat, velut nocte in ignotis locis errans, nec initio nec fine proposito casum potius quam consilium sequatur: cp. xii. 2 §20.
quae quoque sint modo. This is the 13 reading of the oldest MSS. (see Crit. Notes), and was adopted by Halm: cp. §8 quod quoque loco sit aptissimum: 7 §5 quid quoque loco primum sit, and §6 quid quoque loco quaerant. So iv. 2, 33 quid quoque loco prosit. Quae covers inventio: while quoque modo may be taken of the exhaustive discussion of the various departments of elocutio which has just been concluded.—Meister has returned to Spalding’s quo quaeque sint modo, probably from a doubt whether Halm (followed by Mayor) is right in explaining quae quoque as = quae et quomodo, ‘what is to be said and how’; ‘copulae enim que in coniunctione talium membrorum relativorum inter se discretorum non aptus est locus,’ Osann, i. p. 14. But quoque may very well be the abl. of quisque, though Cicero seems to avoid such a collocation, unless there is a prep. to make the construction clear: e.g. pro Sulla §73 quae ex quoque ordine multitudo: pro Domo §33 qui de quaque re constituti iudices sint: Har. Resp. §24 quae de quoque deo ... tradita sunt. Cp. in Cat. iii. §10 tabellas quae a quoque dicebantur datae. Even in the exactly parallel passage Sall. Cat. 23, 4 quae quoque modo audierat ... narravit (where Mommsen suggests quoquo), it is possible to understand quoque of the various methods Fulvia had employed to get information from Curius. So quid ubique, ib. 21, 1.
tamen: see Crit. Notes.
in procinctu: ‘ready for battle.’ So xii. 9, 21 quem armatum semper ac velut in procinctu stantem non magis umquam in causis oratio quam in rebus cotidianis ac domesticis sermo deficiet. Similarly in 7 §24 promptum hoc et in expedito positum. Examples of the proper use of the phrase occur Tac. Hist. iii. 2: Ovid Pont. i. 8, 10: Gell. i. 11: Plin. Nat. Hist. vi. 22. Quintilian expresses a similar idea by another of his military metaphors, viii pr. 15: eloqui enim hoc est omnia quae mente conceperis promere atque ad audientes perferre; sine quo supervacua sunt priora et similia gladio condito atque intra vaginam suam haerenti: cp. vi. 4, 8. For the explanation of the phrase procingo, ‘I gird up’ see Mayor’s note on Cic. de N. D. ii. 3 §9: “in procinctu is used of an army in readiness for battle, Milton’s ‘war in procinct’ (P. L. vi. 19): cp. Festus, pp. 43 and 225 procincta classis dicebatur cum exercitus cinctus erat Gabino cinctu confestim pugnaturus. Vetustius enim fuit multitudinem hominum, quam navium, classem appellari, also p. 249 procincta toga Romani olim ad pugnam ire soliti. The cinctus Gabinus was a particular way of wearing the toga, so as to use part of it as a girdle, tying it in a knot in front. Servius (Aen. vii. 612) says the ancient Latins, before they were acquainted with the use of defensive armour, praecinctis togis bellabant, unde etiam milites in procinctu esse dicuntur.” For the figurative use cp. Sen. de Benef. i. 1, 4 severitatem abditam clementiam in procinctu habeo: [Quint.] Decl. 3, 1 neque in militiam gravissimo asperrimoque bello ita venit, ut nesciret sibi mortem in procinctu habendam.
paratam: 5 §12: Cic. ad Fam. vi. 21, 1 ad omnem eventum paratus sum.
velut cl. thes. incubabit. Unless he adds practice to his theoretical knowledge, all he knows will be as useless as a miser’s hoard. The phrase is a reminiscence of Verg. Georg. ii. 507 condit opes alius, defossoque incubat auro: cp. Aen. vi. 610 aut qui divitiis soli incubuere repertis. Martial, xii. 53, 3-4 largiris nihil incubasque gazae, ut magnus draco. Mayor quotes Ecclus. 20, 30 Wisdom that is hid, and treasure that is hoarded up, what profit is in them both?
I:3 Non autem 14 ut quidquid praecipue necessarium est, sic ad efficiendum oratorem maximi protinus erit momenti. Nam certe, cum sit in eloquendo positum oratoris officium, dicere ante omnia est, atque hinc initium eius artis fuisse manifestum est: proximum deinde imitatio, novissimum scribendi quoque diligentia.
§ 3. The argument here requires elucidation. Quint. has said (§§1, 2) that for the firma facilitas or ἕξις which must be superadded to theory, writing, reading and speaking are all essential. He now goes on to state that it does not follow that what is theoretically most indispensable (cp. cognitioni necessaria §1 above) is for the practical training of the orator of greatest consequence. The most essential element is of course that of speech (dicere)—followed by imitation and writing. But perfection of speech can only be attained, like other forms of perfection, by starting from first beginnings (principia), which become relatively unimportant (minima) as things progress. This is not however the place for dealing with the methods of preliminary training in rhetoric: our student has done his theory, and we must now show him how to apply it to practice. Cp. Analysis, p. 1.
14ut quidquid. Properly quisquis is an indefinite relative: in this usage it has the same force as quisque (Roby, 2283, 2285). It may have been an archaism which became colloquial. Madvig (on de Fin. v. §24) shows that undoubted instances occur in Plautus, Terence, Cato (de R. R. 57: uti quidquid operis facient), Lucretius (with whom it is especially common: e.g. ruit qua quidquid fluctibus obstat, i. 289, where see Munro), Cicero (Tusc. v. 98), and in the Agrarian Law (utei quicquid quoieique ante h. l. r. licuit, ita &c. Mommsen C.I.L. 1 n. 200 v. 27). Cp. vii. 2, 35. So too Corn. ad. Herenn. ii. §47, where the MSS. almost without exception give quidquid (quicquid) for quicque. For the spelling here, cp. i. 7, 6 frigidiora his alia, ut ‘quidquid’ c quartam haberet, ne interrogare bis videremur.
ad efficiendum oratorem: i. 10, 2.
protinus, of logical consequence, as frequently continuo in Cicero: generally with a negative, or a question implying a negative answer. For the form of the sentence cp. viii. 2, 4 non tamen quidquid non erit proprium protinus et improprii vitio laborabit: and §42 below, sed non quidquid ad aliquam partem scientiae pertinet protinus ad faciendam φράσιν ... accommodatum. So 3 §22 (§§5 and 18 are different): ii. 21, 10: v. 10, 102 and 119: vii. 4, 38.
nam certe. This leads up to the next sentence, beginning sed ut.
in eloquendo: cp. viii. pr. 15 (quoted on in procinctu, §2 above): Cic. Or. §61 sed iam illius perfecti oratoris et summae eloquentiae species exprimenda est; quem hoc uno (sc. in eloquendo) excellere cetera in eo latere indicat nomen ipsum. Non enim inventor aut compositor aut actor qui haec complexus est omnia, sed et Graece ab eloquendo ῥήτωρ et Latine eloquens dictus est. Ceterarum enim rerum quae sunt in oratore partem aliquam sibi quisque vindicat; dicendi autem, id est eloquendi, maxima vis soli huic conceditur. Cp. de Orat. ii. §38.
ante omnia est. Becher vindicates the traditional reading by comparing ii. 15, 12 atqui non multum ab hoc fine abest Apollodorus dicens iudicialis orationis primum et super omnia esse persuadere iudici et sententiam eius ducere in id quod velit. So too iii. 8, 56 an pro Caesare fuerit occidi Pompeium?—See Crit. Notes. For ante omnia cp. Introd. p. lii.
hinc ... fuisse: cp. viii. 2, 7 proprie tamen unde initium est: vi. pr. §10 ut prorsus posset hinc esse tanti fulminis metus.
proximum: cp. i. 3, 1 proximum imitatio. As is evident from ch. ii, imitatio here includes not lectio only but auditio as well: §8 optima legendo atque audiendo. It was in this sense that Dion. Hal. entitled his work περὶ μιμήσεως: see Usener, Praef. pp. 1-4: and cp. Cic. de Orat. i. §14 sq. and §149 sq.
I:4 Sed ut perveniri ad summa nisi ex principiis non potest, ita procedente iam opere minima incipiunt esse quae prima sunt. Verum nos non quo modo sit instituendus orator hoc loco dicimus, 15 (nam id quidem aut satis aut certe uti potuimus dictum est), sed athleta, qui omnes iam perdidicerit a praeceptore numeros, quo genere exercitationis ad certamina praeparandus sit. Igitur eum qui res invenire et disponere sciet, verba quoque et eligendi et collocandi rationem perceperit, instruamus qua ratione quod didicerit facere quam optime, quam facillime possit.
§ 4. sed ut perveniri, &c. 7 §18. Cp. i. pr. §§4-5 contemnentes tamquam parva quae prius discimus studia ... ego cum existimem nihil arti oratoriae alienum sine quo fieri non posse oratorem fatendum est, nec ad ullius rei summam nisi praecedentibus initiis perveniri ad minora illa ... demittere me non recusabo.
procedente iam opere: here of the progress of the orator’s training.
minima in importance: prima in point of time. Krüger says that dicere alone is meant, being the initium artis above; but it seems better to understand Quint. to be indicating here that the order of importance does not correspond with the order of development as stated above, viz. (1) the faculty of speech, (2) reading (included under imitatio) and (3) writing. These are to be taken first as the subsidiary beginnings (principia) from which we attain to the ultimate object: but as things progress they will become relatively unimportant (minima), and their 15 place will be taken by systematic training in speaking or declamation, an exercise which is always essential to success and can therefore never be left off (7 §24).
aut ... aut in the sense of si minus satis, at certe uti potuimus: cp. xii. 11, 21.
athleta: a metaphor abruptly introduced: cp. §33: 3 §7: 4 §4: 7 §§1 and 23. The orator is often compared to an athlete, gladiator, soldier, &c.: see on §33 non athletarum toris sed militum lacertis, and Introd. p. lvi. Cp. §§29, 31, 79: 3 §3: 5 §§15, 17. Cic. de Orat. i. §73 ut qui pila ludunt ... sic in orationibus: iii. §83: Or. §§14, 42, 228-9. Tac. Dial. 34 ferro non rudibus dimicantes: cp. end of 37.
numeros: here of rhythmical movements, ‘movements according to rule, “passes” in fencing, “throws” in wrestling,’ &c.—Mayor. The use of the word in this sense is probably founded on the analogy between rhythm (for which see ix. 4, 45) and graceful motion: ix. 4, 8 in omni palaestra quid satis recte cavetur ac petitur cui non artifex motus et certi quidam pedes adsint? Cp. xii. 2, 12: ut palaestrici doctores illos quos numeros vocant non idcirco discentibus tradunt, ut iis omnibus ii qui didicerint in ipso luctandi certamine utantur ... sed ut subsit copia illa ex qua unum aut alterum cuius se occasio dederit efficiant: ii. 8, 13 sicut ille ... exercendi corpora peritus non ... nexus modo atque in iis certos aliquos docebit, sed omnia quae sunt eius certaminis. Sen. de Benef. vii. 1 §4 magnus luctator est non qui omnes numeros nexusque perdidicit. So Iuv. vi. 249 of the lady in the arena, omnes implet numeros: cp. Tac. Dial. 32 per omnes eloquentiae numeros isse. That this use is based on the notion of rhythm may be seen from a comparison of these exx. with Hor. Ep. ii. 2, 144 verae numerosque modosque ediscere vitae. For the wider meaning of numeri, in which it is used of that which is complete and perfect in all its parts, v. on §70.
igitur. As to whether the position of igitur at the beginning of a sentence is to be considered an instance of transmutatio (like ‘quoque ego,’ ‘enim hoc voluit’) Quintilian says (i. 5, 39) there is a doubt: ‘quia maximos auctores in diversa fuisse opinione video, cum apud alios sit etiam frequens, apud alios numquam reperiatur.’ Numerous instances from his own work are given in Bonn. Lex., p. 394. In Tacitus, igitur always stands first except in the following passages: Dial. 8, 29: 10, 37: 20, 21: Agr. 16, 12: Germ. 45, 22: Hist. iv. 15, 15: Ann. i. 47, 5 (Gerber and Greef). In Cicero it is very rarely found first: de Leg. Agr. ii. 72: pro Milone §48: Phil. ii. §94: de Fin. i. §61: de Nat. Deor. i. §80.
res invenire. For the five parts of oratory (which are quite distinct from the five parts of an oration) cp. 7 §9: iii. 3, §§1 and 7. They are inventio (treated of in Books iii.-vi.), dispositio (vii.), elocutio (viii.-ix.), memoria, actio or pronuntiatio (xi.). Cicero has substantially the same division de Orat. ii. §79, quinque faciunt quasi membra eloquentiae, invenire quod dicas, inventa disponere, deinde ornare verbis, post memoriae mandare, tum ad extremum agere ac pronuntiare: cp. i. §142: and for inventio, de Inv. i. §9, inventio est excogitatio rerum verarum aut veri similium quae causam probabilem reddant.—For the antithesis between res and verba, cp. §§5 and 6: also §61: 2 §27: 3 §§5, 9: 6 §2: 7 §§9, 22.
sciet. Bonnell calls attention to the use of the fut. in dependent relative sentences as common in manuals of instruction: §§5, 10, 13, 17, 22, 25, 33, 112, &c. Instruamus is virtually future.
eligendi §6: cp. dilectus 3 §5.
collocandi: Cic. de Orat. ii. §307 ordo collocatioque rerum ac locorum: cp. Or. §50: Brut. §139. For both cp. Brut. §140 in verbis et eligendis ... et collocandis: de Part. Or. i. §3. Both are parts of elocutio, for which see viii. 1, 1. For ratio with gerund cp. §§17, 54: 2 §1: 3 §§5, 31: and see note on 2 §3.
qua ratione. The recurrence of ratione so soon after rationem need create no difficulty in Quintilian: for similar instances of negligence see on 2 §23. For 16 Kiderlin’s treatment of the whole passage, see Crit. Notes.
optime ... facillime, xii. 10, 77 neque vero omnia ista de quibus locuti sumus orator optime tantum sed etiam facillime faciet.
I:5 Non ergo dubium est quin ei velut opes sint quaedam parandae, quibus uti, ubicumque desideratum erit, possit: eae constant copia rerum ac verborum.
§ 5. velut ... quaedam. So §§18, 61: 3 §3: 5 §17: 7 §1, and frequently elsewhere: e.g. xii. 10, 19 velut sata quaedam: iii. 8, 29 veluti quoddam templum. Cicero generally uses quasi or tanquam quidam. Indeed Quintilian seems to have a general preference for velut over quasi or tanquam in introducing similes: cp. 7 §6 ducetur ante omnia rerum ipsa serie velut duce: viii. 5, 29 inaequalia tantum et velut confragosa: see Bonn. Lex., s.v.
ubicumque, so §10 below. For a less classical use (as an indefinite) see 7 §28 quidquid loquemur ubicumque.
I:6 Sed res propriae sunt cuiusque causae aut paucis communes, verba in universas paranda; quae si rebus singulis essent singula, minorem curam postularent, nam cuncta sese cum ipsis protinus rebus offerrent. Sed cum sint aliis alia aut magis propria aut magis ornata aut plus efficientia 17 aut melius sonantia, debent esse non solum nota omnia, sed in promptu atque, ut ita dicam, in conspectu, ut, cum se iudicio dicentis ostenderint, facilis ex his optimorum sit electio.
§ 6. sed res ... paranda: an example of the construction so common in Greek and Latin, by which two contrasted clauses are co-ordinated. In English we subordinate the one to the other by using ‘while,’ ‘whereas,’ or some such word. In Greek the use of μὲν makes the antithesis plainer.—Here res = νοήματα: verba = ὀνόματα.
paucis communes. For the loci communes, appropriate to several causae, v. Cic. de Inv. ii. §48 argumenta quae transferri in multas causas possunt, and compare the Topica.
cum ipsis protinus rebus. For the order of words cp. §33 historico nonnumquam nitore. Herbst gives the following exx. of an adv. inserted between the adj. and the noun: §§38, 41, 104, 116, 120: 2 §§7, 8: 3 §§2, 31: 5 §7: 7 §§3, 28.—For the thought, cp. Hor. A. P. 311 verbaque provisam rem non invita sequentur: Cic. de Orat. ii. §146 ea (sc. res et sententiae) vi sua verba parient: iii. §125 rerum enim copia verborum copiam gignit. No doubt Quintilian in his teaching also gave due prominence to Cato’s golden rule, ‘rem tene verba sequentur.’
propria. The general meaning under which all uses of proprius and its cognates may be included is that in which it contrasts with all departures from and innovations on ordinary language. Sometimes it may mean nothing more than ‘suitable,’ ‘appropriate,’ in which sense proprie occurs immediately below, in §9: cp. opportune proprieque 2 §13, and proprie et copiose (dicere) i. 4, 5. This is the meaning with which it is applied to the language of Simonides §64 below,—‘natural’; cp. Cic. de Orat. i. §154, where verba propria occurs alongside of ornatissima and corresponds with idonea, introduced shortly afterwards: cp. id. iii. §31, where propria is reinforced by apta, and ib. §49 proprie demonstrantibus (verbis) ea quae significari ac declarari volemus. The use of proprietas in §46 and §121 below may be compared with this: cp. also the first of the meanings assigned to the word in the important passage viii. 2, 1-11: also ix. 2, 18 and xii. 2, 19. The translators here render by ‘suitable’ or ‘significant,’ but the juxtaposition of ornata seems rather to point to the use in which verba propria are the antithesis of translata,—direct, literal, and natural, as opposed to figurative: i. 5, 71 propria sunt verba cum id significant in quod primo denominata sunt: translata, cum alium natura intellectum, alium loco praebent. Cp. i. 5, 3: viii. 3, 24: 6, 5, and 48 (where propria ... ornata in the passage above may well be illustrated by the words species ex arcessitis verbis venit et intellectus ex propriis): ix. 1, 4. This is undoubtedly the meaning in which proprius is used in §29 below: also in 5 §8 alia translatis virtus alia propriis. The nearest equivalent in Greek would be οἰκεῖα ὀνόματα, rather than κύρια ὀνόματα, which correspond to ‘usitata verba’ in Quint, (i. 5, 71, and v. 14, 33 verbis quam maxime propriis et ex usu),—though he may have had in mind here, as Mayor suggests, ἔστι γὰρ ἄλλο ἄλλου κυριώτερον, Arist. Rhet. iii. 2, p. 1405 b, 11. (For the distinction between ὄνομα οἰκεῖον and ὄνομα κύριον see Cope on Ar. Rhet. iii. 2 17 §§2 and 6, and Introd. p. 282 note). Many parallels might be cited from Cicero: e.g. de Or. iii. §149 (verbis eis) quae propria sunt et certa quasi vocabula rerum, paene una nata cum rebus ipsis: cp. ib. §150: Brutus §274: Or. §80.
ornata: cp. viii. 3, 15 quamquam enim rectissime traditum est perspicuitatem propriis, ornatum translatis verbis magis egere, sciamus nihil ornatum esse quod sit improprium: ib. pr. §26 ut propria sint (verba) et dilucida et ornata et apte collocentur, and §31: ii. 5, 9 quod verbum proprium, ornatum, sublime: and especially viii. 1, 1 in singulis (verbis) intuendum est ut sint Latina, perspicua, ornata, ad id quod efficere volumus accommodata.
plus efficientia, ‘more significant’: ix. 4, §123 membrum autem est sensus ... per se nihil efficiens. The adj. efficax occurs only once in Quint. (vi. 1, 41).
melius sonantia. So vocaliora viii. 3, §16 sq.: cp. i. 5, 4 sola est quae notari possit vocalitas, quae εὐφωνία dicitur: cuius in eo dilectus est ut inter duo quae idem significant ac tantundem valent quod melius sonet malis. Cic. de Or. iii. §150 lectis atque illustribus (verbis) utatur, in quibus plenum quiddam et sonans inesse videatur: Or. §163 verba ... legenda sunt potissimum bene sonantia: §149, and §80 (verbum) quod aut optime sonat aut rem maxime explanat (= plus effic.): Part. Or. §17 alia (verba) sonantiora, grandiora, leviora: and §53 gravia, plena, sonantia verba.
non solum ... sed (οὐ μόνον ... ἀλλά), a formula used where the second clause is stronger than or includes and comprehends the first. Cp. §8 below: §46 (nec modo sed): 7 §8 (non modo sed): 3 §20 (non tantum sed): 5 §5 (neque tantum sed): 7 §16 (non tantum sed). Of the numerous exx. in Cicero’s speeches (Merguet, pp. 361-2) none are exceptions to the rule thus stated,—not even the seeming anticlimax of pro Sest. §45 iecissem me potius in profundum ut ceteros conservarem quam illos mei tam cupidos non modo ad certam mortem sed in magnum vitae discrimen adducerem: here sed still introduces the stronger clause, as the sacrifice would be greater if it were made to avert discrimen than if it were made to avert certa mors. Becher cps. pro Lege Manil. §66: Div. in Caec. §27.—There is nothing in the distinction which Herbst (followed by Dosson) seeks to set up (on the strength of sed etiam in §13): ‘pro simplici sed, ἀλλά, infertur sed etiam, ἀλλὰ καί, si utrumque orationis membrum pari vi praeditum est.’ Cp. the following: (a) non solum sed, vi. 2, 13 and 36: non solum sed (or verum) etiam, vii. 10, 17: ii. 2, 14: vii. 5, 3: viii. 3, 64: i. 11, 14. (b) non tantum sed, ix. 3, 28, 78: xi. 1, 7: ii. 17, 2: non tantum sed etiam (or et), xi. 2, 5: viii. 3, 3: ix. 2, 50. (c) non modo sed, pr. §9: x. 1, 46: ii. 17, 3: iv. 5, 6: non modo sed etiam (or quoque), ix. 3, 50: xi. 1, 15: i. 10, 9: ii. 2, 12: vi. 3, 57: ix. 3, 47: i. 1, 34: i. 4, 6: i. 11, 13: ix. 4, 9: x. 1, 10.
in promptu—in readiness, ‘at one’s fingers’ ends,’ as it were: i.e. not only must we be able to recognise them when we see or hear them, but we must always have a stock of them on hand. Cp. ii. 4, 27 ut quidam ... scriptos eos (locos) memoriaeque diligentissime mandatos in promptu habuerint: vii. 10, 14 non respiciendum ad haec sed in promptu habenda: viii. pr. 28 ut semper in promptu sint et ante oculos: xi. 2, 1 exemplorum ... velut quasdam copias quibus abundare quasque in promptu habere debet orator. In ix. 1, 13 we have simplex atque in promptu positus dicendi modus. Cp. Demetrius Cynicus ap. Senec. de Benef. vii. 1 §3: plus prodesse si pauca praecepta sapientiae teneas sed illa in promptu tibi et in usu sint quam si multa quidem didiceris sed illa non habeas ad manum.—In Lucr. ii. 149 and 246 (in promptu manifestumque esse videmus) the phrase rather = in aperto: as often in Cicero, e.g. de Off. i. §§61, 95, 105, 126.
ut ita dicam, in conspectu. So vii. 1, 4 cum haec (themata s. proposita) in conspectu quodammodo collocaveram. Cp. viii. 3, 37 quod idem (‘ut ita dicam’) etiam in iis quae licentius translata erunt proderit.
I:7 Et quae idem significarent solitos scio ediscere, quo facilius et 18 occurreret unum ex pluribus, et, cum essent usi aliquo, si breve intra spatium rursus desideraretur, effugiendae repetitionis gratia sumerent aliud quo idem intellegi posset. Quod cum est puerile et cuiusdam infelicis operae, tum etiam utile parum: turbam tantum modo congregat, ex qua sine discrimine occupet proximum quodque.
§ 7. quae idem significarent: ‘synonyms.’ Cp. i. 5, 4 (quoted above on melius sonantia): viii. 3, 16.
solitos sc. quosdam. Cp. §56 audire videor congerentes. See Crit. Notes.
18occurreret = in mentem veniret: §13: 3 §33.
quo idem intellegi posset. Cp. iii. 11, 27 his plura intelleguntur. See Crit. Notes.
cum ... tum etiam. Cp. cum ... tum praecipue 3 §28: and, for cum ... tum, §§60, 65, 68, 84, 101. Bonn. Lex., s.v. cum p. 195.
cuiusdam. This use of quidam indicates that the word to which it is attached is being employed in some peculiar sense, or else that it comes nearest to the idea in the writer’s mind: cp. §§76, 81.
infelicis operae: of trouble which one gives oneself unnecessarily (cp. 3 §10: 7 §14), with the further idea of unproductiveness, as 2 §8 nostra potissimum tempora damnamus huius infelicitatis: tr. ‘a thankless task.’ Cp. Hor. Sat. i. 1, 90 infelix operam perdas: A. P. 34 infelix operis summa. With viii. pr. §§27-8 Mayor compares Plato Phaedr. 229d ἄλλως τὰ τοιαῦτα χαρίεντα ἡγοῦμαι λίαν δὲ δεινοῦ καὶ ἐπιπόνου καὶ οὐ πάνυ εὐτυχοῦς ἀνδρός.
congregat. The subject here is indefinite, and must be supplied from the context—‘the man who learns by rote.’ Quintilian often omits such words as discipulus, orator, declamator, lector: cp. 2 §24: 7 §4 and 2 §24: §25 est alia exercitatio cogitandi totasque materias vel silentio (dum tamen quasi dicat intra se ipsum) persequendi. So Cic. de Off. i. §101 omnis autem actio vacare debet temeritate et neglegentia nec vero agere quicquam cuius non possit (sc. is qui agit) causam probabilem reddere: ib. §121 si natura non feret ut quaedam imitari possit (sc. is qui imitatur): §134: ii. §39: iii. §107: de Amic. §25 quae non volt: §72 quoad ... possit: de Or. ii. §62 audeat.—There is thus no need for Gemoll’s conjecture congregat actor.
§§8-15. The preceding sections (§§5-7) form the transition to what he now seeks to prove,—the need for multa lectio and auditio. ‘By reading and hearing the best models we learn to choose appropriate words, to arrange and pronounce them rightly; to employ the figures of speech in their proper places.’—Mayor.
I:8 Nobis autem copia cum iudicio paranda est, vim orandi non circulatoriam volubilitatem spectantibus. Id autem consequemur 19 optima legendo atque audiendo; non enim solum nomina ipsa rerum cognoscemus hac cura, sed quod quoque loco sit aptissimum.
§ 8. cum iudicio, §116: 2 §3. Mayor cites Cic. de Or. iii. §150 sed in hoc verborum genere propriorum dilectus est habendus quidem atque is aurium quoque iudicio ponderandus est. The phrase gives the antithesis of sine discrimine above.
vim orandi: see on §1 above, vim dicendi: cp. 5 §6: ii. 16, 9: vi. 2, 2. The words denote ‘true oratory’ as opposed to the ‘fluency of a mountebank’ or charlatan. For the absolute use of orare (common in the Silver Age) see on §16.
circulatoriam volubilitatem: ii. 4, 15 circulatoriae vere iactationis est. The circulator was a strolling mountebank who amused the crowd by his legerdemain: Sen. de Benef. vi. 11, 2. So of quack philosophers, Id. Epist. 29 §7 circulatores qui philosophiam honestius neglexissent quam vendunt: 40 §3 sic itaque habe, istam vim dicendi rapidam atque abundantem aptiorem esse circulanti quam agenti in rem magnam ac seriam docentique: 52 §8 eligamus non eos qui verba magna celeritate praecipitant, et communes locos volvunt et in privato circulantur, sed eos qui vita[m] docent.—For volubilitas cp. xi. 3, 52: Cic. de Orat. §17 est enim et scientia comprehendenda rerum plurimarum, sine qua verborum volubilitas inanis atque inridenda est, et ipsa oratio conformanda non solum electione sed etiam constructione verborum: so linguae volubilitas, pro Planc. §62 flumen aliis verborum volubilitasque cordi est: pro Flacc. §48 homo volubilis praecipiti quadam celeritate dicendi. Pliny Ep. v. 20, 4: est plerisque Graecorum ut illi pro copia volubilitas. Juvenal’s sermo promptus et Isaeo torrentior (3, 73-4) indicates the same feature.
id, of the idea contained in the previous sentence (parare copiam cum iudicio): 6 §6: 7 §4.
19non enim. Herbst cites §109 and 5 §8 to show that in this form the negative is either attached to a single word, or is meant to be more emphatic: so Cic. Orat. §§47, 101. On the other hand neque enim has less emphasis: §105: 2 §1: 3 §§10, 23: 4 §1: 6 §5: 7 §§5, 18, 19, 27. For enim ... enim ... nam he compares 3 §2 and, in Greek, Xen. Anab. iii. 2, 32: v. 6, 4.
quod quoque. See Crit. Notes.
I:9 Omnibus enim fere verbis praeter pauca, quae sunt parum verecunda, in oratione locus est. Nam scriptores quidem iamborum veterisque comoediae etiam in illis saepe laudantur, sed nobis nostrum opus intueri sat est. Omnia verba, exceptis de quibus dixi, sunt alicubi optima; nam et humilibus interim et vulgaribus est opus, et quae nitidiore in parte videntur 20 sordida, ubi res poscit, proprie dicuntur.
§ 9. parum verecunda. These expressions are characterised in the same indirect way i. 2, 7 verba ne Alexandrinis quidem permittenda deliciis. Cp. viii. 3, 38 excepto si obscena nudis nominibus enuntientur: ib. 2 §1 obscena vitabimus. Cic. ad Fam. ix. 22.
nam is here slightly elliptical (cp. §83), introducing a confirmation of the statement contained in the words praeter pauca quae sunt parum verecunda: ‘I make exceptions, for though even these may be admired in ἰαμβογράφοι (Archilochus §59, Hipponax, &c.), and in the old Comedy, we must look to our own department.’ The sentence might have run,—nam, etiamsi scriptores quidem, &c. etiam in illis saepe laudantur, nobis nostrum opus intueri sat est. This seems better than, with Mayor, to press in oratione: ‘in oratione I say, for even these may be admired, &c.’
scriptores iamborum: §59 Horace imitated Archilochus in some of his Epodes: these are ‘parum verecunda.’ Mayor refers also to the Priapeia. The vetus comoedia (antiqua in §65) is often associated with ἰαμβογράφοι: §§59, 65, 96. Hor. Sat. i. 4, 1 sq.: ii. 3, 12.
in illis ... laudantur. In such expressions in with the abl. denotes the range or scope within which the action of the verb takes place. Nägelsb. p. 491. Cic. Qu. fr. ii. 6, 5 Pompeius noster in amicitia P. Lentuli vituperatur. Cp. §§54, 63, 64: v. 12, 22 ut ad peiora iuvenes laude ducuntur ita laudari in bonis malent.
nostrum opus: not ‘our proper work, the education of an orator’ (Hild); but ‘what we have to do with here,’ our ‘department’ or ‘branch.’ It thus = opus dicendi Cic. Brut. §214, or oratorium ib. §200. In the Silver Age opus (like genus) is often used to denote a special branch. Herbst cites §§31, 35, 64, 69, 70, 72, 74, 93, 96, 123; 2 §21. Cp. Introd. p. xliv.
intueri: v. 13, 31 dum locum praesentem non totam causam intuentur. Cp. 2 §§2, 26: 7 §16.
exceptis ... dixi: sc. iis (parum verecundis). Cp. §104 circumcisis quae dixisse ei nocuerat.
humilibus ... vulgaribus. So xi. 1, 6 humile et cotidianum sermonis genus. Humilia verba (ταπεινά ὀνόματα) are opposed to grandia, elata verba. By Cicero abiectus is often used to indicate a still lower depth: Brut. §227 verbis non ille quidem ornatis utebatur, sed tamen non abiectis. Mayor cites De Orat. iii. §177 non enim sunt alia sermonis, alia contentionis verba, neque ex alio genere ad usum cotidianum, alio ad scenam pompamque sumuntur; sed ea nos cum iacentia sustulimus e medio sicut mollissimam ceram ad nostrum arbitrium formamus et fingimus. Hor. A. P. 229 ne ... migret in obscuras humili sermone tabernas.
interim for interdum, as often in Quintilian, Seneca, and Pliny: cp. §24: 3 §§7, 19, 20, 32, 33 (where we have interim ... interim for modo ... modo): 7 §31. See Introd. p. li.
nitidiore ... sordida. There is the same antithesis at viii. 3. 49. Cp. Cic. Brut. §238 non valde nitens non plane horrida oratio. See note on §79: and cp. §§33, 44, 83, 97, 98, 113, 124. Sulp. Vict. inst. or. 15 in Halm rhet. lat. p. 321, 3 adhibendus est nitor ... ut scilicet verba non sordida et vulgaria et de trivio, quod dicitur, sumpta sint, sed electa de libris et hausta de liquido fonte doctrinae.— 20 For sordida cp. Sen. Ep. 100 (of Fabianus) nihil invenies sordidum ... verba ... splendida ... quamvis sumantur e medio. Quint. ii. 5, 10: viii. 2, 1.
proprie: v. on §6 propria. Cp. 5 §4 verba poetica libertate audaciora non praesumunt eadem proprie dicendi facultatem: viii. 2, 2 non mediocriter errare quidam solent qui omnia quae sunt in usu, etiam si causae necessitas postulet, reformidant.
I:10 Haec ut sciamus atque eorum non significationem modo, sed formas etiam mensurasque norimus, ut ubicumque erunt posita conveniant, nisi multa lectione atque auditione adsequi nullo modo possumus, cum omnem sermonem auribus primum accipiamus. Propter quod infantes a mutis nutricibus iussu regum in solitudine educati, etiamsi verba quaedam emisisse traduntur, tamen loquendi facultate caruerunt.
§ 10. non ... modo, sed ... etiam: see on §6. Herbst notes that Quint. usually separates these words by others, as here: cp. §55 non forum modo, verum ipsam etiam urbem: 2 §23 non causarum modo inter ipsas condicio, sed in singulis etiam causis partium. On the other hand we have 3 §15 non exercitatio modo ... sed etiam ratio: 7 §19 non in prosa modo, sed etiam in carmine.
formas. The forma of a word, in the widest sense, must mean its shape as determined by the syllables and letters of which it consists: cp. viii. 3, 16, where he notes the importance of this in regard to sound. But the reference here is more particularly to the grammatical forms of inflection, i.e. accidence, τὰς πτώσεις τῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ τὰς ἐγκλίσεις τῶν ῥημάτων (Dion. Hal. Comp. Verbor. 25, p. 402 Schäfer). See i. 6, 15 sq. Mayor refers to the grammatical discussions in Cic. Orat. §§152-161. Quint. i. 4 esp. §§22-29: 5-7.
mensuras: the ‘quantities’ of single syllables, i.e. prosody. Cic. Or. §159: §§162-236: Quint. i. 10 ‘de musice.’ Latin concrete plurals often correspond to our abstract names of sciences, e.g. numeri ‘arithmetic,’ tempora ‘chronology.’ Nägelsbach 12 §2, p. 71.
ut ubicumque. For ut (L) most MSS. (G H S) give et. Krüger records a conj. by Rowecki, who proposes to read utque, so as to make both ut sciamus and ut conveniant depend upon adsequi. But this seems unnecessary.
auditione. Then, as now, auditio would be specially valuable in regard to prosody (mensurae). The next clause gives the reason for putting it alongside of lectio, and also serves to introduce the reference which follows.
propter quod ( = δι᾽ ὅ), often in Quint. where Cicero would have used quam ob rem. Cp. §66: 5 §23: 7 §6: propter quae (= δι᾽ ἅ) §61: 3 §30: ii. 13, 14: xii. 1, 39. At §28 and 3 §6 we have praeter id quod for praeterquam quod.
infantes ... caruerunt. In spite of the vagueness of regum and a mutis nutricibus, the reference is obviously to the story told by Herodotus (ii. 2), which Quint. may only have remembered indistinctly. Psammetichus, king of Egypt, wishing to discover if there were any people older than the Egyptians, gave two infants into the charge of a shepherd, who was to keep them out of reach of all human sounds and bring them up on the milk of goats. After two years they greeted the shepherd with the cry βεκός, which on inquiry turned out to be the Phrygian for bread. On the strength of this experiment the sapient king allowed that the Phrygians were more ancient than the Egyptians. Claudian, in Eutrop. ii. 252-4 nec rex Aegyptius ultra Restitit, humani postquam puer uberis expers In Phrygiam primum laxavit murmura vocem. A similar story is told of James IV of Scotland, with the difference that in his case Hebrew instead of Phrygian resulted from the experiment.—By mutis nutr. Quint. probably means the goats of Psammetichus; mutus having its proper sense, ‘uttering inarticulate sounds’: so mutae pecudes Lucr. v. 1059: animalia muta Iuv. viii. 56: mutum ac turpe pecus Hor. Sat. i. 3, 100.
verba emisisse: Lucr. v. 1087-8 ergo si varii sensus animalia cogunt Muta tamen cum sint, varias emittere voces, &c.
caruerunt is obviously the right reading, not caruerint (Hild), which would 21 introduce too great an element of uncertainty into the narrative: caruerunt propter(ea) quod sermonem auribus non acceperunt. Even though Quint. may have been sceptical about the story its ‘moral’ agreed entirely with his own conclusions.—Note etiamsi ... traduntur, etiamsi ... sint §11 below.
I:11 Sunt autem alia huius naturae, ut idem 21 pluribus vocibus declarent, ita ut nihil significationis, quo potius utaris, intersit, ut ‘ensis’ et ‘gladius’; alia vero, etiamsi propria rerum aliquarum sint nomina, τροπικῶς quasi tamen ad eundem intellectum feruntur, ut ‘ferrum’ et ‘mucro’.
§ 11. alia, sc. verba. See Crit. Notes.
vocibus: ‘sounds,’—words in regard to their sound and form, while verba are words in regard to their meaning. The distinction is given Cic. Or. §162 rerum verborumque iudicium prudentiae est, vocum autem et numerorum aures sunt iudices: de Or. iii. §196 itaque non solum verbis arte positis moventur omnes, verum etiam numeris ac vocibus (of musical sounds). Hor. Sat. i. 3, 103 donec verba quibus voces sensusque notarent, Nominaque invenere—where verba are the articulate words by which men gave form and meaning to the primitive inarticulate sounds (voces).
significationis, for the more usual ad significationem, ‘in point of meaning’: vii. 2, 20 nihil interest actionum: ix. 4, 44 plurimum refert compositionis. So Plin. Ep. ix. 13 §25 verane haec adfirmare non ausim: interest tamen exempli ut vera videantur. Cicero has in ad Fam. iv. 10, 5 multum interesse rei familiaris tuae te quam primum venire: and interesse reipublicae occurs (as a sort of personal genitive) in Cicero, Caesar, and Livy. But with such a word as that in the text Cicero would have used ad c. acc.: ad Fam. v. 12, 1 equidem ad nostram laudem non multum video interesse, sed ad properationem meam quiddam interest non te exspectare dum ad locum venias.
quo, sc. verbo.
ensis is the poetic word for gladius, though in Quint.’s time the difference between prose usage and poetical in regard to such words had begun to disappear. Mayor (following Gesner) notes that ‘ensis’ occurs over sixty times in Vergil, ‘gladius’ only five times.
τροπικῶς, by a ‘turn’ or change of application. On metaphor see viii. 2, 6 sq.: Cic. de Orat. iii. §155: Or. §§81, 82 sq. The meaning is that while some words are naturally synonymous, others become synonyms (ad eundem intellectum feruntur) when used figuratively, though in their literal sense they have each a distinct application (propria rerum aliquarum sint nomina). In the one case there are several words with the same meaning: in the other the original meaning is different (e.g. ferrum, mucro), but the words come to be used synonymously.—For the position of quasi, after τροπικῶς, cp. Sall. Iug. 48 §3: and see Crit. Notes.
ad eundem intellectum, viii. 3, 39: feruntur 3 §6: lit. ‘pass into the same meaning.’
ferrum, mucro, viii. 6, 20 (of synecdoche) nam prosa ut ‘mucronem’ pro gladio et ‘tectum’ pro domo recipiet, ita non ‘puppem’ pro navi nee ‘abietem’ pro tabellis, et rursus ut pro gladio ‘ferrum’ ita non pro equo ‘quadripedem.’—Mayor compares the use of ‘iron’ and ‘steel’ for ‘sword’ in Shakespeare.
I:12 Nam per abusionem 22 sicarios etiam omnes vocamus qui caedem telo quocumque commiserunt. Alia circuitu verborum plurium ostendimus, quale est ‘et pressi copia lactis.’ Plurima vero mutatione figuramus: scio ‘non ignoro’ et ‘non me fugit’ et ‘non me praeterit’ et ‘quis nescit?’ et ‘nemini dubium est’.
§ 12. Nam is again elliptical, as in §9. It introduces here a proof of what has just been said in the shape of a reference to something still more striking: ‘and we may go even further, for,’ &c. It may be translated ‘and indeed,’ or ‘nay more,’ or ‘likewise.’ Cp. §§23, 83: and with quidem §50. The ellipse may be supplied by the words ‘neque id mirum’: ‘and no wonder, for.’
per abusionem: by the figure called ‘catachresis,’—the use of a word of kindred signification for the proper word: Corn. ad Herenn. 10 §45 abusio est quae verbo simili et propinquo pro certo et proprio abutitur. Cp. viii. 2, 5 abusio, quae κατάχρησις dicitur, necessaria: ib. 6 §34 κατάχρησις, quam recte dicimus abusionem, quae non habentibus nomen suum accommodat, quod in proximo est, sic: equum divina Palladis arte Aedificant: iii. 3, 9: ix. 2, 35. Cic. de Orat. iii. §169: Or. §94. Quint. states the difference between abusio and translatio viii. 6 §35: discernendumque est ab hoc totum translationis genus, quod abusio est ubi nomen deficit, translatio ubi aliud fuit: i.e. abusio is used when a thing has not a name, and the name of something similar is given to it, translatio when one name is used instead of another. Mayor cites Serv. Georg. iii. 22 533 donaria proprie loca sunt in quibus dona reponuntur deorum, abusive templa. Cp. Quint. viii. 6, 35 poetae solent abusive etiam in his rebus quibus nomina sua sunt vicinis potius uti.
sicarios. The sica among the Romans specially denoted the assassin’s poniard: Cic. de Off. iii. §36: de Nat. Deor. iii. §74: pro Rosc. Amer. §103. Hor. Sat. i. 4, 4.
quocumque. Even before Quint.’s time quicumque had acquired the force of an indefinite pronoun (quivis or quilibet): Cic. Cat. 2, 5 quae sanare poterunt, quacumque ratione (potero) sanabo. Cp. §105, 7 §2: i. 10, 35: ii. 21, 1: and frequently in Tacitus, Suetonius, and Juvenal (e.g. x. 359). Mayor cites among other passages from Martial viii. 48, 5 non quicumque capit saturatas murice vestes.
circuitu verborum plurium, i.e. periphrasis. viii. 6, 59 pluribus autem verbis cum id quod uno aut paucioribus certe dici potest explicatur περίφρασιν vocant, circuitum quendam eloquendi: ib. §61 cum in vitium incidit περισσολογία dicitur. Cp. xii. 10, 16: 41: viii. pr. §24: 2 §17.
ostendimus = declaramus, significamus, as §14.
et pressi copia lactis: Verg. Ecl. 1, 81.
plurima, ‘very many,’ not ‘most’: a common usage in Quint. Cp. §§22, 27, 40, 49, 58, 60, 65, 81, 95, 107, 109, 117, 128: 2 §§6, 14, 24: 6 §1: 7 §17.
mutatione figuramus. For this use of figurare (σχηματίζειν) cp. ix. 1, 9 tam enim translatis verbis quam propriis figuratur oratio: here however plurima is a cognate accus.,—lit. ‘we very often use a figure in substituting one form of expression for another.’ The verb is found in this sense also in Seneca and Pliny. See Crit. Notes.—Figurae is Quint.’s favourite word for rendering σχήματα. He uses it in more than a hundred places (i. 8, 16 schemata utraque, id est figuras, quaeque λέξεως quaeque διανοίας vocantur): and it is to this use of the word by him and by the later rhetoricians that we owe the modern term ‘figure.’ Cicero has no fixed equivalent for σχήματα: he uses formae, conformationes, lumina, gestus, figurae,—often with the Greek word added; e.g. Brut. §69 sententiarum orationisque formis quae vocant σχήματα: cp. Or. §83, and de Opt. Gen. §14 (where figuris is accompanied by tanquam). Quint. defines figura ix. 1, 4 as ‘conformatio quaedam orationis remota a communi et primum se offerente ratione’: ib. §14 arte aliqua novata forma dicendi. The idea of a divergence from what is usual and ordinary is always prominent in his treatment of figurae: ii. 13, 11 mutant enim aliquid a recto atque hanc prae se virtutem ferunt quod a consuetudine vulgari recesserut: ix. 1, 11 in sensu vel sermone aliqua a vulgari et simplici specie cum ratione mutatio.—That this idea is not involved in the original meaning of σχήματα, but was extended to them from the τρόποι (a name which indicates changes or ‘turns of expression’), is shown by Causeret pp. 170-180.
I:13 Sed etiam ex proximo mutuari licet. Nam et ‘intellego’ et ‘sentio’ et ‘video’ saepe idem valent quod ‘scio’. Quorum nobis ubertatem 23 ac divitias dabit lectio, ut non solum quo modo occurrent, sed etiam quo modo oportet utamur.
§ 13. ex proximo mutuari: i.e. borrow a word that is cognate in meaning, instead of using such negative inversions as the preceding.—Intellego, sentio, video, scio, are cognate words,—‘next door’ (in proximo) to each other.—For the substantival use (in Cicero and Livy) of neuter adjectives in acc. and abl., with prepositions, in expressions denoting place and the like, see Nägelsbach §21 pp. 102-109. Exx. are ex integro (§20), in aperto, ex propinquo, in immensum, de alieno, ad extremum, in praecipiti, in praesenti, in melius, e contrario (§19).
idem valent = ταὐτό or ἴσον δύναται, as often in Cicero and elsewhere in Quintilian.
ubertatem ac divitias: hendiadys, ‘a rich store.’ For the use of two synonymous nouns in Latin instead of a noun and an adjective, see Nägelsbach, §73 pp. 280-281. Exx. are Cic. de Or. i. §300 absolutionem perfectionemque ( = summa 23 perfectio, which never occurs): de Off. ii. 5, 16 conspiratione hominum atque consensu. For this metaphorical use of divitiae cp. de Orat. i. §161 in oratione Crassi divitias atque ornamenta eius ingenii per quaedam involucra atque integumenta perspexi.
occurrent: §7 and frequently elsewhere in this sense.
I:14 Non semper enim haec inter se idem faciunt, nec sicut de intellectu animi recte dixerim ‘video’, ita de visu oculorum ‘intellego’, nec ut ‘mucro’ gladium, sic mucronem ‘gladius’ ostendit.
§ 14. non semper enim, etc., ‘they do not always coincide in meaning,’ are not always identical and interchangeable. Cf. ix. 3, 47 nec verba modo sed sensus quoque idem facientes acervantur: where facere = efficere, the words being spoken of as if they were agents in producing the meaning. Inter se (ἀλλήλοις) = ‘reciprocally,’ ‘mutually’: cp. ix. 3, 31: ib. §49.
intellego: repeat recte dixerim. For the ellipse Herbst compares v. 11, 26: viii. 6, 20: xii. 11, 27.
mucro: for instance in 5 §16 gladius could not be substituted for mucro without the point being lost. Cp. viii. 6, 20: vi. 4, 4: ix. 4, 30.
ostendit = indicat, significat. Cp. §12.
I:15 Sed ut copia verborum sic paratur, ita non verborum tantum gratia legendum vel audiendum est. Nam omnium, quaecumque docemus, hoc sunt exempla potentiora etiam ipsis quae traduntur artibus (cum eo qui discit perductus est, ut intellegere ea sine demonstrante et sequi iam suis viribus possit), quia quae doctor praecepit orator ostendit.
24§ 15. ut ... ita: v. on sicut ... ita §1.
sic, multa lectione atque auditione §10. In reading and hearing we are not to aim merely at increasing our stock of words: many other things may be learned by the same practical method. Cp. 2 §1.
hoc = idcirco, ideo, corresponding to quia below. Cp. §34 hoc potentiora quod: §129 eo perniciosissima quod: v. 11, 37. See Crit. Notes.
etiam ipsis: §24. Herbst cites also Hor. Sat. i. 3, 39 Turpia decipiunt caecum vitia aut etiam ipsa haec delectant. Cicero uses etiam ipse (with rather more emphasis than ipse quoque) de Nat. Deor. ii. §46: Rab. Post. §33: pro Planc. §73: pro Mil. §21—Nägelsbach p. 367.
quae traduntur artibus. Artes is here used, as often in the plural, for the rules or collections of rules taught in schools. So ii. 5, 14 hoc diligentiae genus ausim dicere plus collaturum discentibus quam omnes omnium artes. Pr. §26 nihil praecepta atque artes valere nisi adiuvante natura: cp. §47 below litium et consiliorum artes: §49 qui de artibus scripserunt. This use is derived from that in which ars stands generally for ‘system’ or ‘theory’: ii. 14, 5 ars erit quae disciplina percipi debet (cp. Cic. de Or. ii. §30 ars earum rerum est quae sciuntur): and below 7 §12 hic usus ita proderit si ea de qua locuti sumus ars antecesserit. Elsewhere in Quint. it is frequently used for a technical treatise: ii. 13, 1 a plerisque scriptoribus artium: 15 §4 si re vera ars quae circumfertur eius (Isocratis) est: cp. Iuv. 7, 177 artem scindes Theodori. This last use is found also in Cicero: Brutus §46 ait Aristoteles ... artem et praecepta Siculos Coracem et Tisiam conscripsisse: de Fin. iii. §4 ipsae rhetorum artes: iv. §5 non solum praecepta in artibus sed etiam exempla in orationibus bene dicendi reliquerunt: ib. §7 quamquam scripsit artem rhetoricam Cleanthes: de Invent. i. §8: ii. §7.—Traduntur = docentur, just as accipere = discere: cf. i. 3, 3 quae tradentur non difficulter accipiet: ii. 9, 3: iii. 6, 59.
sine demonstrante: ‘without a guide’ or teacher. For this use of the participle, cp. i. 2, 12 lectio quoque non omnis nec semper praeeuntevel interpretante eget.
iam heightens the contrast between the two stages—pupilage and independent study. There is therefore no need for Hild’s conjecture viam.
ostendit ‘gives a practical demonstration of.’ We are not merely to learn the rules (artes) from the doctor, but to observe 24 how they are applied by the best writers and speakers.
I:16 Alia vero audientes, alia legentes magis adiuvant. Excitat qui dicit spiritu ipso, nec imagine et ambitu rerum, sed rebus incendit. Vivunt omnia enim et moventur, excipimusque nova illa velut nascentia cum favore ac sollicitudine. Nec fortuna modo iudicii, sed etiam ipsorum qui orant periculo adficimur.
§ 16. alia does not refer to some particular kinds of speeches, as Watson translates. Literally, it is ‘some things do more good when one hears them, others when one reads them’: but alia and adiuvant run into each other, as it were, and the meaning is ‘some benefits are derived from hearing, others from reading,’ i.e. they have each their special points. In the passive it would stand ‘aliter audientes adiuvantur aliter legentes.’
spiritu ipso: the ‘living breath’ (vivunt omnia et moventur), as opposed to the dead letter: the sound of the voice (viva vox) instead of the ‘cold medium of written symbols’ (Frieze), ii. 2, 8 viva illa, ut dicitur, vox alit plenius (sc. quam exempla). Plin. Ep. ii. 3, 9 multo magis, ut vulgo dicitur, viva vox adficit. nam liceat acriora sint quae legas, altius tamen in animo sedent quae pronuntiatio vultus habitus gestus etiam dicentis adfigit. Cic. Orat. §130 carent libri spiritu illo propter quem maiora eadem illa cum aguntur quam cum leguntur videri solent, where Sandys quotes Isocr. Phil. §26. So Dion. Hal. de Dem. 54 (p. 112 R) of the speeches of Demosthenes when ill delivered, τὸ κάλλιστον αὐτῆς (sc. τῆς λέξεως) ἀπολεῖται, τὸ πνεῦμα, καὶ οὐδὲν διοίσει σώματος καλοῦ μὲν ἀκινήτου δὲ καὶ νεκροῦ.
ambitu rerum. This phrase has been variously explained. Wolff thought that it was equivalent to ‘rerum circumscriptio quam prima lineamenta ducentes faciunt pictores’; and following him many render by ‘bare outline,’ ‘rough draft or sketch,’ ‘outline drawing,’ without however citing any apposite parallel. Others say it = ‘ambitiosa rerum expositione’: cp. iv. 1, 18 hic ambitus ... pronuntiandi faciendique iniuste: xii. 10, 3 proprio quodam intellegendi ambitu (‘affectation of superior judgment’): Declam. IV, sub fin., novo mihi inauditoque opus est ambitu rerum: ib. I pr. si iuvenis innocentissimus iudices uti vellet ambitu tristissimae calamitatis. Schöll sees no difficulty if the phrase is taken in the same sense as ‘ambitus parietis,’ ‘ambitus aedificiorum.’ If ambitus is not a gloss, may the meaning not be that the speaker goes straight to the heart of his subject instead of ‘beating about the bush,’ like the more leisurely writer? See Crit. Notes.
vivunt omnia enim: ‘all is life and movement.’ For the position of enim cp. non semper enim §14. In Lucr. enim often comes third in the sentence, and even later. Mayor cites Cic. ad Att. xiv. 6 §1 odiosa illa enim fuerant: Hor. Sat. ii. 7, 105.
nova illa velut nascentia: the ‘new births’ of his imagination—of the spoken word which has more of the impromptu element about it than the written. 3 §7 omnia enim nostra dum nascuntur placent. For this use of ille cp. §17 ille laudantium clamor: §47: 3 §6 calor quoque ille cogitationis: 3 §§18, 22, 31: 5 §§4, 12: ii 10, 7 tremor ille inanis.
fortuna iudicii: Cic. Or. §98 ancipites dicendi incertosque casus: de Orat. i. §120 dicendi difficultatem variosque eventus orationis: pro Marcello §15 incertus exitus et anceps fortuna belli. This is of the issue of the trial in itself: ipsorum qui orant periculo is used of the issue as it affects the advocate, who will have all the credit or discredit of success or failure. For the strain which this involved cp. Plin. Ep. iv. 19 §3.—For the absolute use of orare cp. §76: 5 §6. Plin. Ep. vii. 9, 7 studium orandi: cp. Tac. Hist. i. 90. Tac. Dial. §6 illa secretiora et tantum ipsis orantibus nota maiora sunt.
I:17 Praeter haec vox, actio decora, accommodata, ut quisque locus 25 postulabit, pronuntiandi (vel potentissima in dicendo) ratio et, ut semel dicam, pariter omnia docent. In lectione certius iudicium, quod audienti frequenter aut suus cuique favor aut ille laudantium clamor extorquet.
§ 17. vox, actio ... pronuntiandi ratio. Here actio takes the place of gestus in 7 §9, with the same meaning (the management of the person in speaking): adhibita vocis pronuntiationis gestus observatione. In a wider sense (§19) it is used of ‘delivery’ generally (ὑπόκρισις), occurring more commonly in this sense in previous writers than pronuntiatio, which Quintilian 25 gives as an alternative term in iii. 3, 1: cp. xi. 3, 1 pronuntiatio a plerisque actio dicitur, sed prius nomen a voce, sequens a gestu videtur accipere. Namque actionem Cicero alias (de Or. iii. §222) quasi sermonem, alias (Or. §55) eloquentiam quandam corporis dicit. Idem tamen duas eius partes facit quae sunt eaedem pronuntiationis, vocem atque motum: quapropter utraque appellatione indifferenter uti licet. In xi. 3, 14 he goes on to divide actio into vox and gestus: cp. Dion. Hal. de Dem. 53, where ὑπόκρισις is divided into τὰ πάθη τὰ τῆς φωνῆς and τὰ σχήματα τοῦ σώματος: Cic. Brut. §§141, 239.—Pronuntiandi ... ratio. As voice and gesture (together making up actio or pronuntiatio in the wide sense) have now been mentioned, it is tempting to take this third item in the narrower meaning of ‘articulation,’ in which it occurs 7 §22 tardior pronuntiatio: cp. dilucida pronuntiatio xi. 3, 33: citata ... pressa ib. §111. But the prominence given to it (see on vel potentissima below) seems to make it necessary to understand pronunt. ratio in the widest sense of pronuntiatio (as probably §119), including voice, gesture, and other kindred elements; cp. ad Herenn. §3 pronuntiatio est vocis vultus gestus moderatio cum venustate: Cic. de Inv. §7 pronuntiatio est vocis et corporis moderatio. For accommodata ut see Crit. Notes.
vel potentissima: §15 potentiora. For the supreme importance of ‘delivery’ cp. the well-known story of Demosthenes xi. 3, 6 Demosth. quid esset in toto dicendi opere primum interrogatus, pronuntiationi palmam dedit eidemque secundum ac tertium locum, donec ab eo quaeri desineret, ut eam videri posset non praecipuam sed solam iudicasse. Cp. Cic. Brut. §142: de Or. iii. §213: Or. §56. Cicero’s use of actio for pronuntiatio in these passages is probably the origin of the misunderstanding of this anecdote that shows itself, e.g. in Bacon’s Essay ‘Of Boldnesse.’ Actio is far wider than our English word: for its scope and importance cp. de Orat. i. §18 (Actio) quae motu corporis, quae gestu, quae voltu, quae vocis conformatione ac varietate moderanda est: quae sola per se ipsa quanta sit, &c.
semel: ‘once for all’ 3 §22, and often; Cic. de Off. iii. §62 ut sibi ... semel indicaretur.
frequenter, as often in this sense in Quint. The lexx. give no example from Cicero, but cp. de Nat. Deor. i. 21, 59 Zenonem cum Athenis essem audiebam frequenter: de Fin. i. 5, 16 eos cum Attico nostro frequenter audivi: ii. 4, 12 hoc frequenter dici solet a vobis: v. 3, 8 qui fratrem eius Aristum frequenter audieris: Tusc. Disp. ii. 3, 9 Philo quem nos frequenter audivimus: Or. §221 non modo non frequenter verum etiam raro (Wilkins on de Or. ii. §155, 2nd ed.). Cp. Sandys’ note on Or. §81, where Dr. Reid adds ‘This sense is by no means as uncommon as it is usually thought to be. There are a good many exx. in the Letters.’ So Plin. Ep. i. 1, 1: ix. 23, 1.
suus cuique favor: ‘one’s preference for a particular speaker.’ Instead of the dat., we have ‘est naturalis favor pro laborantibus’ iv. 1, 9: Tacitus uses in and erga c. acc. (Hist. i. 53: Germ. 33.)
ille laudantium clamor. Ille again (§16) to denote something notorious: ἐκεῖνος. Ancient audiences were highly appreciative: Isocrates (Panath. §2) speaks of the antitheses, the symmetrical clauses, and other figures which lend brilliancy to oratorical displays, compelling the listeners to give clamorous applause (ἐπισημαίνεσθαι καὶ θορυβεῖν). Cp. xi. 3, 126 conveniet etiam ambulatio quaedam propter immodicas laudationum moras: §131: and see on §18 below. The references in Cicero are numerous: Brut. §§164, 326: de Or. i. §152 haec sunt quae clamores et admirationes in bonis oratoribus efficiunt: ad Att. i. 14, 4 Quid multa? clamores: Or. §§214, 168. Tac. Dial. 39 oratori autem clamore plausuque opus est et velut quodam theatro, with which Andresen compares Brut. §191 poema enim reconditum paucorum approbationem, oratio popularis assensum vulgi debet movere. Plin. Ep. ii. 10, 7: iv. 5, 1: ix. 13, 18.
extorquet: iv. 5, 6 cognoscenti iudicium conamur auferre. For the figure Mayor cps. de Orat. ii. §74 numquam 26 sententias de manibus iudicum vi quadam orationis extorsimus.
I:18 Pudet enim dissentire, et velut 26 tacita quadam verecundia inhibemur plus nobis credere, cum interim et vitiosa pluribus placent, et a conrogatis laudantur etiam quae non placent.
§ 18. pudet dissentire: of Cicero §111 in omnibus quae dicit tanta auctoritas inest ut dissentire pudeat.
velut tacita quadam verecundia. Tacitus is used frequently of ‘unexpressed’ thought or feeling: Cic. pro Balb. §2 opinio tacita vestrorum animorum: Cluent. §63 tacita vestra expectatio. Cp. Or. §203 (versuum) modum notat ars, sed aures ipsae tacito eum sensu sine arte definiunt, where Sandys renders ‘by an unconscious intuition’: de Or. iii. §195 magna quaedam est vis incredibilisque naturae; omnes enim tacito quodam sensu sine ulla arte aut ratione quae sint in artibus ac rationibus recta ac prava diiudicant. On these passages Nägelsbach relies to prove that tacitus sensus (not inscius, insciens, nescius, imprudens, &c.) is the right equivalent for ‘the unconscious’—‘das Gefühl, das durch die Sprache nicht zum Ausdruck, mithin nicht zum Bewusstsein gekommen ist, also gleichsam stillschweigend in der Seele ruht.’ The correct Latin for Hartmann’s ‘philosophy of the unconscious’ is therefore ‘Hartmanni quae est de tacito sensu (hominum) philosophia.’ In proof of this the passage in the text is cited (p. 312) and translated ‘durch unbewusste Scheu,’ ‘owing to a sort of unconscious shyness’: cp. vi. 3, 17 urbanitas qua quidem significari video sumptam ex conversatione doctorum tacitam eruditionem, ‘unconsciously acquired’: xi. 2, 17 cum in loca aliqua post tempus reversi sumus quae in his fecerimus reminiscimur personaeque subeunt, nonnunquam tacitae quoque cogitationes in mentem revertuntur, ‘unausgesprochene, im Bewusstsein zurückgedrängte, unbewusst gewordene Gedanken.’
inhibemur ... credere. Cic. pro Rab. Post. §24 cum stultitia sua impeditus sit, quoquo modo possit se expedire. In classical Latin the infinitive is common enough after such verbs in the passive, and an object clause is often met with after prohibere even in the active: after impedire Cicero uses the infinitive only when there is a neuter subject: e.g. de Or. i. §163 me impedit pudor haec exquirere: de Off. ii. 2, 8: de Nat. Deor. i. §87.—For Quintilian’s preference for the infin. cp. §72 meruit credi: §96 legi dignus: §97 esse docti affectant: 2 §7 contentum esse id consequi: 5 §5 qui vertere orationes Latinas vetant. See Introd. pp. lv, lvi.
cum interim: with indic. as §111 below. This is the more common construction in Quintilian: Roby, 1733. Cp. i. 12, 3: ii. 12, 2: xii. 10, 67. So cum interea: Cic. Cluent. §82. The subj. occurs iv. 2, 57. Bonnell-Meister strangely say it = quin etiam here and §111. Translate ‘though all the time’ the taste of the majority is wrong, while the claqueurs will applaud anything. Cp. Crit. Notes.
vitiosa pluribus placent: i. 6, 44 unde enim tantum boni ut pluribus quae recta sunt placeant.
a conrogatis. The reference is to the claqueurs who were often brought together for a fee to applaud the speakers in the courts: iv. 2, 37 ad clamorem dispositae vel etiam forte circumfusae multitudinis compositi: Plin. Ep. ii. 14, 4 sequuntur auditores actoribus similes, conducti et redempti: manceps convenitur: in media basilica tam palam sportulae quam in triclinio dantur ... heri duo nomenclatores mei ... ternis denariis ad laudandum trahebantur. tanti constat ut sis disertissimus. hoc pretio quamlibet numerosa subsellia implentur, hoc ingens corona colligitur, hoc infiniti clamores commoventur, cum μεσόχορος dedit signum. opus est enim signo apud non intellegentes, ne audientes quidem: nam plerique non audiunt, nec ulli magis laudant.... scito eum pessime dicere qui laudabitur maxime. primus hunc audiendi morem induxit Largus Licinus, hactenus tamen ut auditores corrogaret: ita certe ex Quintiliano, praeceptore meo, audisse memini. Cp. Iuv. vii. 44 with Mayor’s note.
I:19 Sed e contrario quoque accidit ut optime dictis gratiam prava iudicia non referant. Lectio libera 27 est nec actionis impetu transcurrit, sed repetere saepius licet, sive dubites sive memoriae penitus adfigere velis. Repetamus autem et tractemus et, ut cibos mansos ac prope liquefactos demittimus, quo facilius digerantur, ita lectio non cruda, sed multa iteratione mollita et velut confecta memoriae imitationique tradatur.
§ 19. gratiam ... non referunt: ‘a depraved taste will fail to give proper recognition to what is more than well spoken.’ For prava iud. cp. §125 severiora iudicia: so ii. 5, 10 iudiciorum pravitate: and §72 below, e contrario: see on ex proximo §16, and cp. Crit. Notes.
27nec actionis impetu transcurrit: ‘does not hurry past us with the rapid swoop of oral delivery.’ For the active use see 5 §8 non enim scripta lectione secura transcurrimus sed tractamus singula, which gives the same antithesis as there is between this sentence and the next. For the abl. cp. diversitate 5 §10. See Crit. Notes.
sive ... sive: the subj. of the 2nd person represents the French on or Germ. man with the 3rd person. Cp. ix. 2, 69 ideoque a quibusdam tota res repudiatur, sive intellegatur sive non intellegatur.
repetamus et tractemus: subj. of command ‘we must go back on what we have read and revise (think over) it thoroughly.’ Cp. the antithesis in 5 §8 quoted above. Cic. Or. §118 habeat omnes philosophiae notos ac tractatos locos. See Crit. Notes.
cibos. Note the parallelism between mansos, liquefactos, and demittimus on the one hand, and mollita, confecta, tradatur on the other.—For mansos cp. de Or. ii. §162: qui omnes tenuissimas particulas atque omnia minima mansa ut nutrices infantibus pueris in os inserant. The word mandere (Eng. mange, manger) means originally ‘moisten,’ from root mand-, cp. mad-, madeo. Quint. xi. 2, 41 taedium illud et scripta et lecta saepius revolvendi et quasi eundem cibum remandendi.
digerantur, late Latin for concoquantur, xi. 2, 35 digestum cibum. Introd. p. 1.
lectio = ‘what we read.’
mollita. Herbst and Mayor cite Ov. Met. i. 228 atque ita semineces partim ferventibus artus Mollit aquis; and for confecta (‘chewed,’ ‘masticated’) Columella vi. 2 §14 (of oxen) multi cibi edaces verum in eo conficiendo lenti: nam hi melius concoquunt ... qui ex commodo quam qui festinanter mandunt: Pliny, N. H. xi. §160 (of the teeth) qui digerunt cibum (the incisors) lati et acuti, qui conficiunt (the grinders) duplices. Cp. Cic. N. D. ii. §134: Livy ii. 32, 10. Elsewhere it is used of the action of the stomach on food: Cic. N. D. ii. §137: Pliny N. H. xi. §180: viii. §72.
memoriae imitationique, ‘to the memory for (subsequent) imitation.’
I:20 Ac diu non nisi optimus quisque et qui credentem sibi minime fallat legendus est, sed diligenter ac paene ad scribendi sollicitudinem, nec per partes modo scrutanda omnia, sed perlectus 28 liber utique ex integro resumendus, praecipueque oratio, cuius virtutes frequenter ex industria quoque occultantur.
§ 20. non nisi is here practically an adverb (tantum), modifying only one term of the proposition instead of, as in Ciceronian Latin, belonging to different clauses, or at least different parts of the same clause. In the latter case it is almost always separated, the non preceding or following the nisi: 3 §30 nisi in solitudine reperire non possumus: 5 §5: 7 §1. For the text cp. 3 §29 non nisi refecti, and Ovid, Tr. iii. 12, 36.
fallat, i.e. as a model of style. For the construction cp. tenuia et quae minimum ab usu cotidiano recedant: §§78, 118, 119.
sed does not bear an adversative meaning, but is equivalent to et quidem, immo vero, ‘nay more.’ See Mayor on Iuv. iv. 27 and v. 147. Holden on de Off. i. §33 quotes ad Att. v. 21 §6 Q. Volusium, certum hominem, sed mirifice etiam abstinentem, misi in Cyprum: ad Fam. xiii. §64 apud ipsum praeclarissime posueris sed mihi etiam gratissimum feceris.
ad (i.e. usque ad) scribendi sollicitudinem, i.e. as thoroughly and as slowly. Cic. pro Mil. §80 prope ad immortalitatis et religionem et memoriam consecrantur: ‘bis zur Verehrung der Unsterblichkeit’ (Hand), i.e. ‘so much venerated as almost to obtain the religious worship and commemoration proper to an immortal state of being’ (Purton). For scrib. soll. (of the careful deliberation one gives to writing) cp. scribentium curam 3 §20: Plin. Ep. ii. 5 §2 his tu rogo intentionem scribentis accommodes.
28utique, ‘by all means.’ In §57 we have nec utique = nullo modo: without the negative it = omni modo, ‘anyhow,’ ‘under any circumstances,’ ‘happen what may.’ (Cp. Cic. ad Att. xii. 8: xiii. 48, 2.) The difference may be seen in the following from Seneca (Ep. 85 §31) Sapienti propositum est in vita agenda non utique quod temptat efficere, sed omnino recte facere: gubernatori propositum est utique navem in portum perducere. It frequently occurs with the gerundive, as here: cp. §§24, 103: 2 §10: 5 §12: 7 §§14, 19, 30. For non utique (‘not of course,’ ‘not necessarily’) cp. xii. 2, 18.
ex integro occurs four times in Quint., here and at 3 §§6, 18: xi. 3, 156. In such adverbial expressions de or ab was formerly more common: but cp. ex improviso Cic. Verr. i. 112. Quintilian has de integro only once, ii. 4, 13: cp. ix. 3, 37.
praecipue for praesertim: cp. §89: and with cum ix. 2, 85: Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 261.
ex industria (§125: 5 §9) occurs Plaut. Poen. i. 2, 9: Livy i. 56, 8. Quintilian has de industria ix. 4, 144.
quoque: as often in Quint. for etiam. Cp. on §125: Introd. p. liv.
I:21 Saepe enim praeparat, dissimulat, insidiatur orator, eaque in prima parte actionis dicit quae sunt in summa profutura. Itaque suo loco minus placent, adhuc nobis quare dicta sint ignorantibus; ideoque erunt cognitis omnibus repetenda.
§ 21. saepe enim: cp. xii. 9, 4.
praeparat: cp. iv. 2, 55 hoc faciunt et illae praeparationes, cum reus dicitur robustus, armatus, sollicitus contra infirmos, inermes, securos: ix. 2, 17.
actionis as below §22: 5 §20. Cp. Prima actio in Verrem, &c.
in summa: i.e. will not tell till the end is reached. Cp. iv. 2, 112 cur quod in summa parte sum actionis petiturus, non in primo statim rerum ingressu, si fieri potest, consequar? For summus = extremus, cp. §97 summa in excolendis operibus manus: see Introd. p. xlvi.
suo loco, ‘where they occur,’ not as 5 §23. To appreciate such points thoroughly, we must know their bearing on the whole argument.
ideoque very common in Quint. for itaque: §§27, 31, 102: 2 §§17, 26: 3 §§16, 25, 28, 33: 5 §§5, 16: 6 §§3, 5: 7 §15. So Tac. Dial. 31 ad fin.: Germ. 26.
repetenda as §19.
I:22 Illud vero utilissimum, nosse eas causas quarum orationes in manus sumpserimus, et, quotiens continget, utrimque habitas legere actiones: ut Demosthenis et Aeschinis inter se contrarias, et Servi Sulpici atque Messallae, quorum alter pro Aufidia, contra dixit alter, et Pollionis et Cassi reo Asprenate aliasque plurimas.
§ 22. illud, like ἐκεῖνο to introduce what follows: §67: 2 §7: 5 §11: 7 §32.
causas quarum orationes: Cic. de Senect. §38 causarum illustrium quascunque defendi nunc cum maxime conficio orationes.
Demosthenis et Aeschinis. The reference is to the De Corona of Demosthenes and Aeschines Contra Ctesiphontem,—both translated by Cicero (Opt. Gen. Or. §14): also to the De Falsa Legatione and Aeschines Contra Timarchum.
Servi Sulpici: see on §116.
Messallae: see on §113.
pro Aufidia. From iv. 2, 106 it would appear that Messalla was prosecutor in this case: but in vi. 1, 20 that rôle is assigned to Sulpicius. Schöll has proposed to alter the text of the latter passage as follows: ut Servium Sulpicium Messalla contra Aufidiam ne signatorum, ne ipsius discrimen obiciat sibi praemonet. It is probable that the case concerned an inheritance.
Pollionis: see on §113.
Cassi: see on §116.
reo Asprenate. C. Nonius Asprenas, a friend of Augustus, was prosecuted by Cassius for poisoning, and was defended by Pollio, Suet. Aug. 56. In xi. 1, 57 Quint. urges that an accuser should always 29 appear reluctant to press the charge, and adds ‘ideoque mihi illud Cassi Severi non mediocriter displicet: di boni, vivo, et, quo me vivere iuvet, Asprenatem reum video.’ Pliny (N. H. 35, 46) tells us that 130 guests were poisoned.
I:23 Quin 29 etiam si minus pares videbuntur aliquae, tamen ad cognoscendam litium quaestionem recte requirentur, ut contra Ciceronis orationes Tuberonis in Ligarium et Hortensi pro Verre. Quin etiam easdem causas ut quisque egerit utile erit scire. Nam de domo Ciceronis dixit Calidius et pro Milone orationem Brutus exercitationis gratia scripsit, etiamsi egisse eum Cornelius Celsus falso existimat, et Pollio et Messalla defenderunt eosdem, et nobis pueris insignes pro Voluseno Catulo Domiti Afri, Crispi Passieni, Decimi Laeli orationes ferebantur.
§ 23. quin etiam: see Crit. Notes.
minus pares, i.e. in point of rhetorical worth. For si ... aliquae cp. 2 §23: 6 §5.
recte requirentur, i.e. ‘it will be well to get them up.’
Ciceronis orationes: ‘pro Ligario,’ and ‘in Verrem.’ The former was impeached by Q. Tubero (B.C. 46) in respect of having sided with the Pompeians in Africa. ‘Cicero defended him successfully before Caesar in the forum (Plut. Cic. 39); the speech was greatly admired at the time (ad Att. xiii. 12 §2: 19 §2: 20 §2: 44 §3) and since, for, short as it is, it is often cited by Quint. and the other rhet. lat.’ (Mayor).
Hortensi pro Verre, B.C. 70. Nothing of Hortensius remains, so that posterity has not had the opportunity which Cicero hoped it would enjoy: dicendi autem genus quod fuerit in utroque orationes utriusque etiam posteris nostris indicabunt (Brut. §324). Quint. does not mention him among the Roman orators, §§105-122. His oratory depended greatly for its effect on his graceful delivery, and he was not to be judged by his written speeches: Cic. Or. §132 dicebat melius quam scripsit Hortensius: he ‘spoke better, i.q. was accustomed to speak better than he has written,—than he shows himself in his written speeches which are still extant’ (Sandys): cp. Quint. xi. 3, 8 where he extols his effective delivery and goes on ‘cuius rei fides est quod eius scripta tantum intra famam sunt, qua diu princeps oratorum aliquando aemulus Ciceronis existimatus est, novissime, quoad vixit, secundus, ut appareat placuisse aliquid eo dicente quod legentes non invenimus.’—For other references to the case of Verres, see vi. 3, 98: 5, 4.
utile erit scire: see Crit. Notes.
de domo Ciceronis. Cicero’s house was destroyed at the instigation of Clodius, after his banishment in B.C. 58. On his return he delivered his speech pro Domo Sua before the Pontiffs, and the senate decreed that his house should be restored at the public cost.
dixit Calidius. His speech must have been something more than a mere rhetorical exercise, as some have supposed: it probably argued the question before a tribunal in a different form. For Calidius see Brut. §274 non fuit orator unus e multis, potius inter multos prope singularis fuit, &c. Cp. xi. 3, 123 and 155: xii. 10, 11 subtilitatem Calidii (‘finished elegance’): ib. §37. He was born B.C. 97; was praetor 57; and died 47.
Brutus, M. Iunius (B.C. 85-42) justified in this speech the murder of Clodius, not (as Cicero had done) by the statement that Clodius had plotted Milo’s death, but on the ground that he was a bad citizen and deserved to die: iii. 6, 93. Other references are §123 and 5 §20.
egisse: to have actually delivered it: opposed to scripsit.
Cornelius Celsus: see on §124.
et Pollio et Messalla. The first et is not correlative to the second, but adds to the et pro Milone clause a third example, as the et before nobis pueris does a fourth. Spalding thought that et ... et was here = tam ... quam.
defenderunt eosdem: e.g. Liburnia ix. 2, 34.
nobis pueris: an autobiographical reminiscence. Cp. i. 7, 27: vi. 3, 57: viii. 3, 22-3: ib. 1, 31: x. 1, 86: viii. 3, 76: 5, 21: i. 5, 24: v. 6, 6.
Voluseno Catulo: not mentioned elsewhere.
Domiti Afri: see on §§86, 118. Of 30 his orations, those on behalf of Volusenus and Cloatilla seem to have been the most celebrated: cp. viii. 5, 16: ix. 2, 20: 3, 66. For his work on Testimony, see v. 7, 7: and for his ‘libri urbane dictorum’ vi. 3, 42.
Crispi Passieni. He was the stepfather of Nero, according to Suetonius (Nero, 6), and died A.D. 49. In vi. 1, 50 we have a reference to a speech of his on behalf of his wife Domitia. Seneca, Nat. Quaest. iv. pr. §6 says of him ‘quo ego nil novi subtilius in omnibus rebus, maxime in distinguendis et curandis vitiis.’ In speaking of Caligula’s obsequiousness under Tiberius, Tacitus (Ann. vi. 20) says ‘unde mox scitum Passieni oratoris dictum percrebruit neque meliorem umquam servum neque deteriorem dominum fuisse.’ His father’s oratory is highly praised by M. Seneca, who ranks him after Pollio and Corvinus (Contr. 13, 17: Exc. Contr. 3 pr. 10, 14), and appears also to mention the grandfather (Contr. 10 pr. 11). Seneca the philosopher refers to the hereditary eloquence of the family in the epigram he addresses to Crispus: Maxima facundo vel avo vel gloria patri (vi. 9). Pliny, Ep. vii. 6, 11.
Decimi Laeli: probably the same as the Laelius Balbus who undertook an impeachment under Tiberius: Tac. Ann. vi. 47. In the next chapter we are told that the punishment which overtook him (deportation and loss of senatorian rank) was a source of satisfaction ‘quia Balbus truci eloquentia habebatur, promptus adversum insontes.’
ferebantur: ‘were in circulation,’ ‘were talked of’; cp. §129: 7 §30: vii. 224: i. pr. §7. Cic. Brut. §27 ante Periclem cuius scripta quaedam feruntur: Suet. Iul. 20: Tac. Dial. 10 ad fin.
I:24 Neque id statim legenti persuasum sit, omnia quae optimi auctores dixerint utique esse perfecta. Nam et labuntur aliquando et oneri cedunt et indulgent ingeniorum suorum voluptati, nec semper intendunt animum; nonnumquam fatigantur, cum Ciceroni dormitare interim Demosthenes, Horatio vero 31 etiam Homerus ipse videatur.
§ 24. Neque id statim introduces a second precept, the first having been given in §20. He passes here from orators to writers in general.
id of what follows (omnia ... esse perfecta): as §§37, 112: 2 §21. So illud §22.
auctores = scriptores. In the Ciceronian age auctor carried with it some idea of ‘authority,’ ‘warranty’ or the like: Cic. pro Mur. §30 and Tusc. iv. §3: cp. §§37, 40, 48, 66, 72, 74, 85, 93, 124: 2 §§1, 15: 5 §§3, 8. Prof. Nettleship (Lat. Lex.) thinks that it is never quite synonymous with scriptor, even in Quintilian, and would render by ‘master’: just as in Cic. Att. xii. 18, 1 quos nunc lectito auctores: Suet. Aug. 89 in evolvendis utriusque linguae auctoribus peritus: Sen. Ep. ii. 2 lectio auctorum multorum et omnis generis voluminum: Tranq. 9, 4 paucis te auctoribus tradere: Iuv. vii. 231 ut legat historias, auctores noverit omnes.
utique: see on §20. It is often used in stating a consequence: v. 10, 57 quod iustitia est utique virtus est, quod non est iustitia potest esse virtus: ib. §73 si continentia virtus utique et abstinentia. Bonn. Lex. p. 930.
labuntur: §94: 2 §15 nam in magnis quoque auctoribus incidunt aliqua vitiosa.
oneri cedunt: contrast §123 suffecit ponderi rerum.
indulgent ... voluptati: cp. §98: and nimium amator ingenii sui (of Ovid) §88.
intendunt animum: Sall. Cat. 51, 3 ubi intenderis ingenium valet (sc. animus).
dormitare: xii. 1, 22 quamquam neque ipsi Ciceroni Demosthenes videatur satis esse perfectus, quem dormitare interim dicit. Cic. Or. §104 ut usque eo difficiles ac morosi simus ut nobis non satisfaciat ipse Demosthenes. It was in a letter that Cicero made use of the expression here cited: Plut. Cic. 24 καίτοι τινὲς τῶν προσποιουμένων δημοσθενίζειν ἐπιφύονται φωνῇ τοῦ Κικέρωνος, ἣν πρός τινα τῶν ἑταίρων ἔθηκεν ἐν ἐπιστολῇ γράψας, ἐνιαχοῦ τῶν λόγων ὑπονυστάζειν τὸν Δημοσθένη.
interim: see on §9. Quint. here uses aliquando, nec semper, nonnumquam, and interim alongside of each other: cp. iv. 5, 20.
Horatio: A. P. 359 et idem indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus. Homer was not above the criticism of the Greek grammarians and philosophers, who delighted to discover faults and inconsistencies 31 in his poems: hence Zoilus was known as Ὁμηρομάστιξ. The fragments of Horace’s predecessor Lucilius also contain some criticisms of Homer: e.g. Sat. ix. 12 (Gerlach) Quapropter dico nemo qui culpat Homerum Perpetuo culpat, &c., and xv. where he satirizes the story of Polyphemus.
etiam ... ipse: see on §15.
I:25 Summi enim sunt, homines tamen, acciditque his qui, quidquid apud illos reppererunt, dicendi legem putant, ut deteriora imitentur (id enim est facilius) ac se abunde similes putent si vitia magnorum consequantur.
§ 25. homines. Cp. Petronius 75 nemo nostrum non peccat: homines sumus non dei: ib. 130 fateor me, domina, saepe peccasse; nam et homo sum et adhuc iuvenis.
deteriora: cp. §127 sq. (of the imitation of Seneca’s faults): 2 §§15, 16.
facilius: Iuv. xiv. 40 quoniam dociles imitandis turpibus ac pravis omnes sumus. So Hor. Ep. i. 19, 17 decipit exemplar vitiis imitabile.
abunde, often used to heighten the force of adjs. and advbs. Cp. xi. 1, 36 abunde disertus: xii. 11, 19 abunde satis: Hor. Sat. i. 2, 59: Sall. Iug. 14: Liv. viii. 29. See on §94: and cp. §104.
vitia magnorum: cp. de Or. ii. §90 non ut multos imitatores saepe cognovi, qui aut ea quae facilia sunt aut etiam illa quae insignia ac paene vitiosa consectantur imitando—in eo ipso quem delegerat imitari etiam vitia voluit.
I:26 Modesto tamen et circumspecto iudicio de tantis viris pronuntiandum est, ne, quod plerisque accidit, damnent quae non intellegunt. Ac si necesse est in alteram errare partem, omnia eorum legentibus placere quam multa displicere maluerim.
§ 26. circumspecto. So verba non circumspecta Ov. Fast. v. 539: also in Sueton., Colum., Seneca, and Val. Max. Cp. v. 7, 31: xii. 10, 23.
plerisque: see Introd. p. xlvi.
damnent. Strabo vii. 3, p. 300, in speaking of Callimachus, who censured Homer, περὶ ὧν ἀγνοοῦσιν αὐτοί, περὶ τούτων τῷ ποιητῇ προφέρουσι.
ac si: 2 §8. It almost = quod si: both relate to what has gone before.
alteram = alterutram: ‘on one side or on the other.’ Cp. ii. 6, 2: v. 10, 69 ex duobus quorum necesse est alterum verum (esse): i. 4, 24: ix. 3, 6. So also in Cicero: e.g. ad Att. xi. 18, 1: Acad. ii. 43. 132.
maluerim: see on fuerit §37.
I:27 Plurimum dicit oratori conferre Theophrastus lectionem poetarum multique eius iudicium sequuntur, neque immerito. Namque ab his in rebus spiritus et in verbis sublimitas et in 32 adfectibus motus omnis et in personis decor petitur, praecipueque velut attrita cotidiano actu forensi ingenia optime rerum talium blanditia reparantur; ideoque in hac lectione Cicero requiescendum putat.
§ 27. conferre with dat. §§63, 71, 95. Cp. on §1.
Theoparastus: probably in his lost work περὶ λέξεως, or some other of the ten treatises on Rhetoric which are ascribed to him by Diogenes Laertius (v. 46-50). See on §83.
neque immerito: ‘and not without reason,’—an elliptical expression (referring to both dicit and sequuntur) used to introduce the proof of a foregoing statement. So §79 nec immerito, and ii. 8, 1: neque immerito vii. 7, 1: et merito vi. 1, 4. Cicero often has neque iniuria, nam, &c., e.g. de Or. i. §150: and even after est pro Sext. Rosc. §116 in rebus minoribus socium fallere turpissimum est: neque iniuria.
ab his ... petitur: ‘it is to the poets that we must go for,’ &c.
rebus. See on §4.
spiritus: §§44, 61, 104: 3 §22: 5 §4: ‘inspiration.’ So often in Horace: Od. iv. 6, 29 spiritum Phoebus mihi ... dedit poetae: Sat. i. 4, 46 quod acer spiritus ac vis Nec verbis nec rebus inest. Cp. also i. 8, 5 interim et sublimitate heroi carminis animus adsurgat et ex magnitudine rerum spiritum ducat et optimis imbuatur.
in verbis sublimitas: ‘elevation of language.’ Cp. viii. 6, 11. So the author of the treatise ‘On the Sublime’ makes sublimity attainable by the imitation and emulation of the great writers and poets of former days: 13 §2.
in adfectibus motus omnis. Poetry 32 shows how to appeal to every feeling of our emotional nature. For adfectus see vi. 2, 7, where the two divisions are given, πάθος and ἦθος. Cp. §§48, 53, 55, 68, 107: 2 §27: 7 §§14, 15.
in personis decor: ‘the appropriate treatment of the characters,’ a sense of what the fitness of things demands in adapting speech to the persons to whom it relates. Cp. Cic. Or. §§70-71 especially semperque in omni parte orationis ut vitae quid deceat est considerandum; quod et in re de qua agitur positum est, et in personis et eorum qui dicunt et eorum qui audiunt. This ‘propriety’ was always much praised in Lysias, Hor. A. P. 156-7. Cp. §§62, 71: 2 §27, 22: vi. 1, 25 prosopopoeiae, id est fictae alienarum personarum orationes quales litigatoris ore dicit patronus (e.g. Cicero pro Milone §93). Cic. de Off. i. §87 sed tum servare illud poetas quod deceat dicimus cum id quod quaque persona dignum est et fit et dicitur, &c. De Or. iii. §§210-211.
attrita cotidiano actu. 5 §14 alitur enim atque enitescit velut pabulo laetiore facundia et adsidua contentionum asperitate fatigata renovatur. So i. 8, 11: videmus ... inseri versus summa non eruditionis modo gratia, sed etiam iucunditatis, cum poeticis voluptatibus aures a forensi asperitate respirent. Petronius ch. 5 interdum subducta foro det pagina versum: 118 forensibus ministeriis exercitati frequenter ad carminis tranquillitatem tamquam ad portum feliciorem refugerunt. So Tac. Dial. 13 me vero dulces, ut Vergilius ait, Musae, &c.: cp. 3 and 4. Plin. Ep. viii. 4, 4.—For attrita cp. viii. pr. §2 ingenia ... asperiorum tractatu rerum atteruntur: for the spelling cotidie see i. 7, 6.
Cicero, pro Arch. §12 Quaeres a nobis, Grati, cur tanto opere hoc homine delectemur. Quia suppeditat nobis ubi et animus ex hoc forensi strepitu reficiatur et aures convicio defessae conquiescant.
I:28 Meminerimus tamen non per omnia poetas esse oratori sequendos nec libertate verborum nec licentia figurarum: poeticam ostentationi comparatam et praeter id quod solam petit voluptatem, eamque etiam fingendo non falsa modo sed etiam quaedam incredibilia sectatur, patrocinio quoque aliquo iuvari,
§ 28. non per omnia, &c. 2 §§21-22.
libertate verborum, §29: 5 §4.
licentia figurarum see exx. in §12, with note on figuramus: cp. §29.
ostentationi comparatam. Poetry is ‘epideictic’ in character: and of the γενος ἐπιδεικτικόν Quint. says (iii. 4, 13) non tam demonstrationis vim habere quam ostentationis videtur. Forensic oratory, like everything else that has an immediate and practical aim, cannot afford to set such store on ‘beauty of presentation.’ Cp. ii. 10, 10: iv. 3, 2: viii. 3, 11. Cic. Orat. §§37, 38, 42. See Crit. Notes for poeticam.
praeter id quod for the more classical praeterquam quod (which only occurs twice in Quint.). So 2 §26: 3 §6: cp. §80 ob hoc quod: §108 in hoc quod: 3 §18 ex eo quod.
fingendo ... falsa. Hild cites Arist. Poet. 9 and 24; especially (of Homer) Δεδίδαχε δὲ μάλιστα Ὅμηρος καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ψευδῆ λέγειν ὡς δεῖ ... Προαιρεῖσθαί τε δεῖ ἀδύνατα καὶ εἰκότα μᾶλλον ἢ δύνατα καὶ ἀπίθανα.
patrocinio: i. 12, 16 difficultatis patrocinia praeteximus segnitiae. Poetry has the benefit of a sort of ‘prerogative,’ as compared with history. Krüger explains = esse quae huic generi patrocinentur, unde defensionem et excusationem petat poetarum licentia. The idea of ‘defence’ implies ‘justification’: and much that could be justified and vindicated in the poet would be without excuse in the orator.
I:29 quod adligata ad certam pedum necessitatem 33 non semper uti propriis possit, sed depulsa recta via necessario ad eloquendi quaedam deverticula confugiat, nec mutare quaedam modo verba, sed extendere, conripere, convertere, dividere cogatur: nos vero armatos stare in acie et summis de rebus decernere et ad victoriam niti.
§ 29. adligata, 3 §10. For the ‘restraints of metre’ cp. i. 8, 14 servire metro coguntur (poetae). Cic. de Or. i. §70 est enim finitimus oratori poeta, numeris astrictior paulo verborum autem licentia liberior. Or. §67 cum sit versu astrictior (poeta).
33propriis, sc. verbis: v. on §6. Direct, natural, and unartificial language is meant, as opposed to metaphorical.
deverticula: ‘by-ways’ of expression. The word literally means a lane turning off from a highway (ii. 3, 9 recto itinere lassi plerumque devertunt): and so metaphorically xii. 3, 11: ix. 2, 78: Livy ix. 17, 1.
mutare includes all changes in the use of words, and covers both libertas verborum and licentia figurarum: e.g. ‘mucro’ for ‘gladius.’
extendere and conripere are used of syllables: convertere and dividere of words. An instance of ‘lengthening’ (extendere) is ‘induperator’ for imperator: of ‘contracting’ (conripere) ‘periclum’ for periculum. Mayor takes it of quantity only, and compares i. 5, 18: 6, 32: ix. 4, 89: 3, 69: vii. 9, 13. As an instance of ‘transposition’ (the removal of words from their usual order) we may take ‘collo dare bracchia circum’ for circumdare collum bracchiis, or ‘transtra per et remos’: and for dividere (separation by tmesis) ‘hyperboreo septem subiecta trioni’ (viii. 6, 66) and other instances from Vergil (e.g. Aen. i. 610 ‘quae me cumque vocant terrae’).
nos: ‘we advocates.’ For the figure in armatos stare see on §4 athleta. Cp. Or. §42 verum haec ludorum atque pompae; nos autem iam in aciem dimicationemque veniamus. Mayor cites also ii. 10, 8: vi. 4, 17: Cic. Opt. Gen. Or. §17: de Or. i. §147, 157: ii. 94: de Legg. iii. 14: Brut. §222: Introd. p. lvi.
decernere, another military figure: cp. Cic. de Or. ii. §200 pro mea omni fama prope fortunisque decernere. See on decretoriis 5 §20: and cp. xii. 7, 5.
I:30 Neque ego arma squalere situ ac rubigine velim, sed fulgorem in iis esse qui terreat, qualis est ferri, quo mens simul visusque praestringitur, non qualis auri argentique, imbellis et potius habenti periculosus.
34§ 30. Neque ego velim: ‘and yet I should not like.’ The same adversative sense of neque = but not (elsewhere strengthened by rursus) is found §80: 5 §5: 7 §4. For ego (ergo?) see Crit. Notes.
arma. De Orat. i. §32 Quid autem tam necessarium quam tenere semper arma quibus vel tectus ipse esse possis vel provocare improbos (conj. integer) vel te ulcisci lacessitus? Tac. Dial. 5 quid est tutius quam eam exercere artem qua semper armatus praesidium amicis, opem alienis, salutem periclitantibus, invidis vero inimicis metum et terrorem ultro feras? ... sin proprium periculum increpuit, non hercule lorica et gladius in acie firmius munimentum quam reo et periclitanti eloquentia praesidium simul ac telum, quo propugnare pariter et incessere sive in iudicio sive in senatu sive apud principem possis. So ‘arma facundiae’ ii. 16, 10 and often.
situs, the ‘rust’ or ‘mould’ that comes from being let alone (sino), as often in Vergil, e.g. segnem patiere situ durescere campum Georg. i. 72: loca senta situ Aen. vi. 462. So i. 2, 18 quendam velut in opaco situm ducit: xii. 5, 2.
fulgorem ... qui terreat: viii. 3, 3 nec fortibus modo sed etiam fulgentibus armis proeliatur. Hor. Car. ii. 1, 19-20 iam fulgor armorum fugaces terret equos equitumque voltus. Mayor cites also Veget. ii. 14: a cavalry officer must make his men often scour their cuirasses, helmets and pikes: plurimum enim terroris hostibus armorum splendor importat. quis credat militem bellicosum cuius dissimulatione situ ac rubigine arma foedantur?
ferri: viii. 3, 5 nam et ferrum adfert oculis terroris aliquid, et fulmina ipsa non tam nos confunderent si vis eorum tantum non etiam ipse fulgor timeretur.
quo, sc. fulgore.
praestringitur §92. Cic. de Fin. iv. §37 aciem animorum nostrorum virtutis splendore praestringitis: and with ut ita dicam to soften the metaphor de Sen. §42 mentis ut ita dicam praestringit oculos (sc. voluptas.)
auri argentique ... periculosus. The practical speaker would only prejudice 34 his case by the use of ornament which, as in poetry, makes ostentatio and voluptas (§28) its chief object. The commentators cite Livy ix. 17, 16 of Darius: inter purpuram atque aurum, oneratum fortunae apparatibus suae, praedam verius quam hostem ... incruentus devicit (sc. Alexander): ib. 40 §4 militem ... non caelatum auro et argento sed ferro et animis fretum: so Livy x. 39 per ... aurata scuta transire Romanum pilum: cp. Aesch. Septem c. Th. 397. Curt. iii. 10 §§9, 10 aciem hostium auro purpuraque fulgentem intueri iubebat, praedam non arma gestantem, irent et imbellibus feminis aurum viri eriperent.
potius is used pretty much as saepius (‘oftener than not’) below §32. Krüger takes it closely with habenti (sc. quam adversario). This is better than Hild’s quam utilis.
I:31 Historia quoque alere oratorem quodam uberi iucundoque suco potest; verum et ipsa sic est legenda ut sciamus plerasque eius virtutes oratori esse vitandas. Est enim proxima poetis et 35 quodam modo carmen solutum, et scribitur ad narrandum, non ad probandum, totumque opus non ad actum rei pugnamque praesentem, sed ad memoriam posteritatis et ingenii famam componitur; ideoque et verbis remotioribus et liberioribus figuris narrandi taedium evitat.
§ 31. Historia §§73-75: §§101-104; ii. 4, 2 apud rhetorem initium sit historia, tanto robustior quanto verior: ib. 5 §1: 8 §7: iii. 8, 67: xii. 4. Cic. de Orat. i. §201 monumenta rerum gestarum et vetustatis exempla oratori nota esse (debent): ii. §§51-64, where Antonius discourses on history: Or. §66 huic generi historia finitima est, in qua et narratur ornate et regio saepe aut pugna describitur; interponuntur etiam contiones et hortationes, sed in his tracta quaedam et fluens expetitur, non haec contorta et acris oratio,—of the flowing smoothness of ‘historical oratory’ as against the compact and incisive style of actual public speaking. Pliny Ep. v. 8 §9 habet quidem oratio et historia multa communia, sed plura diversa in his ipsis quae communia videntur. Narrat illa, narrat haec, sed aliter: huic pleraque humilia et sordida et ex medio petita, illi omnia recondita splendida excelsa conveniunt: hanc saepius ossa musculi nervi, illam tori quidam et quasi iubae decent: haec vel maxime vi amaritudine instantia, illa tractu et suavitate atque etiam dulcedine placet. Postremo alia verba, alius sonus, alia constructio. Nam plurimum refert, ut Thucydides ait, κτῆμα sit an ἀγώνισμα; quorum alterum oratio, alterum historia est.—The relation of this last passage to the text is discussed by Eussner in Blätter f. d. bayer. Gymn. xvii. vol. 9, pp. 391-393. He rightly insists (as against de la Beye) that in Pliny illa, illi, illam refer to historia, haec, huic, hanc to oratio.
suco, ‘sap’: Donatus on Ter. Eun. ii. 3, 7 (‘corpus solidum et suci plenum’) explains sucus as ‘humor in corpore quo abundant bene valentes.’ Cicero often uses the same figure: de Or. ii. §93 (Critias Theramenes Lysias) retinebant illum Pericli sucum, sed erant paulo uberiore filo: ib. §88: iii. §96: Brut. §36 sucus ille et sanguis incorruptus: and ad Att. iv. 16 c §10 amisimus ... omnem non modo sucum ac sanguinem sed etiam colorem et speciem pristinae civitatis.—For uberi see Crit. Notes.
et ipsa: like poetry in §28: καὶ αὐτή, ‘likewise.’ For the much debated question whether et ipse was used by Cicero see the note in Nägelsbach, pp. 366-367, from which it will appear that no conclusive instance can be cited: Merguet gives only pro Rosc. Am. §48 qui et ipsi incensi sunt studio, where, however, the et is now generally disconnected from ipsi and referred to the following vitamque rusticam arbitrantur. In all other passages et seems to have been interpolated in conformity with the later usage.—“Livy often uses et ipse meaning ‘on his part’ or ‘as well,’ in cases where it is implied that the predicate or attribute of the subject expressed is common thereto with a subject unexpressed save in the context, e.g. xxi. 17, 7 Cornelio minus copiarum datum, quia L. Manlius praetor et ipse cum haud invalido praesidio in Galliam mittebatur, ‘Manlius was being sent as well (as Cornelius)’; i. pr. §3 iuvabit tamen rerum gestarum memoriae principis terrarum populi pro virili parte et ipsum consuluisse. ‘I shall be glad to have done my part (as well as others) for Roman history.’ In each case the words in question are equivalent to a very strong etiam.”—Fausset on Cic. pro Cluent. §141.—For other exx. see 5 §§4, 20: 6 §1: 7 §26.
sic ... ut: ‘in reading history we must bear in mind,’ &c.
vitandas: cp. 2 §21. Cic. Or. §68 seiunctus igitur orator a philosophorum eloquentia, a sophistarum, ab historicorum, 35 a poetarum, explicandus est nobis qualis futurus sit.
poetis = poetarum operibus. The metonymy here is motived by Quintilian’s avoidance of poesis (cp. on §28). Many such exx. occur in Cicero: e.g. de Or. ii. §4 nostrorum hominum prudentiam Graecis (Graecorum prudentiae) anteferre. In these and similar instances the property of one thing is compared (by comparatio compendiaria), not with the property of another thing but with the thing itself, to which the property belongs. So Pliny Ep. i. 16, 3 orationes eius ... facile cuilibet veterum ... comparabis. Cp. Holden’s note on de Off. i. §76: Madvig §280, obs. 2.—Cp. the passage in Aristotle’s Poetics (ch. ix.) on the relations of Poetry to History. Dosson refers to Dion. Hal. de Thucyd. Iud. ch. li. ad fin., and Lucian’s Πῶς δεῖ ἱστορ. συγγρ. 44-79. For est enim, see Crit. Notes.
solutum, sc. necessitate pedum §29.
opus: the whole class of work: see on §9.
ad actum rei = ad rem agendam, the doing or performance of a thing. Cp. §27 actu forensi: 6 §1 inter medios rerum actus (where see note): vii. 2, 41: ii. 18, 1 actus operis. So Plin. Ep. ix. 25, 3 me rerum actus ... distringit: Suet. Aug. §78 residua diurni actus. In Suet. Aug. §32 actus rerum is used specially of judicial proceedings: cp. Claud. §15: Nero §17. So actus alone came to mean the method followed in such proceedings, Trajan ap. Plin. Ep. x. 97 (Nettleship, Lat. Lex.).—Note the chiastic construction, actum rei corresponding with ingenii famam and pugnam praes. with memor. posteritatis.
pugnam praesentem §29. So ad pugnam forensem (ἀγῶνα) v. 12, 17. Cp. what Thucydides says of his history i. 22, 4 κτῆμά τε ἐς ἀεὶ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀγώνισμα ἐς τὸ παραχρῆμα ἀκούειν ξύγκειται,—referred to in the passage quoted above from Pliny Ep. v. 8, 9-11.
ad memoriam posteritatis et ingenii famam. Pliny l.c. §1 mihi pulchrum in primis videtur non pati occidere quibus aeternitas debeatur aliorumque famam cum sua extendere. In vii. 17, 3 he looks less to the last element: non ostentationi sed fidei veritatique componitur. Hild quotes Livy Pr. §3 et si in tanta scriptorum turba mea fama in obscuro sit, &c.: and Cic. Brut. §92 where Cicero, speaking of some orators, says memoriam autem in posterum ingenii sui non desiderant.—For memoria posteritatis cp. §§41, 104: 7 §30: i. 10, 9: vi. 1, 22: xii. 11, 3: Plin. Ep. v. 8, 2.
remotioribus = ab usu remotis iv. 2 36: viii. 2, 12. Cp. libertate verborum §28.
evitat, ‘seeks to avoid,’ a present of endeavour.
I:32 Itaque, ut dixi, neque illa Sallustiana brevitas, qua nihil apud aures vacuas atque eruditas potest esse perfectius, apud occupatum variis cogitationibus iudicem et saepius ineruditum captanda nobis est, neque illa 36 Livi lactea ubertas satis docebit eum qui non speciem expositionis, sed fidem quaerit.
§ 32. ut dixi. Cp. iv. 2, 45 vitanda est etiam illa Sallustiana ... brevitas et abruptum sermonis genus: quod otiosum fortasse lectorem minus fallat, audientem transvolat, nec dum percipiatur expectat, cum praesertim lector non fere sit nisi eruditus, iudicem rura plerumque in decurias mittant, de eo pronuntiaturum quod intellexerit. §102 illam immortalem Sallusti velocitatem.—So Cicero, speaking of Thucydides, says ‘nihil ab eo transferri potest ad forensem usum et publicum,’ Or. §30: cp. Brut. §287.
vacuas is opposed to ‘occupatum variis cogitationibus,’ just as eruditas is to ‘saepius ineruditum.’ Cp. si vacet §90: 3 §27. The word is frequently used in this sense, both in poetry and prose, e.g. Lucr. i. 50: the opposite occupatae aures occurs Livy xlv. 19, 9: cp. Tac. Hist. iv. 17 arriperent vacui occupatos.
saepius ineruditum. Since Augustus added to the three ‘iudicum decuriae’ a fourth to judge of minor cases (quartam ex inferiore censu quae ... iudicaret de levioribus summis Suet. Aug. 32), this office fell into disrepute. Caligula afterwards raised the number to five: Calig. 16. 36 As with us, it was not considered necessary that the juror who was to say ‘Guilty’ or ‘Not Guilty’ (in the iudicia publica) should be learned in the law, or even that he should be an educated man.—Cp. the quotation above from iv. 2, 45 cum ... iudicem rura plerumque in decurias mittant. So v. 14, 29 saepius apud omnino imperitos atque illarum certe ignaros litterarum loquendum est: cp. xii. 10, 53. Mayor quotes Iuv. vii. 116-7 dicturus dubia pro libertate bubulco iudice, where see his note.
lactea ubertas: ‘pure, clear, fulness.’ The expression is evidently chosen to denote the characteristic of Livy’s style mentioned in §101 (clarissimi candoris): ii. 5, 19 (candidissimum et maxime expositum): it signifies not rich fulness merely, but fulness combined with clearness and simplicity: cp. Hieron. Ep. 53, 1 T. Livius lacteo eloquentiae fonte manans. Milk is taken as the type of natural sweet and simple fare: cp. candens lacteus umor Lucr. i. 258. It is also nourishing, so that lactea ubertas is not the mere fulness of empty words: ii. 4, 5 quin ipsis quoque doctoribus hoc esse curae velim ut teneras adhuc mentes more nutricum mollius alant et satiari velut quodam iucundioris disciplinae lacte patiantur.—Becher (Phil. Rundschau iii. 15, p. 469) compares Seneca Controv. vii. pr. 2, p. 268 (Müll.) sententiae, quas optime Pollio Asinius albas vocabat, simplices, apertae, nihil occultum, nihil insperatum adferentes, sed vocales et splendidae, and explains lactea ubertas as ‘eine reine lautere Fülle und keine forcierte, künstlich aufgebauschte, schwülstige.’
satis docebit, i.e. in narratio §49 (διήγησις). See note on the three genera dicendi §80.
speciem ... fidem. It is not beauty of exposition (species or splendor) that the juror looks for in narratio or expositio, but truth and credibility (fides): cp. ad narrandum non ad probandum, of history, §31. For fides cp. Tac. Ann. iv. 34 Titus Livius eloquentiae ac fidei praeclarus in primis.
I:33 Adde quod M. Tullius ne Thucydiden quidem aut Xenophontem utiles oratori putat, quamquam illum ‘bellicum canere,’ huius ‘ore Musas esse locutas’ existimet. Licet tamen nobis in digressionibus uti vel historico 37 nonnumquam nitore, dum in his de quibus erit quaestio meminerimus non athletarum toris, sed militum lacertis opus esse, nec versicolorem illam, qua Demetrius Phalereus dicebatur uti, 38 vestem bene ad forensem pulverem facere.
§ 33. Adde quod 2 §§10, 11, 12. See Crit. Notes. Cp. Introd. p. liii.
M. Tullius. Or. §§30, 31, 32 quis porro umquam Graecorum rhetorum a Thucydide quicquam duxit? ‘at laudatus est ab omnibus,’ fateor; sed ita ut rerum explicator prudens, severus, gravis; non ut in iudiciis versaret causas, sed ut in historiis bella narraret, itaque numquam est numeratus orator ... nactus sum etiam qui Xenophontis similem esse se cuperet, cuius sermo est ille quidem melle dulcior, sed a forensi strepitu remotissimus. Yet Dion. Hal. tells us that Demosthenes was especially indebted to Thucydides (Iud. de Thuc. 52). Cicero saw that ‘Thucydides represents an immature stage in the development of oratory: his speeches had been superseded by maturer models’ (Sandys). Cp. Brut. §287-8.—Cp. §73.
Xenophontem §§75, 82. Cic. Brut. §112 complains that while the Cyropaedia was read the speeches and autobiography of Scaurus were neglected: ad Quint. Fratr. i. §23.
quamquam with subj. as 2 §21: 7 §17.
bellicum canere: Or. §39 incitatior fertur et de bellicis rebus canit etiam quodam modo bellicum: his style is a ‘call to arms,’ it stirs like the sound of a war-trumpet §76. Cp. pro Mur. §30: Phil. vii. 3. Quint, ix. 4, 11 non eosdem modos adhibent cum bellicum est canendum et cum posito genu supplicandum est.
huius ore, &c. Or. §62 Xenophontis voce Musas quasi locutas ferunt. Diog. Laert. ii. §57 ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ καὶ Ἀττικὴ Μοῦσα γλυκύτητι τῆς ἑρμηνείας. Cp. §82 below, with the note: Brut. §132 molli et Xenophonteo genere sermonis: de Or. ii. 58.
in digressionibus: opposed to in his de quibus erit quaestio below. See the ch. on Egressio iv. 3: especially §12 hanc partem παρέκβασιν vocant Graeci, Latini egressum vel egressionem, defined afterwards (§14) as alicuius rei, sed ad utilitatem pertinentis, extra ordinem excurrens tractatio. Cp. ix. 2, 55. Cic. de Or. ii. 37 311 sq. digredi tamen ab eo quod proposueris atque agas permovendorum animorum causa saepe utile est: ib. §80 ornandi aut augendi causa digredi: Brut. §82: de Inv. i. §97.
historico ... nitore: 5 §15: Plin. Ep. ii. 5, 5 descriptiones locorum, quae in hoc libro frequentiores erunt, non historice tantum sed prope poetice prosequi fas est: id. vii. 9, 8 saepe in orationes quoque non historica modo sed prope poetica descriptionum necessitas incidit. For nitor see on §9 nitidus: cp. Cic. Or. §115 quidam orationis nitor.
dum. Quint. does not use dummodo: dum is again used in this sense in 3 §7: 7 §25. In 3 §5 it occurs without a verb, sit primo vel tardus dum diligens, stilus: so modo 5 §20.
toris ... lacertis, ‘not the athlete’s swelling thews, but the sinewy arm of the soldier.’ Cp. the antithesis carnis—lacertorum §77. The primary meaning of torus seems to be anything swelling or bulging, e.g. the knots of a rope or the protuberance of the muscles. The point of the antithesis is clearly brought out in xi. 3, 26 adsueta gymnasiis et oleo corpora, quamlibet sint in suis certaminibus speciosa atque robusta, si militare iter fascemque et vigilias imperes, deficiant et quaerant unctores suos nudumque sudorem,—a passage which must have been suggested by the contrast Plato draws between the sleepy habit of athletes and the wiry vigour of the soldier: σχέδον γέ τι πάντων μάλιστα (sc. ἐμποδίζει) ἥ γε περαιτέρω γυμναστικῆς ἡ περιττὴ αὕτη ἐπιμέλεια τοῦ σώματος‧ καὶ γὰρ πρὸς οἰκονομίας καὶ πρὸς στρατείας καὶ πρὸς ἑδραίους ἐν πόλει ἀρχὰς δύσκολος Rep. iii. 408. Mayor cites also xii. 10, 41 sicut athletarum corpora, etiam si validiora fiant exercitatione et lege quadam ciborum (cp. x. 5, 15) non tamen esse naturalia (sc. putant) atque ab illa specie quae sit concessa hominibus abhorrere. Cp. Tac. Dial. 21 oratio autem sicut corpus hominis, &c.: Nepos xv. 2 §4: Pliny v. 8, 10 (quoted on §31 above). For cognate metaphors see Nägelsbach 136, 4 pp. 556-8. From Professor Mayor’s rich list of parallel passages I select the following: ‘Kleochares ... compared the speeches of Demosthenes to soldiers διὰ τὴν πολεμικὴν δύναμιν, those of Isokrates to athletes τέρψιν γὰρ παρέχειν αὐτοὺς θεατρικήν. Plut. Philopoem. 3 §§3, 4 Philopoemen when recommended to enter upon a course of athletic training asked whether it did not interfere with military exercises; and when told that the frame and life, diet and training of the two were entirely different, the athlete needing much sleep and food, regular intervals of exercise and rest, and being unable to bear any change from his habits, while the soldier was inured to hunger and thirst and sleepless nights; he both in his private capacity wholly abstained from athletic exercises, and tried to abolish them when a general. Id. Fab. Max. 19 §2 Fabius hoped that Hannibal, if unopposed, would wear himself out, ὥσπερ ἀθλητικοῦ σώματος τῆς δυναμεως ὑπεργονου γενομένης καὶ καταπόνου. Lucian Dial. Mort. x. 5 the athlete Damasias, πολύσαρκός τις ὤν, lest he should sink Charon’s boat by his weight, is forced to strip off his flesh and crowns.’
lacertis. As opposed to brachium, lacertus is the upper part of the arm, from the shoulder to the elbow. Cp. Cic. Brut. §64 in Lysia sunt saepe etiam lacerti, sic ut fieri nihil possit valentius.
versicolorem ... vestem, probably a translation of some Greek phrase used in reference to Demetrius, to indicate a style too ornamental for the forum: cp. viii. pr. 20 similiter illa translucida et versicolor quorundam elocutio res ipsas effeminat, quae illo verborum habitu vestiantur. For Demetrius see on §80. ‘His style, like his life, was elegantly luxurious; but in becoming ornate it became nerveless; there is no longer, says Cicero, “sucus ille et sanguis incorruptus,” the sap, the fresh vigour, which had hitherto been in oratory; in their place there is “fucatus nitor,” an artificial gloss,’ Jebb, Att. Or. ii. p. 441. Vestis is more than a mere metaphor here: Demetrius was as foppish in dress as he was in his style. The main feature of the latter is generally indicated by floridus and similar terms: e.g. Cic. Brut. §285: dulcis de Off. i. §3 (cp. Or. §94), suavis Brut. §38: it was over-coloured (like his dress), being intended only to please. For the figure suggested 38 cp. Tac. Dial. 26: adeo melius est orationem vel hirta toga induere quam fucatis et meretriciis vestibus insignire.
dicebatur, i.e. by his contemporaries.
bene ad ... facere: 5 §11 in hoc optime facient infinitae quaestiones. This construction is common in Ovid; e.g. Her. xvi. 189 ad talem formam non facit iste locus: cp. ib. vi. 128: and with dat. Prop. iii. 1, 19 non faciet capiti dura corona meo. “It is also occasionally used absolutely: so Ovid, complaining in his exile, says Trist.(?) ‘Nec caelum nec aquae faciunt nec terra nec imber’: ‘do not agree with me.’ It is thus used especially in medicine. Cp. Colum. viii. 17, Facit etiam ex pomis adaperta ficus: ‘is serviceable.’” Palmer on Ov. Her. ii. 39.
pulverem. Cp. Cic. Brut. §37 (quoted on §80 inclinasse): and for a different judgment de Legg. iii. §14 a Theophrasto Phalereus ille Demetrius ... mirabiliter doctrinam ex umbraculis eruditorum otioque non modo in solem atque in pulverem, sed in ipsum discrimen aciemque produxit.
I:34 Est et alius ex historiis usus et is quidem maximus, sed non ad praesentem pertinens locum, ex cognitione rerum exemplorumque, quibus in primis instructus esse debet orator, ne omnia testimonia exspectet a litigatore, sed pleraque ex vetustate diligenter sibi cognita sumat, hoc potentiora, quod ea sola criminibus odii et gratiae vacant.
§ 34. historiis: for the plural see on §75. Cp. note on lectionum §45.
alius usus ... ex cognitione, &c. Crassus in the de Or. i. §48 insists on this: neque enim sine multa pertractatione omnium rerum publicarum, neque sine legum, morum, iuris scientia ... in his ipsis rebus satis callide versari et perite potest (sc. orator): cp. ib. §18 tenenda praeterea est omnis antiquitas exemplorumque vis: §158 cognoscendae historiae: §256: Brutus §322: Tac. Dial. 30 nec in evolvenda antiquitate ... satis operae insumitur. In Quint. cp. ii. 4, 20 multa inde cognitio rerum venit exemplisque, quae sunt in omni genere causarum potentissima, iam tum instruitur, cum res poscet, usurus: iii. 8, 67: v. 11 ‘de exemplis’—παράδειγμα quo nomine et generaliter usi sunt in omni similium adpositione et specialiter in iis quae rerum gestarum auctoritate nituntur: xii. 4, 10: cp. §17 rerum cognitio cotidie crescit, et tamen quam multorum ad eam librorum necessaria lectio est, quibus aut rerum exempla ab historicis aut dicendi ab oratoribus petuntur.
et is quidem. Cic. de Fin. i. §65 Epicurus una in domo, et ea quidem angusta, quam magnos ... tenuit amicorum greges. In 5 §7 we have et quidem with the pronoun omitted: cp. Cic. Phil. ii. 43 et quidem immunia: and often in Pliny, e.g. Ep. i. 6, 1 ego ille quem nosti apros tres et quidem pulcherrimos cepi.
non ad praesentem ... locum, because here he is speaking of the advantage of reading history only from the point of view of elocutio: his subject is copia verborum. For the material benefit to be obtained from the study of history see the passages cited above: esp. xii. 4: v. 11, 36 sq.
testimonia. Cp. v. 7, 1 ea dicuntur aut per tabulas aut a praesentibus. The advocate is not to confine himself to these.
litigatore, the client, from whom the essential facts of the case must be learned: xii. 8 §§6-8.
cognita (with vetustate), of the result rather than the process. Before sumat supply ut.
hoc quod ... vacant §15. Cp. v. 11, 36-37 Adhibebitur extrinsecus in causam et auctoritas ... si quid ita visum gentibus, populis, sapientibus viris, claris civibus, inlustribus poetis referri potest. Ne haec quidem vulgo dicta et recepta persuasione populari sine usu fuerint. Testimonia sunt enim quodam modo vel potentiora etiam, quod non causis accommodata sunt, sed liberis odio et gratia mentibus ideo tantum dicta factaque, quia aut honestissima aut verissima videbantur. Cp. Cic. pro Marcello §29: Tac. Hist. i. 1: Ann. i. 1.
I:35 A philosophorum vero lectione ut essent multa nobis petenda 39 vitio factum est oratorum, qui quidem illis optima sui operis parte cesserunt. Nam et de iustis, honestis, utilibus iisque quae sunt istis contraria, et de rebus divinis maxime dicunt et argumentantur acriter Stoici, et altercationibus atque interrogationibus oratorem futurum optime Socratici praeparant.
§ 35. philosophorum: §§81-84: §§123-131. We have the same complaint, that the orator has ‘abandoned the fairest part of his province’ to the philosopher in Book i. pr. §§9-18: esp. neque 39 enim hoc concesserim, rationem rectae honestaeque vitae ... ad philosophos relegandam, cum vir ille vere civilis et publicarum privatarumque rerum administrationi accommodatus, qui regere consiliis urbes, fundare legibus, emendare iudiciis possit, non alius sit profecto quam orator.... Fueruntque haec, ut Cicero apertissime colligit, quemadmodum iuncta natura, sic officio quoque copulata, ut idem sapientes atque eloquentes haberentur. Scidit deinde se studium atque inertia factum est ut artes esse plures viderentur. Nam ut primum lingua esse coepit in quaestu institutumque eloquentiae bonis male uti, curam morum qui diserti habebantur reliquerunt. Cp. xii. 2 §§4-10, esp. §8 id quod est oratori necessarium nec a dicendi praeceptoribus traditur ab iis petere nimirum necesse est apud quos remansit: evolvendi penitus auctores qui de virtute praecipiunt, ut oratoris vita cum scientia divinaram rerum sit humanarumque coniuncta. Quintilian’s frequent statement of the argument that philosophy, especially moral philosophy, is an essential part of the orator’s equipment is a corollary to his main thesis, ‘non posse oratorem esse nisi virum bonum’: i. pr. §9: xii. 1: cp. rationem dicendi a bono viro non separamus. Cp. Introd. p. xxv. In the Orator §§11-19 Cicero places a philosophical training among the first requisites of the ideal orator: esp. §14 nam nec latius neque copiosius de magnis variisque rebus sine philosophia potest quisquam dicere: ib. §118: cp. de Or. i. §87: ib. iii. §§56-73 hanc, inquam, cogitandi pronuntiandique rationem vimque dicendi veteres Graeci sapientiam nominabant ... §61 hinc (from the separation of eloquence and philosophy made by Socrates) discidium illud exstitit quasi linguae atque cordis, absurdum sane et inutile et reprehendendum, ut alii nos sapere, alii dicere docerent. Cicero has told us himself what he owed to philosophy: xii. 2, 23 M. Tullius non tantum se debere scholis rhetorum quantum Academiae spatiis frequenter (e.g. Or. §12, Brut. 315) ipse testatus est: Tac. Dial. §31 sq.
operis: see on §9. So ea iure vereque contenderim esse operis nostri. i. pr. §11.
cesserunt: for this constr. with dat. and abl. cp. Cic. pro Mil. §75 nisi sibi hortorum possessione cessissent.
de iustis, &c.: cp. i. pr. §§11, 12.
de rebus divinis. The Stoic definition of σοφία included this—ἐμπειρία τῶν θείων καὶ ἀνθρωπίνων καὶ τῶν τούτου αἰτιῶν, transl. by Cicero, de Off. ii. 5: cp. Tusc. iv. 57: Sen. Ep. xiv. 1, 5. They made this σοφία the foundation of every virtue: it is ‘speculative wisdom’ as distinguished from ‘practical wisdom’ (φρόνησις).
maxime = potissimum.
Stoici: §84: xii. 2, 25 Stoici ... nullos aut probare acrius aut concludere subtilius contendunt. Stoici was first inserted by Meister. Hirt (Berl. Wochenschrift v. p. 629) objects, on the ground that Quintilian is only giving here the general idea that eloquence and philosophy were at first mutually inclusive: cp. de Or. iii. §54. See Crit. Notes.
altercationibus. The essence of the altercatio is that it was conducted in the way of short answers or retorts: it is specially used of a dispute carried on in this way between two speakers in the senate, or in a court of law, or in public. A famous instance in the senate is the dialogue between Cicero and Clodius (ad Att. i. 16, 8): Clodium praesentem fregi in senatu cum oratione perpetua plenissima gravitatis, tum altercatione, &c. Tac. Dial. 34 ut altercationes quoque exciperet et iurgiis interesset. The altercatio (actio brevis atque concisa vi. 4, 2) is opp. to perpetua or continua oratio: e.g. Liv. iv. 6, 1 res a perpetuis orationibus in altercationem vertisset: Tac. Hist. iv. 7 paulatim per altercationem ad continuas et infestas orationes provecti sunt.—As to the construction, both words are generally taken as ablatives of instrument; not ‘for debates and examinations of witnesses.’ By interrogationibus is then meant the Socratic ἔλενχος: cp. v. 7, 28 in quibus (dialogis) adeo scitae sunt interrogationes ut, cum plerisque bene respondeatur, res tamen ad id quod volunt efficere perveniat. But see Crit. Notes.
40Socratici: §83. The writers of the Socratic form of dialogue are meant, Plato, Xenophon, and Aeschines Socraticus: v. 11, 27 etiam in illis interrogationibus Socraticis ... cavendum ne incante respondeas. Their practice of fashioning the imagined objections of their opponents in such a manner as to make them easy of refutation would render them good models: cp. xii. 1, 10 ne more Socraticorum nobismet ipsi responsum finxisse videamur.
I:36 Sed 40 his quoque adhibendum est simile iudicium, ut etiam cum in rebus versemur isdem non tamen eandem esse condicionem sciamus litium ac disputationum, fori et auditorii, praeceptorum et periculorum.
§ 36. his quoque, sc. philosophis—as well as with the poets and historians §§28, 31.
ut ... sciamus, consecutive, expressing result, not final: tr. by participle ‘remembering,’ &c.: cp. ut sciamus after sic in §31. Not all the instances of the introduction of a subordinate clause by this consecutive ut cited by Herbst are exactly apposite: cp. 2 §28: 4 §4: 5 §§6, 9: 6 §3: 7 §10.
in rebus isdem: ‘on the same topics,’ viz. questions of right and wrong, &c., which are common to philosophy and law.
litium ac disputationum: ‘lawsuits and philosophical discussions’: vii. 3 §13 sed de his disputatur non litigatur: xi. 1, 70 inter eos non forensem contentionem, sed studiosam disputationem crederes incidisse: Cic. de Off. i. §3 illud forense dicendi et hoc quietum disputandi genus: de Fin. i. §28 neque enim disputari sine reprehensione, nec cum iracundia aut pertinacia recte disputari potest: Brut. §118 iidem (Stoici) traducti a disputando ad dicendum inopes reperiantur: cp. Or. §113. There is a similar antithesis in foro ... in scholis v. 13, 36.
fori ... periculorum: note the chiasmus. For the antithesis fori ... auditorii cp. §79 auditoriis ... non iudiciis. Tac. Dial. 10 nunc te ab auditoriis et theatris in forum et ad causas et ad vera proelia voco. For auditorium used of the lecture-room, or generally a place for public prelections, literary and philosophical, cp. ii. 11, 3: v. 12, 20: Suet. Aug. 85. These auditoria were the scene of the recitationes of which we hear so much in this age: §18.
periculorum: law-suits, actions-at-law, referring, as often in Cicero, to the issues at stake for the defendant in such actions. Cp. 7 §1: iv. 2, 122 capitis aut fortunarum pericula: vi. 1, 36 (where ‘pericula’ and ‘privatae causae’ are contrasted). Etymologically periculum is from the root PER-, seen in πεῖρα, περάω: it denotes ‘trial’ and, in view of possible failure, ‘danger.’ Cp. Reid on Cic. pro Arch. §13: the English ‘danger’ (Low Latin dangiarium from dominium, Old Fr. dongier, feudal authority) was originally a legal term: Shakesp. Merchant of Venice iv. 1, ‘You stand within his danger.’ Chaucer, Prol. 663. See Skeat’s Etym. Dict.
I:37 Credo exacturos plerosque, cum tantum esse utilitatis in legendo iudicemus, ut id quoque adiungamus operi, qui sint legendi, quae in auctore quoque praecipua virtus. Sed persequi singulos infiniti fuerit operis.
§ 37. This paragraph forms a transition from the general consideration of oratory (§20), poetry (§27), history (§31), and philosophy (§35) to the characterisation of individual representatives of each of these four departments. Quintilian now begins to discourse on the ‘Choice of Books,’ or the ‘Best Hundred Authors,’ both in Greek and Latin. His list does not however aim at completeness: it is conditioned by the object which he has in view, viz. the reading of what is profitable for the formation of style (ad faciendam φράσιν §42), and he constantly reminds the reader that he is merely giving a sample of the best authors (§§44: 56-60: 74: 80: 104: 122). Cp. Plin. Ep. vii. 9 §§15-16.
qui sint legendi: see Crit. Notes.
auctore: see on §24.
persequi singulos: ‘to notice all individually’: §118 sunt alii multi diserti quos persequi longum est.
fuerit: cp. superaverit §46: dixerim §14: maluerim §26: dederit §85: cesserimus §86: quos viderim §98: cesserit §101: opposuerim §105: abstulerit 41 §107: ne hoc ... suaserim 2 §24: nemo dubitaverit 3 §22: contulerit 5 §4: ne ... contrarium fuerit 5 §15.
I:38 Quippe cum in Bruto M. Tullius 41 tot milibus versuum de Romanis tantum oratoribus loquatur et tamen de omnibus aetatis suae, [quibuscum vivebat], exceptis Caesare atque Marcello, silentium egerit, quis erit modus si et illos et qui postea fuerunt et Graecos omnes persequamur [et philosophos]?
§ 38. Quippe cum, only here in Quint.: cp. §76.
versuum: often in Quint. of ‘lines’ of prose: §41: 3 §32: 7 §11: xi. 2, 32 (but §39 opp. to prosam orationem): vii. 1, 37 multis milibus versuum scio apud quosdam esse quaesitum, &c. Hor. Sat. ii. 5, 53-4, of a will, quid prima secundo cera velit versu. Cic. Rab. Post. vi. §14 ut primum versum (legis) attenderet: ad Att. ii. 16, 3: Plin. Ep. iv. 11, 16.
Romanis ... oratoribus. One of Cicero’s motives in writing the Brutus was to do justice to the earlier Roman orators, and to trace the development of the art down to his own time. Hild cites Fronto (de elog. p. 235 ed. Rom.) oratores quos ... Cicero eloquentiae civitate gregatim donavit, as showing that the writer thought that Cicero wished to exalt his own style by contrast with the ruder efforts of his predecessors.
aetatis suae. Frieze remarks that this expression, taken by itself, would embrace either the whole career of Cicero as an orator, about 35 years, to the date of the Brutus (B.C. 46), or else his life from the time when he began to hear the orators of the forum as a student (B.C. 90), a period of over 44 years: Brut. §303 hoc (Hortensio) igitur florescente, Crassus est mortuus, Cotta pulsus, iudicia intermissa bello, nos (Cicero) in forum venimus.—The rule which Cicero imposed on himself in the Brutus is given §231: in hoc sermone nostro statui neminem eorum qui viverent nominare.
[quibuscum vivebat]: see Crit. Notes.
Caesare atque Marcello. These exceptions were made at the request of Brutus himself §248. Brutus eulogises Marcellus, while the account of Caesar is mainly put into the mouth of Atticus: then at §262 Cicero returns to the dead,—sed ad eos, si placet, qui vita excesserunt revertamur.—For Caesar see on §114. M. Claudius Marcellus, consul B.C. 51, was a Pompeian who, after Pharsalus, retired to Mitylene, where he studied under Cratippus. His friends procured the pardon which he would not himself sue for, and Cicero in the pro Marcello (B.C. 46) expresses his satisfaction at the event. On his way home in the following year Marcellus was assassinated at Athens. Cp. Sen. ad Helviam ix. §§4-8.
quis ... modus. When quis is used adjectivally, as here and in §50, it does not mean ‘what kind of’ (as qui), but rather ‘will there be any?’ &c. Cp. quis locus = ‘where is the spot?’ vii. 2, 54 quis testis? quis iudex? ... quod pretium? quis conscius? For the reading see Crit. Notes.
I:39 Fuit igitur brevitas illa tutissima quae est apud Livium in epistula ad filium scripta, ‘legendos Demosthenen atque Ciceronem, tum ita, ut quisque esset Demostheni et Ciceroni simillimus.’
§ 39. brevitas illa = brevis illa sententia, introducing the clause in acc. c. inf. Hirt compares Cic. Tusc. iv. §83 et aegritudinis et reliquorum animi morborum una sanatio est, omnes opinabiles esse et voluntarios. For fuit see Crit. Notes.
apud Livium. Cp. ii. 5, 20 Cicero ... et iucundus incipientibus quoque et apertus est satis, nec prodesse tantum, sed etiam amari potest: tum, quemadmodum Livius praecipit, ut quisque erit Ciceroni simillimus. In viii. 2, 18 there is a reference probably to the same source: Livy is made the authority for the story of a teacher ‘qui discipulos obscurare quae dicerent iuberet, Graeco verbo utens σκότισον.’ Sen. Ep. 100 Nomina adhuc T. Livium. scripsit enim et dialogos, quos non magis philosophiae adnumerare possis quam historiae, et ex professo philosophiam continentes libros. The son is mentioned again in Plin. N. H. i. 5 and 6. See Teuffel, Rom. Lit. 251 §4.
Demostheni et Ciceroni: §§105-112: Iuv. x. 114. Note the pointed repetition of the names.
I:40 Non est dissimulanda nostri quoque iudicii 42 summa. Paucos enim vel potius vix ullum ex his qui vetustatem pertulerunt existimo posse reperiri, quin iudicium adhibentibus adlaturus sit utilitatis aliquid, cum se Cicero ab illis quoque vetustissimis auctoribus, ingeniosis quidem, sed arte carentibus, plurimum fateatur adiutum.
§ 40. nostri iudicii summa: ‘my 42 opinion in general,’ as opposed to the criticism of each writer individually. What the gist of this opinion is he states in the next sentence, with enim: see Crit. Notes.—For summa cp. §48: 3 §10.
vix ullum, &c.: §57. Mayor compares Plin. Ep. iii. 5 §10 (of the elder Pliny) nihil enim legit quod non excerperet: dicere enim solebat nullum esse librum tam malum ut non aliqua parte prodesset. It would be hard to be so charitable now!
vetustatem pertulerunt: ‘have stood the test of time.’ The phrase is properly used of wine,—wine that will ‘keep,’ as we should say (aetatem ferre): Cic. de Amic. §67 ut ea vina quae vetustatem ferunt: ii. 4, 9 musta ... et annos ferent et vetustate proficiunt: Cat. de R. R. 114, 2 vinum in vetustatem servare. So Ovid, of his own works, scripta vetustatem si modo nostra ferent, Trist. v. 9, 8. For vetustas (lapse of time) cp. Cic. Brut. §258.—There is a sort of antithesis between the class of authors here referred to and the vetustissimi auctores mentioned below. In the former he includes Cato and the Gracchi, ii. 5, 21: the latter are those who were hardly read at all in Quintilian’s day. In general he uses veteres or antiqui in contradistinction to those who were to him novi, i.e. the writers of the post-Augustan period: including in the former Cicero himself as well as his predecessors. ii. 5, 23 et antiquos legere et novos: v. 4, 1 orationes veterum ac novorum: ix. 3, 1 omnes veteres et Cicero praecipue: Plin. Ep. ix. 22, 1, of C. Passennus Paullus, in litteris veteres aemulatur ... Propertium in primis: Tac. Dial. 17, 18.
iudicium adhibentibus: §131: §72.
ingeniosis ... carentibus: i. 8, 8 multum autem veteres etiam Latini conferunt, quamquam plerique plus ingenio quam arte valuerunt. Ov. Amor. i. 15, 14, of Callimachus, quamvis ingenio non valet, arte valet: Tr. ii. 424 Ennius ingenio maximus arte rudis. Mayor quotes also from Munro’s Lucretius: vol. ii. p. 18 ‘At this period when the νεώτεροι, as Cicero calls them, were striving to bring the Alexandrine style into fashion, there seems to have been almost a formal antithesis between the rude genius of Ennius and the modern art.’
ingeniosis quidem. Here again (cp. on §34) Cicero would have used the pronoun,—ingeniosis illis quidem. Cp. §§88, 124: i. 10, 17.
Cicero ... fateatur. The Brutus contains e.g. a eulogy of Cato, who is said to be rough, but excellent, like the early statues and paintings and poems: §§61-66: Or. §109. Mayor cites Seneca apud Gell. xii. 2 (Fragmenta 111) Apud ipsum quoque Ciceronem invenies etiam in prosa oratione quaedam ex quibus intelligas illum non perdidisse operam quod Ennium legit.
I:41 Nec multo aliud de novis sentio; quotus enim quisque inveniri tam demens potest, 43 qui ne minima quidem alicuius certe fiducia partis memoriam posteritatis speraverit? Qui si quis est, intra primos statim versus deprehendetur, et citius nos dimittet quam ut eius nobis magno temporis detrimento constet experimentum.
§ 41. multo aliud: cp. quanto aliud §53. Aliud here serves for a comparative. So ix. 4, 26 multo optimum: §72 multo foedissimum, and in Plin. N. H. multo very often for the more usual longe. Spald.
novis: the writers subsequent to Cicero; viii. 5, 12: ix. 2, 42.
quotus quisque: ‘each unit of what whole number’ = ‘one in how many,’ and so ‘how small a proportion,’ ‘how few.’ In the nom. sing. masc. it occurs several times in Cicero, and frequently in Pliny’s letters. Ovid, A. A. iii. 103, has the fem., Forma dei munus. Forma quota quaeque superbit. The dat. quoto cuique Plin. Ep. iii. 20 §8: the acc. quotum quemque Tac. Dial. 29.
tam demens ... qui: §48 nemo erit tam indoctus qui non ... fateatur: on the other hand §57 tam ... ut non. Herbst cites Pliny, Ep. viii. 14, 3 quotus enim quisque tam patiens ut velit discere quod in usu non sit habiturus: cp. ib. ii. 19, 6: Panegyr. 15: Xen. Anab. ii. 5, 12 τίς οὕτω μαίνεται ὅστις οὐ σοὶ βούλεται φίλος εἶναι; ib. vii. 1, 28 ἔστι τις οὕτως ἄφρων ὅστις οἴεται ἂν ἡμᾶς περιγενέσθαι;; Cic. Phil. ii. §33, where Mayor quotes Dem. Mid. p. 536, 6 §66 τίς οὕτως ἀλόγιστος ... ἔστιν ὅστις ἑκὼν ἂν ... ἐθελήσειεν ἀναλῶσαι; and
‘Lives there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself has said...?’
alicuius fiducia partis: ‘with even the smallest confidence at least in some portion or other (of his writings).’ For the obj. gen. cp. iv. 2, 113: ix. 3, 51.
memoriam posteritatis: see on §31.
versus: §38.
detrimento: vi. 3, 35 nimium enim risus pretium est si probitatis impendio constat. The word occurs less commonly than some of its synonyms with the genitive: here its etymological meaning (detero–tempus ‘terere’) makes it very appropriate.
I:42 Sed non quidquid ad aliquam partem scientiae pertinet, protinus ad faciendam φράσιν, de qua loquimur, accommodatum.
Verum antequam de singulis loquar, pauca in universum de varietate opinionum dicenda sunt.
§ 42. protinus: ‘at once,’ ‘as a matter of course.’ See on §3: cp. statim §24.
ad faciendam φράσιν: ‘for the formation of style’: cp. §87 phrasin ... faciant: viii. 1, 1 igitur quam Graeci φράσιν vocant, Latine dicimus elocutionem. For the whole expression cp. §65 ad oratores faciendos aptior: xii. 8, 5 cur non sit orator quando ... oratorem facit: x. 3, 3 vires ... faciamus: ib. §10 qui robur aliquod in stilo fecerint: ib. §28 faciendus usus: also i. 10, 6: ii. 8, 7: xii. 7, 1. Faciendam must have belonged to the original text: see Crit. Notes.—Hild reminds us that we must always keep this point of view in mind in estimating the literary judgments pronounced by Quintilian in this book: he is concerned mainly with form, in its relation to oratorical style. In the same way, §87, he does not insist on the study of Macer and Lucretius: legendi quidem sed non ut φράσιν, id est corpus eloquentiae, faciant. M. Seneca opposes φράσις to ἕξις (§1): non ἕξις magna sed φράσις (of Albucius) Contr. vii. pr. §2: elsewhere he has (Excerpt. Contr. iii. pr. §7) habebat ... phrasin non vulgarem nec sordidam, sed lectam.
in universum: Tac. Germ. 6 in universum aestimanti: ib. 27 in commune opp. to singuli.
de varietate opinionum. Dosson refers to Hipp. Rigault, Histoire de la querelle des anciens et des modernes, vol. i. 1859. In the third cent. B.C. the question of the superiority of the ancients over the moderns was discussed between the supporters and the opponents of Demetrius of Phalerum: in Cicero’s day it had become confused with the quarrel between the true and the false Atticists (cp. Brut. §283 sq.): Horace treated it in the first Epistle of the Second Book: in Quintilian’s own time it was still discussed, as may be seen from this passage and from the Dialogus de Oratoribus.
I:43 Nam quidam solos veteres legendos putant neque in ullis aliis esse naturalem eloquentiam et robur viris dignum arbitrantur, alios recens haec lascivia 44 deliciaeque et omnia ad voluptatem multitudinis imperitae composita delectant.
§ 43. solos veteres. Here again (see on §40) veteres includes the writers of the Augustan age: cp. §§118, 122, 126: 2 §17. See also ii. 5, 21 sq., where Quintilian says that in the case of young people both extremes should be avoided:—the ancients (such as the Gracchi and Cato), fient enim horridi atque ieiuni: the moderns, with their depraved taste, ‘ne recentis huius lasciviae flosculis capti voluptate prava deleniantur.’
robur viris dignum: ii. 5, 23 ex quibus (sc. antiquis) si adsumatur solida ac virilis ingenii vis deterso rudis saeculi squalore, tum noster hic cultus clarius enitescet: i. 8, 9 sanctitas certe et, ut sic dicam, virilitas ab iis (i.e. the veteres Latini) petenda est, quando nos in omnia deliciarum vitia dicendi quoque ratione defluximus: v. 12, 17.
recens haec lascivia deliciaeque: ‘the voluptuous and affected style of our own day’ opp. to rectum dicendi genus, below. Cp. ‘recentis huius lasciviae flosculi,’ quoted above, also ‘deliciarum vitia.’ Mayor cites Sen. Ep. xxxiii. 1 non fuerunt circa flosculos occupati: totus contextus 44 illorum virilis est. See on lascivus §88. Seneca is probably aimed at here: cp. §125 sq., and Introd. p. xxv. sqq.
I:44 Ipsorum etiam qui rectum dicendi genus sequi volunt, alii pressa demum et tenuia atque quae minimum 45 ab usu cotidiano recedant, sana et vere Attica putant; quosdam 46 elatior ingenii vis et magis concitata et plena spiritus capit; sunt etiam lenis et nitidi et compositi generis non pauci amatores. De qua differentia disseram diligentius, cum de genere dicendi quaerendum erit: interim summatim, quid et a qua lectione petere possint qui confirmare facultatem dicendi volent, attingam: paucos enim, qui sunt eminentissimi, excerpere in animo est.
§ 44. rectum dicendi genus: the true standard of style (cp. §89), natural and unaffected, and imitating neither the rude archaism of the ancients nor the bad taste of the moderns. In ii. 5, 11 it is called sermo rectus (‘straight,’ i.e. direct and natural) et secundum naturam enuntiatus: and in ix. 3, 3, simplex rectumque loquendi genus: the style which aims above everything at the clear and effective expression of thought, apart from all ornament and trickery. Though termed here a genus, it is itself divided into three genera: (1) the simple, terse, concise (ἰσχνόν, tenue, subtile, pressum ... quod minimum ab usu cotidiano recedit); (2) the grand, broad, lofty, stirring, passionate (ἁδρόν, uber, grande, amplum, elatum, concitatum); (3) the flowing, plastic, polished, smooth, melodious, intermediate (ἀνθηρόν, lene, nitidum, suave, compositum, medium).
This threefold division of style, ascribed to Theophrastus, was generally recognised in Greece after the latter part of the 4th century B.C. Gellius (vi. 14, 8) tells us that Varro recognised it, employing uber, gracile, and mediocre to represent ἁδρόν, ἰσχνόν, and μέσον; and Mr. Nettleship (J. of Philol. xviii. p. 232) thinks that his treatise περὶ χαρακτήρων bore on this subject. It is adopted in Cornif. ad Herenn. iv. §§11-16, and is carefully explained by Cicero in the Orator §§20-21 (where see Sandys’ notes): tria sunt omnino genera dicendi quibus in singulis quidam floruerunt, peraeque autem, id quod volumus, perpauci in omnibus. Quintilian evidently considers that Cicero (see §108) came up to his own ideal standard in all three styles: Or. §100 is est enim eloquens qui et humilia subtiliter et magna graviter et mediocria temperate potest dicere.
Dion. Hal. (probably following Theophrastus περὶ λέξεως) has the same division, distinguishing as the τρία πλάσματα τῆς λέξεως or γενικώτατοι χαρακτῆρες the χαρακτὴρ ὑψηλός (genus grande), ἰσχνός (genus tenue, subtile), and μέσος (medium, mediocre): de Dem. 33 and 34. In xii. 10, 58 Quintilian repeats this: discerni posse etiam recte dicendi genera inter se videntur. Namque unum subtile, quod ἰσχνόν vocant, alterum grande atque robustum, quod ἁδρόν dicunt, constituunt; tertium alii medium ex duobus, alii floridum (namque id ἀνθηρόν appellant) addiderant. In the next section he goes on to connect this triple division with the three functions of the orator as laid down in iii. 5, 2: tria sunt item quae praestare debeat orator, ut doceat, moveat, delectet. The ‘plain’ style is especially adapted for teaching and explaining: the ‘grand’ for moving the feelings; while of the ‘middle’ he says ‘ea fere ratio est ut ... delectandi sive conciliandi praestare videatur officium.’ Cp. Arist. Rhet. i. 2 p. 1356 a 2 τῶν δὲ διὰ τοῦ λόγου ποριζομένων πίστεων τρία εἴδη ἐστίν‧ αἱ μὲν γάρ εἰσιν ἐν τῷ ἤθει τοῦ λέγοντος (those which conciliate good-will—the medium, lene, compositum genus), αἱ δὲ ἐν τῷ τὸν ἀκροατὴν διαθεῖναί πως (those which stir the passions—the grande genus), αἱ δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ λόγῳ διὰ τοῦ δεικνύναι ἢ φαίνεσθαι δεικνύναι (those which are addressed to the intellect—the genus subtile). Further on (xii. 10 §64) he says that the three classes are typified by the oratory of Menelaus, Nestor, and Ulysses: cp. ii. 17, 8 and Gellius, vi. 14.
In anticipation of the rest of the section the main features of each of the three styles may here be resumed. The ‘grand’ is distinguished by a careful avoidance of everything familiar and ordinary: it seeks to rise above the common idiom by a sustained dignity both of thought and language, and employs a profusion of ornament of every kind. The ‘plain’ style is marked by simplicity and clearness: it may employ the aid of art, but it is an art that conceals itself in the avoidance of everything unfamiliar and in the artistic use of the language of ordinary life. The ‘middle’ style has more charm than force: while not distinguished for the excellencies of the other species it has a grace and sweetness of its own, whence its alternative designation floridum (ἀνθηρόν) in Quintilian, quoted above: see note on §80.
pressa ... et tenuia, &c., i.e. the subtile genus, or ‘plain style.’ Pressus is used in Quintilian both of a writer and of his style: it means ‘concise’ (premo), ‘terse,’ 45 and the juxtaposition of tenuis here shows that ‘plain straightforwardness’ is the quality referred to. Cp. xii. 10, 38 tenuiora haec ac pressiora: Cic. de Orat. ii. §96, where oratio pressior is opp. to luxuries quaedam quae stilo depascenda est: Brut. §201 attenuate presseque dicere opp. to sublate ampleque: Quint. viii. 3, 40 dicere abundanter an presse ... magnifice an subtiliter: ii. 8, 4 presso limatoque genere dicendi: §15 non enim satis est dicere presse tantum aut subtiliter aut aspere. Pressum is well defined by Mayor on this passage: ‘pruned of all rankness, concise, quiet, moderate, self-controlled; opposed to extravagance, heat, turgidity, redundance’: cp. premere tumentia 4 §1. To writers pressus is applied §§46, 102: 2 §16: cp. xii. 10, 16 (Attici) pressi et integri ... (Asiani) inflati et inanes: Brut. §51 parum pressi et nimis redundantes: ib. §202 cavenda presso illi oratori inopia et ieiunitas: Tac. Dial. 18 inflatus et tumens nec satis pressus sed supra modum exultans.—In Cic. de Or. ii. §56 Wilkins thinks that pressus (verbis aptus et pressus—of Thucydides) means ‘precise,’ not ‘concise’: comparing de Fin. iv. 10, 24 mihi placet agi subtilius et pressius: Tusc. iv. 7, 14 definiunt pressius: Cic. Hortens. Fragm. 46 (Baiter) ‘pressum, subtile, M. Tullius in Hortensio, quis te aut est aut fuit unquam in partiundis rebus, in definiendis, in explicandis pressior?’ Cp. Quint, iv. 2, 117 pressus et velut adplicitus rei cultus.—The word frequently occurs in Pliny: see Mayor on iii. 18, 10.
tenuia: §64: 2 §19. The Greek equivalents are ἰσχνός, λιτός, ἀφελής. Cp Or. §20, where Sandys says “The primary meaning of tenuis is ‘thin’; its metaphorical use as an epithet of style is derived, not from the notion of slimness and slenderness of form (like ἰσχνός and gracilis), but from thinness and fineness of texture (§124 ‘tenuis causa,’ ‘tenue argumentandi filum’; Quint. ix. 4, 17 illud in Lysia dicendi textum tenue atque rasum, al. rarum). Cp. subtilis and simplex.” The word is used in a depreciatory sense xii. 8, 1 neque enim quisquam tam ingenio tenui reperietur qui, cum omnia quae sunt in causa diligenter cognoverit ad docendum certe iudicem non sufficiat. In this sense Hor. Car. ii. 16, 38 is generally interpreted: spiritum Graiae tenuem Camenae.—For atque quae, see Crit. Notes.
demum, 3 §13: 6 §5: = ‘only,’ for tantum, dumtaxat, with no indication of time, though Frieze says the use implies ‘that some conclusion has been reached as the only thing that remains to be accepted after every alternative has been considered.’ So i. pr. 3 plusquam imponebatur oneris sponte suscepi, ... simul ne vulgarem viam ingressus alienis demum vestigiis insisterem: ii. 15, 1 bonis demum (haec) tribui volunt. Suet. Aug. 24: Traian. ad Plin. E. 10, 33.—It is, of course, frequent in Latin of every period with pronouns, to give emphasis, like adeo: ei demum oratori, Cic. de Or. ii. §131.
usu cotidiano: xii. 10, 40 Adhuc quidam nullam esse naturalem putant eloquentiam nisi quae sit cotidiano sermoni simillima: viii. pr. 23 sunt optima minime arcessita et simplicibus atque ab ipsa veritate profectis similia, §25 atqui satis aperte Cicero praeceperat ‘in dicendo vitium vel maximum esse a vulgari genere orationis ... abhorrere’: xi. 1, 6 neque humile atque cotidianum sermonis genus ... epilogis dabimus. Mayor cites Dion. Hal. ad Cn. Pomp. de Plat. p. 758 R: id. de Lys. 3: de Isocr. 2 and 11.
sana et vere Attica. Those who take this view interpret the term ‘Attic’ too narrowly: it comprehends the best examples of all three genera. Quintilian protests against this misrepresentation in xii. 10, 21 sq. quapropter mihi falli multum videntur qui solos esse Atticos credunt tenues et lucidos et significantes, sed quadam eloquentiae frugalitate contentos ac semper manum intra pallium continentes: §25 quid est igitur cur in iis demum qui tenui venula per calculos fluunt Atticum saporem putent, ibi demum thymum redolere dicant? ib. §26 melius de hoc nomine sentiant credantque Attice dicere esse optime dicere. The discussion of the true and the false Atticism holds a place also in the Brutus of Cicero: see esp. §201 sq. and §§283-292, the criticism of Calvus and his school: cp. ib. §51 illam salubritatem Atticae dictionis et quasi sanitatem ... Asiatici oratores ... parum pressi et nimis redundantes. Rhodii saniores et Atticorum similiores. Or. §90: de Opt. Gen. Or. §8 imitemur ... eos potius qui incorrupta sanitate sunt, quod est proprium Atticorum: ib. §§11, 12. Tac. Dial. 25 omnes (Calvus, Asinius, Caesar, Brutus, Cicero) eandem sanitatem eloquentiae prae se ferunt: cp. 26 illam ipsam quam 46 iactant sanitatem non firmitate sed ieiunio consequuntur: Quint. ii. 4, 9 macies pro sanitate: xii. 10, 15 hi sunt enim qui suae imbecillitati sanitatis appellationem, quae est maxime contraria, obtendunt. So ὑγιές in Greek: cp. bona valetudo, Brut. §64.
elatior ingenii vis, as in the grave genus, or ‘grand style’: Cic. Orat. §§97-99. Cp. nihil elatum vi. 2, 19: ib. §§20-24. For the compar. cp. tersior §94.
et magis concitata. Frequently in Quintilian a comparative is followed by the positive with magis: cp. §§74, 77, 88, 94, 120. For concitata cp. §§73, 90, 114, 118: 2 §23: xii. 10, 26.
plena spiritus: see on §27: cp. §§16, 61, 104: 3 §22.—In ix. 3, 1 Quintilian observes that in his time plenus was generally used with the abl., while in Cicero it usually has the gen. He himself has both.
lenis et nitidi et compositi generis, i.e. the ‘middle’ style: see above, and on §121 (with quotation from Cic. Or. §21: cp. ib. §91 and §§95-96). Cp. xii. 10, 60: and 67 illud lene aut ascendit ad fortiora aut ad tenuiora summittitur. The constant antithesis of such words as vehemens, acer, &c. makes it probable that lenis is the right reading here, not levis (see Crit. Notes): cp. esp. Cic. de Or. ii. §211, where lenis atque summissa (oratio) is opposed to intenta ac vehemens (quae suscipitur ab oratore ad concitandos animos atque omni ratione flectendos): de Or. i. §255 sermonis lenitas ... vis et contentio: Brut. 317 alter remissus et lenis ... alter acer, verborum et actionis genere commotior: ‘lenis’ opposed to ‘vehemens’ de Or. ii. §§58, 200, 211, 216 and similarly to asper §64: ib. iii. 7, 28: Or. §127: Quint. iii. 8, 51: vi. 3, 87.
nitidi: see on §9.
compositi: see on §79 compositione. It means ‘harmonious,’ ‘rhythmical,’ referring to the careful arrangement of words, §§52, 66: 2 §1. This is a special feature of the ‘middle’ style: compositione aptus xii. 10, 60.—(Dosson renders ‘tranquille,’ unimpassioned,—a common use of the word, but perhaps not so appropriate here.)
de genere dicendi: see xii. 10, §§63-70, where he teaches that every variety of style in oratory has its place and use.
confirmare facultatem dicendi = i.e. acquire the firma facilitas of §1.
I:45 Facile est autem studiosis, qui sint his simillimi, iudicare, ne quisquam queratur omissos forte aliquos quos ipse valde probet; fateor enim plures legendos esse quam qui a me nominabuntur. Sed nunc genera ipsa lectionum, quae praecipue convenire intendentibus ut oratores fiant existimem, persequar.
47§ 45. paucos enim explains summatim, ‘for only a few.’ See Mayor on Iuv. x. 2: and cp. §§3, 8, 27, 31, 35, 42, 67, 87 for a similar limitation. See Crit. Notes.
studiosis, used absolutely (cp. studendum 3 §29), of students of literature, or (most commonly) of students of rhetoric. So i. pr. 23: ii. 10, 15: xii. 10, 62: and (with iuvenis) 3 §32: xii. 11, 31. Cp. Cic. de Opt. Gen. Or. §13 (possibly with dicendi): Plin. Ep. iii. 5, 2 (where see Mayor’s note): ib. iv. 13, 10: Tac. Dial. 21.
ne quisquam queratur: i.e. quod commemoro propterea, ne ... ‘I say this, lest,’ &c.—For qui a me, see Crit. Notes.
genera ipsa: here and in §104 genera = classes or kinds, as represented by their characteristic or typical writers.—“For ipsum in the sense of ‘merely’ cp. de Or. ii. §§109, 219, 306: ib. iii. §222: pro Balb. §33: ad Quint. Fratr. i. 3, 6: Val. Max. iii. 2, 7: Quint. ix. 2, 44: x. 1, 103.”—Reid, on Orator (Sandys), §181.
lectionum: ‘what is to be read.’ For the passive use cp. Sen. Tranq. i. 12 ubi lectio fortior erexit animum et aculeos 47 subdiderunt exempla nobilia. The plural occurs only here in Quintilian: elsewhere the word is singular, with an abstract meaning: but cp. §19.—Note the accumulation of verbs at the end of the sentence.