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.
14
ut 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.
16
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.
18
occurreret = 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.
19
non 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.
27
nec 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.
28
utique, ‘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.
utrimque, §131: 5 §20.
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.
30
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).
33
propriis, 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.
40
Socratici: §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...?’
43
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.
I:46
Igitur, ut Aratus ab Iove incipiendum putat, ita nos rite coepturi ab
Homero videmur. Hic enim, quem ad modum ex Oceano dicit ipse
omnium fluminum fontiumque cursus initium capere, omnibus
eloquentiae partibus exemplum et ortum dedit.
48
Hunc nemo in magnis rebus sublimitate, in parvis proprietate
superaverit. Idem laetus ac pressus, iucundus et gravis, tum copia tum
brevitate mirabilis, nec poetica modo, sed oratoria virtute
eminentissimus.
§ 46.
ab Iove incipiendum. Phaenom. 1 ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα. Cic. de Rep. i. §36 imitemur
(al. mitabor ergo) Aratum qui magnis de rebus dicere exordiens a Iove
incipiendum putat ... rite ab eo dicendi principium capiamus. So Theocr.
xvii. 1 Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα καὶ ες Δία λήγετε
Μοῖσαι—imitated by Vergil, Ecl. iii. 60 Ab Iove principium
musae: cp. Hor. Od. i. 12, 13 quid prius dicam solitis parentis
laudibus?—For Aratus see on §55
rite. Cp. §85 ut apud illos
(Graecos) Homerus sic apud nos Vergilius auspicatissimum dederit
exordium. “Such a commencement will be a sort of consecration of the
whole course; it is the solemn and auspicious order of
proceeding.”—Mayor.
coepturi ... videmur: sc. nobis: cp. §56: Cic. de Off. i. §§1, 2: ii. §5.—For the
participle instead of the fut. inf. cp. v. pr. §5 eius praecepta sic
optime divisuri videmur: ib. 7 §13: i. 2, 2: ii. 5, 3: vi. pr. §1
hanc optimam partem relicturus hereditatis videbar: ib. 4, 1: vii.
2, 42. Becher (Quaest. Gramm. p. 16) explains the usage by
assuming an ellipse, so that ‘rite coepturi ab Homero videmur’ = ‘nos ab
Homero coepturi rite coepisse videmur’; but this is unnecessary, and the
collocation of coepturi and coepisse in fact
impossible.
ab Homero. So in the schools i. 8, §5 ideoque optime
institutum est ut ab Homero atque Vergilio lectio inciperet: cp. Plin.
Ep. ii. 14, §2.
ex Oceano. Il. xxi. 195-197 Ὠκεανοῖο ἐξ οὗπερ πάντες ποταμοὶ καὶ πᾶσα
θάλασσα καὶ πᾶσαι κρῆναι καὶ φρείατα μακρὰ νάουσιν.—Dion.
Hal. uses the same image de Comp. Verb. 24 Κορυφὴ μὲν οὖν
ἁπάντων καὶ σκοπός, ἐξ οὗπερ πάντες ποταμοὶ καὶ πᾶσα θάλασσα καὶ πᾶσαι
κρῆναι δικαίως ἂν Ὅμηρος λέγοιτο. Cp. Ovid, Amor. iii. 9, 25
Aspice Maeoniden, a quo, ceu fonte perenni, Vatum Pieriis ora rigantur
aquis.
omnium fluminum fontiumque. For the reading see Crit. Notes: cp. §78.
omnibus eloquentiae partibus. Eustathius pr. ad Odys.
p. 1379 τὸν πάσης τῆς ἐν λόγοις τέχνης καθηγητήν, ἐξ οὗ
οἷα τινὸς ὠκεανοῦ πάντες ποταμοῖ καὶ πᾶσαι λογικῶν μεθόδων πηγαί:
Manilius, Astr. ii. 8 Cuiusque ex ore profusos Omnis posteritas latices
in carmina duxit Amnemque in tenues ausa est diducere rivos Unius
fecunda bonis. Cp. the references to Homer in the various departments of
literature dealt with by Quintilian: §§62,
65, 81, 85, 86. So xii.
11, 21 in quo (sc. Homero) nullius non artis aut opera perfecta aut
certe non dubia vestigia reperiuntur. Cic. Brut. §40 ornatus in dicendo
et plane orator. Homer’s influence on all later culture is a
common-place in ancient writers. Specially in regard to oratory, the
speeches of his three heroes were taken as types of three styles of
rhetoric: xii. 10, 64: ii. 17, 8. The eulogy here pronounced on him
is systematically arranged with reference to the essential elements of
practical oratory. After alluding to (1) the three kinds of oratory
(see notes on §44) in the terms
sublimitas, proprietas, pressus, laetus (§46), he passes (2) to the two classes of
practical speeches, judicial and deliberative (litium ac
consiliorum) (§47): and then refers to
(3) the mastery of the emotions (adfectus) (§48): (4) the constituent parts of a regular
forensic speech—(prooemium, genera probandi ac
refutandi, epilogus) (§§48, 49, 50):
(5) well-chosen terms, well-put thoughts, lively figures, and
everywhere clear arrangement (dispositio) (§50). “In this notice of Homer and in that of Cicero
(§105 sqq.) and of Seneca (§125 sqq.) Quintilian introduces more of detail than
in his brief remarks on the rest of the authors in his sketch. In
general his plan, as indicated above in §§44, 45, is to mention
the typical writers of different departments of literature best adapted
to the purposes of the orator or forensic advocate, and in a few words
to point out their characteristics with particular reference to their
fitness as exemplars of oratorical style, or φράσις. As this is his sole aim, so distinctly
stated, the strictures of some critics on the brevity and meagreness of
these notices show that they have failed to comprehend the purpose of
the author.”—Frieze.
48
sublimitate: §27: viii. 6,
§11.
proprietate. Here this word furnishes a sort of antithesis to
sublimitas, and means ‘suitability,’ ‘simplicity,’ ‘naturalness’:
cp. the definition given at viii. 2, 1 sua cuiusque rei appellatio. In
the same sense §64 sermone proprio, of an
easy and unaffected style. A different use of proprius will
be found at §6 (where see note): §29: 5 §8.
superaverit. For this subj. of modified assertion cp. on
fuerit §37.
laetus, ‘flowery,’ i.e. rich, ornate, exuberant. Cp. 2 §16: xii. 10, 80: xi.
1, 49. This use is akin to that by which the word is employed as a
metaphor to denote richness of vegetation: Verg. Georg. i. 1 and 74 (cp.
note on 5 §14): and
also of the sleek condition of well-fed cattle: Aen. iii. 220. Cp. Cic.
de Orat. iii. §155.—There is no need for Francius’s conj.
latus or Kraffert’s latior (cp. xii. 10, 23), or
Gustaffson’s elatus (4 §1).
pressus, pruned, trimmed down, ‘chaste,’ ‘concise’: see on §44.
iucundus et gravis, ‘sprightly and serious.’ So §119 iucundus et delectationi natus: and iucunditas
§§64, 82: 2 §23. Mayor cites Plin.
Ep. iv. 3, 2 nam severitatem istam pari iucunditate condire summaeque
gravitati tantum comitatis adiungere non minus difficile quam magnum
est: ib. v. 17, 2 (of Calpurnius Piso) excelsa depressis, exilia plenis,
severis iucunda mutabat.
tum ... tum: a usage (frequent in Cicero) which Quintilian
sought to revive. Wölfflin, Archiv f. Lexikogr. ii. p. 241.
I:47
Nam ut de laudibus, exhortationibus,
49
consolationibus taceam, nonne vel nonus liber, quo missa ad Achillen
legatio continetur, vel in primo inter duces illa contentio vel dictae
in secundo sententiae omnes litium ac consiliorum explicant artes?
§ 47.
Nam ut, &c. This sentence contains the proof of Homer’s
oratoria virtus: he furnishes models of the three recognised
styles of rhetoric, (1) genus demonstrativum (ἐπιδεικτικόν) or laudativum:
(2) genus deliberativum sive suasorium (συμβουλευτικόν): and (3) genus iudiciale
(δικανικόν). Cp.
iii. 4. Cope Arist. Rhet. introd. 118-123, and the notes on
13 §1: Cic. de Inv. i. §§7, 8, 12: ii. §§12, 13: Orat. Part.
§§10-14, 69-138: de Orat. i. §141 and Wilkins’ introd. p. 56.
In the words ut ... taceam, Quintilian passes lightly over the
main features of the γένος ἐπιδεικτικόν (set speeches aiming at
display—ἐπίδειξις, ‘ostentatio declamatoria’ iv. 3, 2),
in order to dwell more specially on the appropriateness of the study of
Homer with reference to forensic and legislative debates (litium ac
consiliorum). In doing so, he no doubt wishes to indicate the relative
importance of the three kinds for the practical training of the orator,
just as Cicero (Or. §§37-42) restricts his portraiture of the perfect
orator to the practical oratory of public life, i.e. the
deliberative and forensic branches, to the exclusion of the γένος ἐπιδεικτικόν.
laudibus. These belong distinctly to the epideictic branch,
for which see iii. 4, 12: Tac. Dial. 31 in laudationibus de honestate
disserimus. So ἔπαινοι
and ἐγκώμια: see
Volkmann, Rhet. §33. As examples of laudationes may be cited
Cicero’s Eulogy on Cato (Or. §35) and his sister Porcia (ad Att. xiii.
37, 3): and in Greek the Evagoras and Helenae Encomium of
Isocrates.
exhortationibus might in itself (like consolationibus:
cp. xi. 3, 153) be used of the genus deliberativum, which
included the suasoriae (Tac. Dial. 35)—‘consilium dedimus
Sullae privatus ut altum dormiret’, Iuv. i. 16; and in order to find a
reference in each of the three items enumerated to the three kinds of
rhetoric, Kraffert proposed to read consultationibus for
consolationibus (cp. controversiae Tac. Dial. 35), so that
laudibus should = laudativum genus, exhortationibus =
deliberativum, and consultationibus = iudiciale. But this is a
misunderstanding of Quintilian’s meaning. Exhortatio and
consolatio may easily enter into a λόγος ἐπιδεικτικός, a speech written for
display and not for delivery in public, just as suasio does in
the passage of the Orator referred to above: laudationum et
historiarum et ... suasionum ... reliquarumque scriptionum formam, quae
absunt a forensi contentione, eiusque totius generis, quod Graece ἐπιδεικτικόν nominatur ...
non complectar hoc tempore (§37). Cp. Quint. iii. 4, 14 an quisquam
negaverit Panegyricos ἐπιδεικτικούς esse? atqui formam suadendi habent,
&c.
49
legatio of Odysseus, Aias, and Phoenix: contentio
between Achilles and Agamemnon: dictae ... sententiae: the
council of war (Agamemnon, Ulysses, Nestor, Thersites) Il. ii.
40-394.—The selection from a poet of such passages as seemed to
bear most closely on the training of a student of rhetoric was a
familiar process in ancient schools.
litium ac consiliorum. These words contain a distinct
reference to the genus iudiciale and the genus
deliberativum, respectively,—to the exclusion of the genus
demonstrativum, i.e. the ‘epideictic’ or non-practical kind of
speeches. Cp. Cic. de Orat. i. §22 Graecos ... video ... seposuisse a
ceteris dictionibus eam partem dicendi quae in forensibus
disceptationibus iudiciorum aut deliberationum versaretur: cp. suasoriae
et controversiae Tac. Dial. 35. The prominence given to litium ac
consiliorum shows that Professor Mayor is wrong in seeing in
exhortationibus and consolationibus above a specific
reference to the ‘genus deliberativum’: that would involve a duplicate
enumeration.
artes: the ‘rules of art,’ or technical precepts of the
rhetoricians. See on §15 exempla potentiora
... ipsis quae traduntur artibus.
I:48
Adfectus quidem vel illos mites vel hos concitatos nemo erit tam
indoctus qui non in sua potestate hunc auctorem habuisse fateatur. Age
vero, non utriusque operis sui ingressu in paucissimis versibus legem
prooemiorum non dico servavit, sed constituit? Nam benevolum auditorem
invocatione dearum
50
quas praesidere vatibus creditum est, et intentum proposita rerum
magnitudine, et docilem summa celeriter comprehensa facit.
§ 48.
Adfectus quidem, &c. In the passage which Quintilian may have
had in view. Dionysius, after showing, as Quintilian has done, that
Homer is admirable in every respect, and not in one only, goes on to say
that he is a master in particular of the ἤθη and πάθη,
of μέγεθος (rerum
magnitudine §48) and of οἰκονομία (in dispositione totius
operis §50): τῆς μὲν οὖν Ὁμηρικῆς
ποιήσεως οὐ μίαν τινὰ τοῦ σώματος μοῖραν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκτύπωσαι τὸ σύμπαν, καὶ
λάβε ζῆλον ἠθῶν τε τῶν ἐκεῖ καὶ παθῶν καὶ μεγέθους, καὶ τῆς οἰκονομίας
καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν ἁπασῶν εἰς ἀληθῆ τὴν παρὰ σοὶ μίμησιν ἠλλαγμένων:
περὶ μιμήσεως 2 (Usener, p. 19). See what Quintilian says of
adfectus in vi. 2 §§8-10: esp. adfectus igitur concitatos
πάθος, mites atque
compositos ἦθος esse
dixerunt: and cp. §§73 and 101 below. Illos ... hos indicates what was a
well-known antithesis. The former (ἤθη) were habitual and characteristic conditions of
individual minds: the latter (πάθη) for the most part occasional (temporale vi.
2, 10), and more moving (perturbatio ib.).
tam ... qui: see on §41.
auctorem: ‘master,’ ‘teacher.’ Cp, on §24.
Age vero: ‘and further,’ a formula of transition generally
leading to something more important. Here it introduces the five
constituent parts of an oration, exordium (προοίμιον), narratio, probatio, refutatio (διήγησις, πίστις or
ἀπόδειξις or κατασκευή, λύσις or
ἀνασκευή §49), peroratio (ἐπίλογος). Cp. Cic. Or. §122 and de Orat. ii. §80 with
Sandys’ and Wilkins’ notes: de Inv. i. §19: Cornif. ad Herenn. i.
§4.
ingressu: see Crit.
Notes.
non dico ... sed. So 7 §2: cp. i. 10, 35.
legem prooemiorum ... constituit: iv. 1, 34 docilem sine dubio
et haec ipsa praestat attentio, sed et illud, si breviter et dilucide
summam rei, de qua cognoscere debeat, iudicaverimus: quod Homerus atque
Vergilius operum suorum principiis faciunt: ib. §42 ut sit in principiis
recta benevolentiae et attentionis postulatio: Hor. Ars Poet. 140.
benevolum ... intentum ... docilem. The orator’s first task is
to gain the good-will of his hearers, and to secure their attention. Cp.
iv. i, 5 causa principii (i.e. prooemii, exordii) nulla alia est quam ut
auditorem, quo sit nobis in ceteris partibus accommodatior, praeparemus.
Id fieri tribus maxime rebus inter auctores plurimos constat, si
benevolum attentum docilem fecerimus: iii. 5, 2: xi. 1, 6. Cic. de
Orat. ii. §115 and
50
322-3: Brut. §185. Mayor cites Dion. Hal. de Lysia 17 οὔτε γὰρ εὔνοιαν κινῆσαι
βουλόμενος, οὔτε προσοχήν, οὔτε εὐμάθειαν, ἀτυχήσειέ ποτε τοῦ
σκοποῦ.
invocatione dearum. Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, and Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα.
vatibus: ‘bards,’ instinctis divino spiritu vatibus xii. 10,
24: Verg. Eclog. ix. 32 me fecere poetam Pierides ... me quoque dicunt
vatem pastores. Tac. Dial. 9 Saleium nostrum, egregium poetam, vel si
hoc honorificentius est, praeclarissimum vatem. Poeta, which is
sometimes used slightingly of verse-makers (Cic. in Pis. 29 ut
assentatorem, ut poetam: Tusc. i. 2 quod in provinciam poetas duxisset),
had not the same solemn associations as vates.
creditum est: as at 4 §1: cp. ii. 15, 7. The
perfect is continuous = νενόμισται. The personal construction occurs at §125. For the impersonal cp. Tac. Ann. ii.
69. ‘Tacitus appears to prefer the personal construction when a single
personal subject is spoken of, and the impersonal in other cases, but
even this rule is by no means without exceptions’ Furneaux, Introd. to
Annals, p. 45.
intentum ... magnitudine. Cic. de Inv. i. §23 attentos autem
faciemus si demonstrabimus ea quae dicturi erimus magna nova
incredibilia esse.
docilem: ‘receptive’; iv. 1, 34 (cited above on legem
prooemiorum), ad Herenn. i. §7 dociles auditores habere poterimus,
si summam causae breviter exponemus.
comprehensa: cp. xi. 1, 51: ix. 3, 91 comprehensa breviter
sententia. So Lucr. vi. 1083 sed breviter paucis praestat comprendere
multa: Cic. de Orat. i. §34. So that celeriter here almost =
breviter.
I:49
Narrare vero quis brevius quam qui mortem nuntiat Patrocli, quis
significantius potest quam qui Curetum Aetolorumque proelium exponit?
Iam similitudines, amplificationes, exempla, digressus, signa rerum et
argumenta ceteraque genera probandi
51
ac refutandi sunt ita multa ut etiam qui de artibus scripserunt plurima
earum rerum testimonia ab hoc poeta petant.
§ 49.
narrare: iv. 2, 31 eam (narrationem) plerique scriptores ...
volunt esse lucidam, brevem, veri similem: Cic. de Inv. i. §28 brevis,
aperta, probabilis.
qui ... nuntiat: Antilochus, Il. xviii. 18. His κεῖται Πάτροκλος seems to have
become proverbial: Pliny Ep. iv. 11, 12.
significantius: ‘more graphically,’ or ‘with more force of
expression.’ Cp. significantia §121.
qui ... exponit, Phoenix, in Il. ix. 529 sqq.
iam, transitional particle, as often in Cicero: §§98, 111.
similitudines. v. 11, 1 tertium genus ex iis quae extrinsecus
adducuntur in causam Graeci vocant παράδειγμα, quo nomine et generaliter usi sunt in
omni similium adpositione et specialiter in iis quae rerum gestarum
auctoritate nituntur. Nostri fere similitudinem vocare maluerunt
quod ab illis παραβολή
dicitur, hoc alterum exemplum: viii. 3, 72 praeclare ad
inferendam rebus lucem repertae sunt similitudines (i.e. the use of
simile).
amplificationes = αὐξήσεις (Cic. Or. §125). The various rhetorical means
of expanding and developing an idea in expression are discussed in viii.
4, 3 under the heads of incrementum, comparatio,
ratiocinatio, and congeries. Ad Herenn. ii. 47
amplificatio est res quae per locum communem instigationis auditorum
causa sumitur.
exempla: v. 11, 6 potentissimum autem est inter ea quae sunt
huius generis exemplum, id est rei gestae aut ut gestae utilis ad
persuadendum id quod intenderis commemoratio: ib. 2 §1: Cic. de
Inv. i. §49. The stock illustration is that given in Aristotle’s
Rhetoric: “if a man has asked for a bodyguard, and the speaker wishes to
show that the aim is a tyranny, he may quote the ‘instances’ (παραδείγματα) of Dionysius
and Pisistratus.”
digressus, ‘episodes’: cp. on §33.
signa rerum et argumenta: the ‘evidence of material facts’ and
‘inferences.’ In the former we have sensible proof of things (e.g.
cruenta vestis, clamor, livor, &c. v. 9, 1); in the latter
logical deductions from circumstantial facts: v. 10, 11 cum sit
argumentum ratio probationem praestans, qua colligitur aliquid per
aliud, et quae quod est dubium per id quod dubium non est confirmat. To
distinguish signa from argumenta Quintilian says v. 9, 1
nec inveniuntur ab oratore
51
sed ad eam cum ipsa cansa deferuntur: and again, signa sive indubitata
sunt, non sunt argumenta, quia, ubi illa sunt, quaestio non est,
argumento autem nisi in re controversa locus esse non potest: sive dubia
non sunt argumenta, sed ipsa argumentis egent: Cic. de Inv. §48. For
argumenta see v. 10, 1 hoc ... nomine complectimur omnia quae
Graeci ἐνθυμήματα, ἐπιχειρήματα, ἀποδείξεις vocant: ib.
§§10-12.
ceteraque genera: see Crit. Notes.
probandi. After narratio comes probatio or (as
more commonly in Cicero, e.g. de Inv. i. §34) confirmatio (see on
5 §12). So ii. 17, 6
narrent, probent, refutent. Cp. iv. 2, 79 aut quid inter probationem et
narrationem interest, nisi quod narratio est probationis continua
propositio, rursus probatio narrationi congruens confirmatio? For the
probationes artificiales (ἔντεχνοι πίστεις) see v. chs. 8-12: for the
probationes inartificiales ἄτεχνοι πίστεις ib. chs. 1-7.
refutandi. For Quintilian’s definition see v. 13, 1 sq., and
cp. note on destructio 5 §12. Cicero often uses
refellere: de Orat. ii. §163 aut ad probandum aut ad refellendum.
For refutare cp. ib. §80 nostra confirmare argumentis ac
rationibus, deinde contraria refutare: §§203, 307, 312.—In de
Prov. Cons. §32 and de Har. Resp. §7 (conatum refutabo) the word is used
in the sense of repellere.
artibus, the ‘principles of rhetoric’: §§15 and 47.
testimonia, ‘illustrations,’ confirmatory examples. Cp. i.
8, 12. ‘Homerus’ in the index to most Greek and Latin authors will
supply evidence of the truth of Quintilian’s statement. Cic. ad Att. i.
16, 1 respondebo tibi ὕστερον πρότερον
Ὀμηρικῶς: Plin. Ep. iii. 9, 28 praepostere ... facit hoc Homerus
multique illius exemplo.
I:50
Nam epilogus quidem quis umquam poterit illis Priami rogantis Achillen
precibus aequari? Quid? In verbis, sententiis, figuris, dispositione
totius operis nonne humani ingenii modum excedit? ut magni sit virtutes
eius non aemulatione, quod fieri non
52
potest, sed intellectu sequi.
§ 50.
nam. See on §12: cp. §§9, 50.
epilogus = peroratio: see note on §107. The advocate will find many pathetic and
moving passages in Homer such as will be serviceable for his closing
appeal, which is generally addressed to the feelings and hearts of his
hearers; vii. 4, 19 epilogi omnes in eadem fere materia versari solent:
vi. 1, 1 eius (perorationis) duplex ratio est, posita aut in rebus aut
in adfectibus. Cicero uses conclusio as a synonym, de Inv. i.
§98, where he says it has three parts, enumeratio,
indignatio, and conquestio, defining the last (§106) as
oratio auditorum misericordiam captans. in hac primum animum auditoris
mitem et misericordem conficere oportet.—For Priam’s entreaty see
Il. xxiv. 486 sqq.
Quid? ... nonne: cp. Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. §119. So with
non §56 below, and 2 §25.
verbis, sententiis, figuris: xii. 9, 6 verborum quidem
dilectus, gravitas sententiarum, figurarum elegantia. For figurae
see on §12. Sententiis = γνώμαις §§52, 60, 68, 90, 102, 129, 130: 2 §17: 5 §4. See viii. 5, 1 sq.
consuetudo iam tenuit ut mente concepta sensus vocaremus, lumina autem
praecipueque in clausulis posita sententias ... antiquissimae sunt quae
proprie, quamvis omnibus idem nomen sit, sententiae vocantur, quas
Graeci γνώμας appellant:
utrumque autem nomen ex eo acceperunt quod similes sunt consiliis aut
decretis. est autem haec vox universalis, quae etiam citra complexum
causae possit esse laudabilis, &c.
dispositione = οἰκονομίᾳ: see on adfectus §48. Cp. 5 §14.
humani ingenii modum: §86 ut illi
naturae caelesti atque immortali cesserimus.
ut magni sit. There has been some controversy over this. The
text is best explained by supplying ingenii out of what
immediately precedes. Others supply viri, which is actually given
in some of the later MSS.: while others again take magni as a
gen. of price ‘of great value,’ or ‘worth much.’ Wrobel thinks it can
stand alone, as res magni est: i.e. it ‘takes a good deal’ even
to appreciate Homer’s excellences. Kiderlin supposes that
spiritus has fallen out, and compares i. 9, 6. See Crit. Notes.
52
intellectu sequi: ii. 5, 21 neque vim eorum adhuc intellectu
consequentur.
I:51
Verum hic omnes sine dubio et in omni genere eloquentiae procul a se
reliquit, epicos tamen praecipue, videlicet quia clarissima in materia
simili comparatio est.
§ 51.
sine dubio: see Introd. p. liii.
clarissima comparatio: ‘the contrast is most striking.’
I:52
Raro adsurgit Hesiodus magnaque pars eius in nominibus est
occupata, tamen utiles circa praecepta sententiae levitasque verborum et
compositionis probabilis, daturque ei palma in illo medio genere
dicendi.
§ 52.
adsurgit: cp. insurgit §96: 2 §23: i. 8, 5 sublimitate
heroi carminis animus adsurgat.—If Hesiod ‘seldom soars’ it is
because in him epic poetry has descended to the sphere of common life.
Homer was the bard of ‘warriors and noble men’ in the brave days of old.
Hesiod is the poet of the people, earning their daily bread in the
labour of the field.
pars eius: metonymy for pars carminum eius; cp. on §31 poetis.—Gemoll proposes to read
operis eius: cp. §§35 and 63.
in nominibus: specially in the Theogony: e.g. 226 sqq., 337 sqq.
circa: ‘in regard to’: 2 §14: 5 §§5, 6. Such uses of circa (like
περί, ἀμφί, c. acc.)
are very frequent in Quintilian and later writers: ii. 16, 14 circa quae omnia multus hominibus labor: iii. 11, 5 circa verba dissensio. Also with verbs Pr. §20 circa ima subsistere: vii. 1, 54 circa patrem quaerimus; and for ‘in the time of’ (like κατά) ii. 4, 41 circa Demetrium Phalerea. It is also used absolutely ix. 2, 45 omnia circa fere recta sunt: cp. 7 §16 below. For exx. from other writers see Hand, Turs. ii. pp. 66-8.
praecepta. Lindner translates ‘Lehrvorschriften.’ The reference is to Hesiod’s proverbial philosophy: ‘maxims of moral wisdom.’
sententiae: §50. See Duncker’s Greece, vol. i. p. 485: Cic. ad Fam. vi. 18, 5 Lepta suavissimus ediscat Hesiodum et habeat in ore τῆς δ᾽ ἀρετης ἱδρῶτα et cetera: Brut. §15 illud Hesiodium laudatur a doctis, quod eadem mensura reddere iubet qua acceperis, aut etiam cumulatiore, si possis. Cp. Crit. Notes.
levitas verborum et compositionis. Here Quintilian is again in exact agreement with Dion. Hal. περὶ μιμήσεως 2 (Usener, p. 19), Ἡσίοδος μὲν γὰρ ἐφρόντισεν ἡδονῆς καὶ ὀνομάτων λειότητος καὶ συνθέσεως ἐμμελοῦς. It is also to be noted that Dionysius names Hesiod, Antimachus, and Panyasis after Homer.—Mayor cites Demetrius περὶ ἑρμηνείας §176, who ‘calls that ὄνομα λεῖον which has many vowels,
as Αἴας,—opp. to τραχύ as βέβρωκε; ib. §299 he defines ἡ λειότης ἡ περὶ σύνθεσιν, such as the school of Isocrates cultivated, the painful avoidance of hiatus.’ Cic. de Orat. iii. §171 struere verba sic ut neve asper eorum concursus neve hiulcus sit, sed quodam modo coagmentatus et levis: cp. §172: Or. §20: Quint, ii. 5, 9 levis et quadrata ...
compositio: viii. 3, 6.—For compositio (the combination of words) see on §79: and cp.
§§44, 66, 118: 2 §13: 3 §9: viii. ch. 4, esp. §22 in
omni porro compositione tria sunt genera necessaria, ordo, iunctura,
numerus: ad Herenn. iv. §18 compositio est verborum constructio quae
facit omnes partes orationis aequabiliter perpolitas.
medio genere. See on §44. Dion.
Hal. de Comp. Verb. 23, p. 173 R. ἐποποιῶν μὲν οὖν ἔγωγε μάλιστα νομίζω τουτονὶ τὸν
χαρακτῆρα (sc. τὸν
ἀνθηρόν or medium Quint, xii. 10, 58) ἐπεξεργάσασθαι
Ἡσίοδον.—From the point of view of oratory, the medium
genus was the Rhodian school (xii. 10, 18), which stood between the
genus Atticum and Asianum, ‘quod velut medium esse atque
ex utroque mixtum volunt: neque enim Attice pressi neque Asiane sunt
abundantes’ (sc. Rhodii).
I:53
Contra in Antimacho vis
53
et gravitas et minime vulgare eloquendi genus habet laudem. Sed quamvis
ei secundas fere grammaticorum consensus deferat, et adfectibus et
iucunditate et dispositione et omnino arte deficitur, ut plane manifesto
appareat quanto sit aliud proximum esse, aliud secundum.
§ 53.
Antimachus of Colophon (or rather Claros by Colophon) flourished
about B.C. 405. He wrote a Thebaid, an
epic narrative of the wars of the Seven against Thebes and of the
Epigoni: Cic. Brut. §191. Fragments of his poems have been preserved. He
also edited a critical text of Homer. Antimachus served as a model for
Statius, and for the emperor Hadrian: Spartian §15 Catachanas libros
53
obscurissimos Antimachum imitando scripsit. For the criticism vis ...
laudem cp. Dion. Hal. l.c. Ἀντίμαχος δ᾽ εὐτονίας (ἐφρόντισεν) καὶ ἀγωνιστικῆς
τραχύτητος καὶ τοῦ συνήθους τῆς ἐξαλλαγῆς.
minime vulgare: viii. pr. §25: Arist. Poet. §22 λέξεως δὲ
ἀρετῆ σαφῆ καὶ μὴ ταπεινὴν εἶναι. An uncommon elevation of style
was evidently one of his characteristics.
habet laudem = ἔχει ἔπαινον. Xen. Anab. vii. 6, 33: Plin. xxxvii. §65:
xxxvi. §164.
secundas: sc. partes, after Homer: §58. So Cic. Or. §18 cui (Pericli) primae sine
controversia deferebantur: Brut. §84: ad Att. i. 17, 5. The phrase
is probably borrowed from the theatre: primas agere Brut. §308: Hor.
Sat. i. 9, 46. On the other hand primas ferre (Brut. §183) suggests
πρωτεῖα
φέρεσθαι. Tac. Ann. xiv. 21 eloquentiae primas nemo tulit, sed
victorem esse Caesarem pronuntiatum.
grammaticorum consensus. For this sense of grammatici
(‘literary critics,’ ‘professors of literature’ Hor. A. P. 78) cp.
ii. 1, 4 grammatice, quam in Latinum transferentes litteraturam
vocaverunt ... cum praeter rationem recte loquendi non parum alioqui
copiosam prope omnium maximarum artium scientiam amplexa sit.—The
phrase is one more indication of the second-hand character of
Quintilian’s criticism of Greek authors: cp. §27, where he specially refers to Theophrastus: §52 datur ei palma: §54 putant: §58 princeps
habetur and confessione plurimorum: §59
Aristarchi iudicio: §72 consensu omnium: §73 nemo dubitat. No doubt Quintilian and
Dionysius were both indebted to the lists of the Alexandrian
bibliographers.
adfectibus ... deficitur: ‘he fails in pathos’: §48. His lament for Lyde (nec tantum Clario Lyde
dilecta poetae Ovid, Tr. i. 6, 1) contained a catalogue of the
misfortunes of all the mythical heroes who had lost their loves. Λύδη καὶ
παχὺ γράμμα καὶ οὐ τόρον Callim. fr. 441.
iucunditate: see on §46.
dispositione: §50. Catull. 95, 10
At populus tumido gaudeat Antimacho.
arte: ‘poetical skill.’
plane: see Introd. p. lii.
proximum ... secundum. Cp. Verg. Aen. v. 320 proximus huic
longo sed proximus intervallo insequitur Salius. Secundus here
means much less than proximus (‘very near’): it only means ‘prior
tertio et reliquis.’ Cp. Corn. Nep. Pelop. iv. 2 haec fuit altera
persona Thebis sed tamen secunda ita ut proxima esset Epaminondae: §85 below, secundus ... est Vergilius, propior
tamen primo quam tertio, i.e. Vergil is proximus to Homer as well
as secundus.—This is the usual explanation, motived
probably by the recurrence of secundum so soon after
secundas above (cp. §§58, 72, 85). The difficulty
is that it is exactly the reverse of the well-known passage in Horace,
Car. i. 12, 18 nec viget quidquam simile (Iovi) aut secundum: proximos
illi tamen occupavit Pallas honores, where the idea is that Pallas is
what sportsmen call a ‘bad second,’—proximus meaning ‘next’
(however far apart), while secundus (sequor) implies contiguity.
The two passages could be reconciled by supposing that Quintilian has
negligently omitted to note the repetition secundas ... secundum,
and that he means ‘what a difference there is between a bad (proximum)
and a good second (secundum)’—between being second and
coming near the first. Cp. Cic. Brut. §173 Duobus igitur summis, Crasso
et Antonio, L. Philippus proximus accedebat, sed longo intervallo
tamen proximus; itaque eum, etsi nemo intercedebat qui se illi
anteferret, neque secundum tamen neque tertium dixerim. If Quintilian is
conscious of the recurrence of secundus, he may mean that the
Greek critics would have been nearer the truth if they had called
Antimachus next (proximus) rather than second to
Homer.—Cp. Crit. Notes.
I:54
Panyasin, ex utroque mixtum, putant in
54
eloquendo neutrius aequare virtutes, alterum tamen ab eo materia,
alterum disponendi ratione superari. Apollonius in ordinem a
grammaticis datum non venit, quia Aristarchus atque Aristophanes
poetarum iudices neminem sui temporis in numerum redegerunt; non tamen
contemnendum reddidit opus aequali quadam mediocritate.
§ 54.
Panyasin. Panyasis of Halicarnassus, the uncle of Herodotus,
wrote a Heracleia in fourteen books, fragments of which are quoted by
Stobaeus and
54
Athenaeus. He also composed six books of ‘Ionica,’—elegiac poems
on the Ionic migration. Suidas describes him as “an epic poet, who
fanned into a flame the smouldering embers of epic poetry, ὁς σβεσθεῖσαν
τὴν ποίησιν ἐπανήγαγε. Among the poets he is ranked after Homer;
according to some, also after Hesiod and Antimachus” (Mayor).
Panyasis flourished circ. B.C.
480.
ex utroque mixtum. Dion. Hal. l.c. Πανύασις δὲ τὰς
τ᾽ ἀμφοῖν ἀρετὰς ἠνέγκατο καὶ αὐτῶν (εἰσηνέγκατο καὶ αὐτός—Usener)
πραγματείᾳ (materia)
καὶ τῇ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν (αὐτὴν?) οἰκονομίᾳ διήνεγκεν.
putant. Mr. Nettleship (Journ. Phil. xviii. p. 259) notes
that Quintilian ‘while saying evidently much the same as Dionysius, says
not putat Dionysius but putant,’ showing that both
Dionysius and he followed the grammatici, i.e. probably
Aristarchus and Aristophanes. Cp. Usener, p. 110 sq., and see
Introd. p. xxxii.
alterum ... materia: Hesiod, the ‘singer of Helots.’ “The
labours of Herakles supply a more varied and attractive theme than the
pedigrees of a Theogony or the homely Tusser-like maxims of the ‘Works
and Days.’” Mayor.
Apollonius, surnamed Rhodius, because he was honoured with the
freedom of the city of Rhodes, after having retired thither from
Alexandria. Returning to Alexandria he succeeded Eratosthenes as
librarian. He was a pupil of Callimachus, and flourished circ. 220 B.C. For a sympathetic account of the
Argonautica see Mahaffy’s Greek Lit. vol. i. ch. ix. It was
rendered into Latin by Atacinus Varro (§87) and Valerius Flaccus
(§90).
ordinem a grammaticis datum. The lists of approved authors
drawn up by the critics of Alexandria constituted what they called κανόνες (indices, here
called ordo). See Usener, p. 134 sq. Cp. venire, redigi,
recipi in ordinem or numerum. So i. 4 §3 ut ... auctores alios in
ordinem redegerint alios omnino exemerint numero. See Introd. p. xxxv.
Aristarchus, of Samothrace, lived and taught at Alexandria
about the middle of the second cent. B.C. His name is inseparably associated with the
text of the Homeric poems: see Wolf’s Prolegomena, Lehrs de
Aristarchi Studiis Homericis (3rd edit. 1882), and Pierron’s Introd. to
Homer, p. xxxv. sq. It became a synonym for rigorous criticism:
Cic. ad Att. i. 14, 3 meis orationibus quarum tu Aristarchus es: Hor.
A. P. 450 fiet Aristarchus.—See Mahaffy’s Grk. Lit.
ch. iii. §32 sq.
Aristophanes, of Byzantium, was librarian at Alexandria before
Aristarchus, having succeeded Apollonius Rhodius. He died about 180
B.C. He revised his master Zenodotus’s
edition of Homer, and was the first to reject the end of the Odyssey
after xxiii. 296. He also left critical and exegetical commentaries on
the lyric and dramatic poets, and compiled argumenta or prefaces
to the individual plays.
poetarum iudices. This looks like a gloss: see Crit.
Notes.
in numerum redegerunt: cp. above on in ordinem a grammaticis
datum. The phrase represents the Greek ἐγκρίνειν.—With the exception of the official
eulogy of Domitian (§91), Quintilian followed this rule himself.
reddidit. Though it would be hard to find an exact parallel,
this use of reddo seems not impossible, especially in Quintilian.
It must be explained either by the analogy of the use in which land is
said to ‘produce’ the expected crop (cp. tibiae sonum reddunt xi.
3, 20), or less probably with reference to the use which describes
such physical processes as dum nimis imperat voci ... sanguinem reddidit
Plin. v. 19, 6. In Cicero such an expression could only have been
explained on the analogy of ‘placidum reddere’ for ‘placare’: cp. omnia
enim breviora reddet ordo et ratio et modus xii. 11, 13.—But see
Crit. Notes.
aequali quadam mediocritate: §86
aequalitate pensamus. No disparagement
55
is implied: the meaning is that Apollonius keeps pretty uniformly to the
genus medium (see on §44), neither
rising on the one hand to the genus grande nor on the other
descending to the genus subtile. So in the περὶ ὕψους 33 §4 he receives the
epithet ἄπτωτος. For this
sense of mediocritas cp. Gellius 7 §14 of Terence: Hor. Car.
ii. 10, 5.—“This is a fair criticism of the greatest of the
Alexandrine poems; it is learned and correct, tells the story of the
Argonauts with a due regard to proportion, and has many minor idyllic
beauties, but wants epic unity and inspiration.” Mayor.
I:55
Arati materia motu caret, ut
55
in qua nulla varietas, nullus adfectus, nulla persona, nulla cuiusquam
sit oratio; sufficit tamen operi cui se parem credidit. Admirabilis in
suo genere Theocritus, sed musa illa rustica et pastoralis non
forum modo, verum ipsam etiam urbem reformidat.
§ 55.
Arati. Aratus was born at Soli in Cilicia, and lived at the court
of Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedonia, circ. B.C. 270. At the request of the latter he composed
Φαινόμενα καὶ
Διοσημεῖα, a didactic epic on the heavenly bodies and
meteorology, which was translated into Latin verse by Cicero and
afterwards by Germanicus. Avienus also made a rendering of it, probably
late in the fourth century. See Teuffel §259 §6 and §394 §2,
and Munro on Lucr. v. 619 (cp. vol. ii. pp. 3, 9, 299: J. B.
Mayor on Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii. §104).
ut in qua. Törnebladh (‘de coniunctionum causalium apud Quint.
usu’) has collected ten additional examples of this construction in
Quint.,—ut qui i. 2, 19: x. 1,
57 and 74: xi. 3, 53 (sing.): v. 14, 28
(plur.): ut quae (sing.) iii. 5, 9: xii. 2, 20; ut quod
viii. 3, 12: 4, 16: ut quorum x. 2, 13. For ut cum see
on §76. It is incorrect to say that the
usage does not occur in Cicero: see Draeger, Hist. Syn. ii.
p. 509.
Theocritus lived at Syracuse (probably his native place) under
Hiero, and spent some time also at the court of Ptolemy Philadelphus,
where he wrote his 14th, 15th, and 17th idylls about the year 259 B.C. Vergil’s obligations to him in the
Eclogues are well known: cp. Sicelides Musae iv. 1: Arethusa x. 1.
musa illa rustica et pastoralis. Theocritus is the type of
real, as opposed to artificial, pastoral poetry. “He finds all things
delectable in the rural life: ‘sweet are the voices of the calves, and
sweet the heifer’s lowing; sweet plays the shepherd on the shepherd’s
pipe, and sweet is the echo.’ Even in courtly poems and in the
artificial hymns ... the memory of the joyful country life comes over
him. He praises Hiero, because Hiero is to restore peace to Syracuse,
and when peace returns, then ‘thousands of sheep fattened in the meadows
will bleat along the plain, and the kine, as they flock in crowds to the
stalls, will make the belated traveller hasten on his way.’” Mr. Lang’s
Introduction.
I:56
Audire videor undique congerentes nomina plurimorum poetarum. Quid?
Herculis acta non bene Pisandros? Nicandrum frustra
secuti Macer atque Vergilius? Quid?
56
Euphorionem transibimus? Quem nisi probasset Vergilius idem,
numquam certe ‘conditorum Chalcidico versu carminum’ fecisset in
Bucolicis mentionem. Quid? Horatius frustra Tyrtaeum Homero
subiungit?
§ 56.
videor: §46. Hor. Car. iii. 4, 6
audire magnos iam videor duces. So often videre videor: e.g. Cic.
in Catil. iv. §11.
congerentes: participle without subject: cp. solitos §7.
non: 2 §25.
Pisandros, of Cameirus in Rhodes, fl. circ. B.C. 645. He wrote a poem called Heracleia,
an epic narrative of the deeds of Hercules. He is often cited as an
authority for the various details of the legend, and was the first to
arm the hero with the club and lion’s skin.
Nicandrum, of Colophon, lived in the middle of the second
century B.C. at the court of Attalus
III, king of Pergamus. His didactic poem on the bites of venomous
animals (Θηριακὰ καὶ Ἀλεξιφάρμακα) is still extant. He also
wrote five books of ἑτεροιούμενα, on which Ovid drew for his
Metamorphoses.
frustra = temere, ‘without good reason’ (sine iusta causa):
cp. frustra ... subiungit below. Cicero, de Div. ii. 60 nec
frustra ac sine causa quid facere deo dignum est. So i. 10, 15 non
igitur frustra Plato civili viro ... necessariam musicen credidit: xii.
2, 5 Caesar has non nequiquam in the same sense B. G.
56
ii. 27, 5. In some cases it makes little difference whether the
rendering is ‘without good reason’ or ‘without good result,’ but here it
is very improbable that Quintilian is asking ‘whether Vergil can be
called an unsuccessful follower of Nicander,’ as Conington puts
it.
Macer: §87. Aemilius Macer of
Verona, the friend and contemporary of Vergil and Ovid, wrote the
‘Ornithogonia’ (‘bird-breeding’) and the ‘Theriaca,’ neither of which is
extant. Ovid, Trist. iv. 10, 43-4 Saepe suos volucres legit mihi
grandior aevo, Quaeque necet serpens, quae iuvet herba, Macer.
Vergilius. See Conington’s Vergil, vol. i. pp. 141 sqq.
None of the extant fragments of Nicander’s Γεωργικά justify the supposition that Vergil was
indebted to it for the Georgics; but he seems to have used his work on
bees (μελισσουργικά) and also the θηριακά above mentioned (Georg. iii. 415,
425). And Macrobius (Sat. v. 22) tells us that it was from Nicander that
Vergil borrowed the legend of Pan drawing the moon down after him to the
woods by a fleece of snow-white wool (Georg. iii. 391).
Euphorionem. Euphorion, of Chalcis in Euboea, was a
contemporary of Ptolemy Euergetes, and Antiochus the Great, circ. B.C. 220. Among other works he wrote a
Georgica, or poem on agriculture.
in Bucolicis. Verg. Ecl. x. 50 ibo et Chalcidico quae sunt
mihi condita versu Carmina pastoris Siculi modulabor avena, where the
speaker is the elegiac poet Cornelius Gallus (§93 note), who had introduced Euphorion to general
notice by translating some of his poems.
Tyrtaeum. Tyrtaeus was a native either of Athens or of
Aphidnae in Attica, and flourished at the time of the second Messenian
War (in the seventh century B.C.), in
which he is said to have contributed to the success of the Spartan arms
by his inspiring battle-songs. The reference to Horace is A. P. 401
Post hos (Orpheus and Amphion) insignis Homerus Tyrtaeusque mares animos
in Martia bella Versibus exacuit. Mayor cites passages from Dio Chrys.
where Homer and Tyrtaeus are coupled in the same way: cp. Plato, Laws
ix. 858 E, where Tyrtaeus is classed with Homer for his moral and
political influence.
I:57
Nec sane quisquam est tam procul a cognitione eorum remotus ut non
indicem certe ex bibliotheca sumptum transferre in libros suos possit.
Nec ignoro igitur quos transeo nec utique damno, ut qui dixerim esse in
omnibus utilitatis aliquid.
§ 57.
tam ... ut non: Plin. Ep. iii. 5, 10: cp. §41 and §48 above.
indicem, ‘a catalogue.’ Any one can at least (if he does not
know anything more about them) make out a list of such poets in some
library, and note the titles of their works in his compilation. For
index cp. Cic. Hortens., indicem tragicorum: Plin. Ep. iii. 5, 2
fungar indicis partibus: Seneca de Tranq. 9 §4 quo innumerabiles
libros et bibliothecas, quarum dominus vix tota vita indices perlegit?
Ep. 39 §2 sume in manus indicem philosophorum.—Non ...
certe almost = ne quidem.
nec utique, ‘nor by any means.’ See on §20: cp. §24.
Krüger3 renders by ‘unbedingt,’ ‘absolut,’ ‘jedenfalls.’
ut qui dixerim: see on §55.
I:58
Sed ad illos iam perfectis constitutisque viribus revertemur, quod in
cenis grandibus saepe
57
facimus, ut, cum optimis satiati sumus, varietas tamen nobis ex
vilioribus grata sit. Tunc et elegiam vacabit in manus sumere, cuius
princeps habetur Callimachus, secundas confessione plurimorum
Philetas occupavit.
§ 58.
perfectis constitutisque viribus, i.e. by the reading of the epic
poets who are most suited to our purpose: §59 optimis adsuescendum est, &c. So §131 (of Seneca) iam robustis et severiore genere
satis firmatis legendus: 5 §1 iam robustorum. Cp i. 8, 6
(of amatory elegy and hendecasyllabics) amoveantur, si fieri potest, si
minus, certe ad firmius aetatis robur reserventur: §12
robustiores.—For constitutis cp. ἐν τῇ καθεστηκυίᾳ ἡλικίᾳ:
xi. 3, 29.
revertemur: future used as a mild imperative. Cp. 7 §1.
quod ... ut. The dependent clause here gives the explanation
of quod facimus
57
in the form of a result, so that the construction is really pleonastic:
cp. 5 §18: 7 §11. In 3 §6 (where see note) ut
may have more of the idea of purpose.
tunc: when our taste is formed.
elegiam. Cp. i. 8, 6 quoted above. In A. P. 77 Horace
characterises the elegy as exiguus, i.e. it is slighter and less
dignified than the epic hexameter.
vacabit. This impersonal use (cp. §90) does not occur in Cicero. For the expression see
Introd. p. xxxii,
note.
Callimachus, of Cyrene, was the second director of the library
at Alexandria (§54): he flourished in the
middle of the 3rd century. Catullus, Propertius, and Ovid all imitated
his elegies. ‘The erotic elegy of Callimachus, Philetas, and their
school is chiefly interesting as having been the model of the Roman
elegy, which is one of the glories of Latin literature in the hands of
Ovid, Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius.’ Mahaffy.
secundas, §53.
Philetas of Cos, instructor of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 290
B.C. Like Callimachus he was a
literary critic as well as a poet, though probably less erudite than his
greater contemporary.
occupavit: Hor. Car. i. 12, 19 proximos illi tamen occupavit
Pallas honores.
I:59
Sed dum adsequimur illam firmam, ut dixi, facilitatem, optimis
adsuescendum est et multa magis quam multorum lectione formanda mens et
ducendus color. Itaque ex tribus receptis Aristarchi iudicio
scriptoribus
58
iamborum ad ἕξιν maxime
pertinebit unus Archilochus.
§ 59.
adsequimur, a present of endeavour: cp. §31. This gives a good contrast to iam perfectis
constitutisque viribus and tunc, so that there is no need for
Halm’s conjecture adsequamur, which is however generally adopted:
see Crit. Notes.
ut dixi: see on §1.
multa ... multorum: Plin. Ep. vii. 9 §15 tu memineris sui
cuiusque generis auctores diligenter eligere. Aiunt enim multum legendum
esse, non multa. Mayor compares also Seneca, Epist. 2 §§2-4.
ducendus color: Verg. Ecl. ix. 49 (astrum) quo duceret apricis
in collibus uva colorem. Ducere expresses the gradual process of
‘taking on’ a tinge; the agent in this process is here lectio, as
in Vergil it is the constellation. Color is here the ‘appropriate
tone’ which will vary with the subject or the occasion: xii. 10, 71 non
unus color prooemii, narrationis, argumentorum, egressionis,
perorationis servabitur. Sen. Ep. 108 §3 non novimus quosdam qui
multis apud philosophum annis persederint et ne colorem quidem duxerint:
ib. 71 §31. So Cicero, Orat. §42 educata huius (Isocratis)
nutrimentis eloquentia ipsa se postea colorat (‘gathers strength and
colour’): de Or. ii. 60 ut cum in sole ambulem ... fieri natura ... ut
colorer, sic, cum istos libros ... studiosius legerim, sentio illorum
tactu orationem meam quasi colorari. Cp. on §116: 6 §5: 7 §7.
ex tribus receptis: sc. in ordinem sive numerum: cp. §54. The other two are Simonides of Amorgos
(Semonides) and Hipponax of Ephesus. The former is best known by his
satire on women; the latter is often mentioned along with Archilochus:
his spirit reappears in the later comedy. The treatise of Dion. Hal. as
we have it now does not contain any criticism either of the elegiac or
the iambic poets. Proclus however has: Ἰάμβων ποιηταὶ Ἀρχίλοχός τε ἄριστος καὶ Σιμωνίδης καὶ
Ἱππῶναξ (p. 242, Westphal.)
Aristarchi iudicio: §52.
scriptoribus iamborum: see on §9.
Diomedes iii. p. 485 11 k (p. 18, Reiff.) iambus est carmen
maledicum plerumque trimetro versu et epodo sequente compositum ...
appellatum est autem παρὰ τὸ ἰαμβίζειν, quod est maledicere. Cuius carminis
praecipui scriptores apud Graecos Archilochus et Hipponax, apud Romanos
Lucilius et Catullus et Horatius et Bibaculus: cp. §96.—The word ἄαμβος is derived from ἰάπτω ‘I fling’ (Curt. Etym.5 537: E. T.
ii. 154), and denoted originally a ‘flinging,’ or a verse ‘flung at’ a
person: hence ἰαμβίζειν, ‘to lampoon.’ Cp. ix. 4, 141 aspera vero
et maledica ... etiam in carmine iambis grassantur. Hor. Car. i. 16, 2
criminosis ... iambis: ib.
58
22-5 me quoque pectoris Temptavit in dulci iuventa Fervor et in celeres
iambos Misit furentem.
ἕξιν: see on §1.
maxime unus. Unus is very commonly used in this way to
strengthen a superlative: Cic. in Verr. i. §1 quod unum ad invidiam
vestri ordinis ... sedandam maxime pertinebat: de Amic. §1 quem unum
nostrae civitatis ... praestantissimum audeo dicere: Verg. Aen. ii. 426
cadit et Rhipeus iustissimus unus. Becher thinks unus may merely
be set over against tribus: cp. pro Sest. §49 unus bis
rempublicam servavi.
Archilochus of Paros (circ. 686 B.C.) was a master of various forms of metrical
composition; but his distinctive characteristic was that alluded to
here,—the employment of the iambic trimeter as the vehicle of
satire, the sting of which, as wielded by him, is said to have driven
people into hanging themselves. Hor. A. P. 79 Archilochum proprio
rabies armavit iambo.
I:60
Summa in hoc vis elocutionis, cum validae tum breves vibrantesque
sententiae, plurimum sanguinis atque nervorum, adeo ut videatur
quibusdam, quod quoquam minor est, materiae esse, non ingenii
vitium.
§ 60.
vibrantes, of the quivering motion of a spear (cp. ‘shafts’ of
eloquence) thrown from a stout arm. Cic. Brut. §326 oratio incitata et
vibrans: Quint. xii. 9, 3 nec illis vibrantibus concitatisque sententiis
velut missilibus utetur: xi. 3, 120 sententias vibrantes digitis
iaculantur: ix. 4, 55 neque enim Demosthenis fulmina tanto opere
vibratura dicit nisi numeris contorta ferrentur: cp. note on 7 §7 below.
sanguinis atque nervorum. The former refers to the quality of
‘fulness’ or ‘richness’ of thought and style, the latter (often
lacerti) to ‘force’: sanguinis et virium 2 §12. Cp. tori and caro §33 (note) and §77.
For sanguis, cp. §115 verum
sanguinem: 2 §12. “In
good Latin nervus, like νεῦρον, always denotes sinews or tendons (literal or
metaphorical): cp. Celsus viii. 1 nervi quos τένοντας Graeci appellant; but sometimes appears to
include also what we call ‘nerves’: see Mayor on Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii.
55, 136. Galen (born 130 A.D.) was the
first to limit νεῦρον to
the meaning ‘nerve,’ in its present sense.” Wilkins on Hor. A. P.
26.
quibusdam: cp. §64 ut quidam ...
eum ... praeferant: §93 quosdam ita deditos
sibi adhuc habet amatores: §113 adeo ut
quibusdam etiam nimia videatur.
quod quoquam minor est. This clause is the subject of
videatur, and the meaning is: with such high qualities the fact
that Archilochus comes behind any (if that is the case) is to be
attributed to his materia, not to his ingenium, which
latter would give him a claim to a place alongside of the very foremost,
Homer: cp. §65 post Homerum tamen, quem ut
Achillen semper excipi par est. So §62
copiae vitium est: §74 praedictis minor.
For quod without id, cp. 4 §4. See Crit. Notes.
materia, ‘subject-matter,’ which was mainly personal character
and conduct in common life. Pind. Pyth. ii. 55 ψογερὸν
Ἀρχίλοχον βαρυλόγοις ἔχθεσιν πιαινόμενον. Hor. Ep. i. 19, 23
Parios ego primus iambos ostendi Latio, numeros animosque secutus
Archilochi non res et agentia verba Lycamben: 28 Temperat Archilochi
musam pede mascula Sappho Temperat Alcaeus sed rebus et ordine dispar,
Nec socerum quaerit quem versibus oblinat atris Nec sponsae laqueum
famoso carmine nectit. Val. Max. vi. 3, E. §1 tells us that the Spartans
banished the poems of Archilochus because of their corrupting influence
on the morals of their youth: Maximum poetam aut certe summo proximum
... carminum exilio multarunt. Velleius (i. 5, 1) brackets Homer
and Archilochus.
I:61
Novem vero lyricorum longe Pindarus
59
princeps spiritu magnificentia, sententiis figuris, beatissima rerum
verborumque copia et velut quodam eloquentiae flumine; propter quae
Horatius eum merito credidit nemini imitabilem.
§ 61.
novem ... lyricorum. Of the nine lyric poets not received into
the ‘canon’ those not mentioned here are Alcman, Sappho, Ibycus,
Anacreon, and Bacchylides. The four whom Quintilian names are the same
as those criticised by Dionysius, except that in the latter Simonides
comes next after Pindar.
Pindarus (521-441 B.C.,
though known to us now mainly by his Epinician Odes, essayed various
forms of the lyric art, most of which (except the skolia and encomia)
are pervaded by a deeply religious tone. He had the disadvantage of
belonging to the Medising city of
59
Thebes, but he spoke fearlessly out (after Salamis) for the liberators
of Greece; and both in the instinct for a national unity to which his
poems bear witness and in his ethical and religious beliefs he is
eminently representative of his age. He is the crowning glory of Greek
lyric poetry, and may be said in a sense to stand as it were midway
between the Homeric epos and the drama at Athens.
princeps, &c. Here Quintilian again coincides with
Dionysius (l.c.) Ζηλωτὸς δὲ καὶ Πίνδαρος ὀνομάτων καὶ νοημάτων εἵνεκα, καὶ
μεγαλοπρεπείας καὶ τόνου, καὶ περιουσίας ... καὶ σεμνότητος καὶ
γνωμολογίας καὶ ἐνεργείας καὶ σχηματισμῶν.
spiritu: see on §27: i. 8, 5. See
Crit. Notes.
magnificentia, μεγαλοπρέπεια iv. 2, 61. This is Pindar’s
distinctive quality: he is φιλάγλαος, ‘splendour-loving.’ Cp. magnificus §63: §84: iii. 8,
61: vi. 1, 52: xi. 3, 153.
sententiis: see on §50.
figuris: see on §12.
beatissima = fecundissima, uberrima: §109: 3 §22. Cp. Tac. Dial. 9: Hist.
iii. 66.
propter quae: see on §10, propter
quod.
Horatius: Car. iv. 2, 1 Pindarum quisquis studet aemulari ...
Monte decurrens velut amnis imbres Quem super notas aluere ripas, Fervet
immensusque ruit profundo Pindarus ore.
I:62
Stesichorum, quam sit ingenio validus, materiae quoque
ostendunt, maxima bella et clarissimos canentem duces et epici carminis
onera lyra sustinentem. Reddit enim personis in agendo simul loquendoque
debitam dignitatem, ac si tenuisset modum, videtur aemulari proximus
Homerum potuisse; sed
60
redundat atque effunditur, quod ut est reprehendendum, ita copiae vitium
est.
§ 62.
Stesichorus of Himera in Sicily (cir. 632-553 B.C.) is, like Simonides and Pindar, a
representative of the Dorian or choral lyric poetry of
Greece,—distinguished from the Aeolic (Alcaeus and Sappho) by its
greater complexity of structure and by the wider audience to which it
was addressed. His real name is said to have been Teisias: that by which
he is known he derived from the changes in the structure of the choral
ode which were introduced by him. He relieved the combination of strophe
and antistrophe by the epode, composed in a different manner, and
sung by the chorus standing before the altar,—thus affording it an
interval of rest after the movements to right and left. By Alexander the
Great, Homer and Stesichorus were classed together as the two poets
worthy to be studied by kings and conquerors.—With Quintilian’s
criticism cp. Dionysius l.c. (Usener, p. 20) Ὅρα δὲ καὶ Στησίχορον ἔν τε τοῖς ἑκατέρων τῶν
προειρημένων (Pindar and Simonides) πλεονεκτήμασι
κατορθοῦντα, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ὧν ἐκεῖνοι λείπονται κρατοῦντα‧ λέγω δὲ τῇ
μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ τῶν κατὰ τὰς ὑποθέσεις πραγμάτων, ἐν οἷς τὰ ἤθη καὶ τὰ
ἀξιώματα τῶν προσώπων τετήρηκεν.
ingenio validus: Cic. in Verr. ii. 35 Stesichori qui ... et
est et fuit tota Graecia summo propter ingenium honore et nomine.
materiae. The titles of his poems (Ἰλίου
Πέρσις, Γηρυονηίς, Ὀρέστεια, Νόστοι, Κέρβερος, Ἑλένα) show that
Stesichorus made extensive use of the old epic legends, which would
naturally fall more or less into a narrative form. Cp. Hor. Car. iv. 9,
8 Stesichorique graves Camenae. Ael. Hist. Anim xvii, 37 calls him σεμνός: and Pliny, Nat. Hist.
ii. 15, 54 has Stesichori et Pindari vatum sublimia ora.
si tenuisset ... videtur potuisse = potuit, ut videtur. Cp. on
§98. This use of the pf. indic. in such
clauses indicates the possibility (or duty, obligation, &c.) more
unconditionally than the plpf. subj. would do: e.g. Cic. in Vatin. §1
debuisti, Vatini, etiamsi falso venisses in suspicionem P. Sestio,
tamen mihi ignoscere: pro Mil. §31 quod si ita putasset, certe
optabilius Miloni fuit. &c. In the indirect there is a parallel
instance, de Off. i. §4 Platonem existimo ... si ... voluisset ...
potuisse dicere.
aemulari, with dat. §122.
Homerum. The author of the treatise ‘On the Sublime’ calls
Stesichorus Ὁμηρικώτατος, 13 §3: cp. Dio Chr. Or. ii.
p. 284
60
τοῦτό γε ἅπαντές φασιν οἱ Ἕλληνες, Στησίχορον Ὁμήρου
ζηλωτὴν γενέσθαι καὶ σφόδρα γε ἐοικέναι κατὰ τὴν ποίησιν.
redundat atque effunditur. Hermogenes, de Id. ii. 4
p. 322 Στησίχορος
σφόδρα ἡδὺς εἶναι δοκεῖ, διὰ τὸ πολλοῖς χρῆσθαι τοῖς ἐπιθέτοις.
Mayor quotes also Anth. Pal. vii. 75, 1-2 Στασίχορον, ζαπληθὲς ἀμετρήτου στόμα Μούσης,
ἐκτέρισεν Κατάνας αἰθαλόεν δάπεδον.
copiae vitium: ii. 4, 4 vitium utrumque, peius tamen illud
quod ex inopia quam quod ex copia venit: ib. 12 §4 effusus pro
copioso accipitur. Cp. Plin. Ep. i. 20 §§20-1; Cic. de Orat. ii.
§88.
I:63
Alcaeus in parte operis ‘aureo plectro’ merito donatur, qua
tyrannos insectatus multum etiam moribus confert, in eloquendo quoque
brevis et magnificus et diligens et plerumque oratori similis; sed et
lusit et in amores descendit, maioribus tamen aptior.
§ 63.
Alcaeus of Mitylene, cir. 600 B.C. The criticism of Dionysius is as
follows:—Ἀλκαίου δὲ
σκόπει τὸ μεγαλοφυὲς καὶ βραχὺ καὶ ἡδὺ μετά δεινότητος, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοὺς
σχηματισμοὺς καὶ τὴν σαφήνειαν, ὅσον αὐτῆς μὴ τῇ διαλέκτῳ τι κεκάκωται‧
καὶ πρὸ ἁπάντων τὸ τῶν πολιτικῶν πραγμάτων (ποιημάτων?) ἦθος. Πολλαχοῦ γοῦν τὸ μέτρον τις εἰ περιέλοι, ῥητορικὴν ἂν
εὕροι πολιτείαν (ῥητορείαν ... πολιτικήν Usener).
in parte: see on §9 in illis.
aureo plectro. ‘Plectrum’ is from πλήσσω (πλήκτρον), the ‘striking thing.’ Hor. Car. ii. 13, 26
Et te sonantem plenius aureo Alcaee plectro dura navis, Dura fugae mala,
dura belli.
tyrannos insectatus. These were Myrsilus and Pittacus, by the
latter of whom Alcaeus was driven into banishment. Those of his poems
which relate to the ten years’ civil war waged against the tyrants were
called στασιωτικά. At
some time during the rule of Pittacus, the party of Alcaeus attempted a
forcible return: Alcaeus was taken prisoner, but was at once set free by
the ruler whom he had so bitterly attacked. Cp. Hor. l.c. sed magis
Pugnas et exactos tyrannos Densum umeris bibit ore vulgus: id. i.
32, 5.
moribus: cp. ἦθος
in the passage quoted from Dionysius. Mayor appositely cites his saying
ἄνδρες
γὰρ πόλιος πύργος ἀρεύιοι.—For confert with dat. cp.
§27.
brevis ... magnificus ... oratori similis: cp. in regard to
each of these points the criticism of Dionysius.—For
diligens see Crit.
Notes.
lusit. For ludere, ‘to write sportively,’ to
‘trifle’,
cp. Hor. Car. iv. 9, 9 nec si quid olim lusit Anacreon delevit aetas: i.
32, 2: Verg. Georg. iv. 566 carmina qui lusi.
in amores descendit, in his ἐρωτικά and συμποτικά. Cic. Tusc. Disp. iv. §71 fortis vir in sua
republica cognitus quae de iuvenum amore scribit Alcaeus! Hor. Car. i.
32, 3 sqq. Age, dic Latinum, barbite, carmen, Lesbio primum modulate
civi, Qui ferox bello tamen inter arma, Sive iactatam religarat udo
Litore navim, Liberum et Musas Veneremque et illi Semper haerentem
puerum canebat, Et Lycum nigris oculis nigroque Crine decorum.
maioribus = rebus maioribus, ‘loftier themes.’ Introd. p. xlvii. Cp. i. pr. §5 ad
minora illa, sed quae si neglegas, non sit maioribus locus. Cp.
subitis 7 §30:
Nägelsbach §24, 2 (pp. 116-117).
I:64
Simonides, tenuis alioqui, sermone
61
proprio et iucunditate quadam commendari potest; praecipua tamen eius in
commovenda miseratione virtus, ut quidam in hac eum parte omnibus eius
operis auctoribus praeferant.
§ 64.
Simonides of Ceos (556-468), like Pindar, was fortunate in his
age, and the most considerable of his fragments that remain are full of
the fire kindled in his heart by the great national struggle with
Persia. He was a sort of cosmopolitan poet, living by turns in Athens,
at the court of the Aleuadae and Scopadae in Thessaly, Corinth, Sparta,
and Sicily. He cultivated friendly relations with Miltiades and
Themistocles, with Pausanias of Sparta, and (like Pindar and Aeschylus)
with Hiero of Syracuse. He was famed for his elegies, epigrams,
epinician odes, and every form of choral lyric poetry. His wisdom was
renowned: σοφὸς καὶ θεῖος ὁ ἀνήρ, Plat. Rep. 331 E, where some of his
gnomic utterances are discussed: cp. ib. 335 E: Protag.
316 D.—The criticism of Dionysius (l.c.) corresponds: Σιμωνίδου δὲ παρατήρει τὴν ἐκλογὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων
(sermone proprio), τῆς συνθέσεως τὴν
ἀκρίβειαν‧ πρὸς τούτοις, καθ᾽ ὃ βελτίων εὑρίσκεται καὶ Πινδάρου, τὸ
οἰκτίζεσθαι μὴ μεγαλοπρεπῶς, ἀλλὰ παθητικῶς.
61
tenuis, ‘simple,’ ‘natural’: cp. 2 §19 and §23 (tenuitas), also μὴ μεγαλοπρεπῶς quoted above.
Λεπτότης (‘terse
simplicity’) was a quality of Simonides’ style, especially in his
epigrams: ‘when least adorned adorned the most,’ Mayor. Cp. §44, note. Opposites are grandis,
copiosus, plenus.
alioqui = τὰ μὲν
ἄλλα, ‘for the rest’: cp. ceterum. See on 3 §13, and Introd. p. li.
sermone proprio: see on §46.
iucundidate: see on iucundus §46,
and cp. §§82, 96, 101, 110, 113: 2 §23. Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. §60
non enim poeta solum suavis, verum etiam ceteroqui doctus sapiensque
traditur. So Tac. Dial. 10 lyricorum iucunditatem.
miseratione. He was a master of pathos, especially in his
θρῆνοι: witness his
‘Lament of Danae,’ truly a ‘precious tender-hearted scroll of pure
Simonides.’ Generally his poems seem to have been tinged with the same
melancholy resignation as inspired the earlier writers of elegy: e.g.
fr. 39 ‘slight is the strength of men, and vain are all their cares, and
in their brief life trouble follows upon trouble; and death, which none
can shun, hangs over all,—in him both good and bad share equally.’
Catull. 38, 7 paulum quidlibet adlocutionis maestius lacrimis Simonidis:
Hor. Car. ii. 1, 37 sed ne relictis Musa procax iocis Ceae retractes
munera neniae.
quidam: see on putant §54.
in hac parte, ‘in this respect.’ Cp. i. 3, 17: 7 §19:
10 §4: ii. 17, 1: iii. 6, 64: xii. 1, 16. So ab (ex) hac
parte.
operis = generis, ‘class of poetry.’ See on §9: cp. §28 §85.
auctoribus, §24.
I:65
Antiqua comoedia cum sinceram illam sermonis Attici gratiam prope sola
retinet, tum facundissimae libertatis est et in insectandis vitiis
praecipua; plurimum tamen virium etiam in
62
ceteris partibus habet. Nam et grandis et elegans et venusta, et nescio
an ulla, post Homerum tamen, quem ut Achillen semper excipi par est, aut
similior sit oratoribus aut ad oratores faciendos aptior.
§ 65.
Quintilian now proceeds to deal with the Comic and Tragic Drama. In the
περὶ μιμήσεως of
Dionysius there is nothing about the Old Comedy, and very little that
corresponds with Quintilian in the sections on Aeschylus, Sophocles, and
Euripides. Both however pass from Euripides to Menander.
The Old Comedy (§§65-66) was closely
connected with the political life of the day, as may be seen from its
plots, and especially from the parabases. When the licence of
ridicule was curbed (by the laws μὴ κωμῳδεῖν and μὴ κωμῳδεῖν ὀνομαστί), it passed into what is
known as Middle Comedy (B.C. 404-338),
in which literary and speculative pursuits take the place of politics;
its atmosphere is not that of the agora, but of the literary academies
and schools of philosophy. In the New Comedy (§§69-72) the Chorus, which has been becoming less and
less important, is altogether abandoned, along with other features which
the Middle Comedy had in common with the Old. Its strength lies in its
delineation of social life and manners, and the materials on which it
relied were handed on to Rome, whence, through Plautus and Terence, they
were transmitted to Modern Comedy.
Quintilian takes no notice of what is termed Middle Comedy. Between
the Old and the New, Tragedy is made to find a place (§§66-67), the plays of Euripides affording a
transition to those of Menander.
antiqua comoedia: cp. veteris comoediae §§9 and 82. See Hor. Sat. i. 4, 2: 10, 17.
sinceram ... gratiam: §44 sana et
vere Attica: §100 illam solis concessam
Atticis venerem: §107 illa quae Attici
mirantur. The same phrase occurs xii. 10, 35. Of Roman Comedy he says
(i. 8, 8) in comoediis elegantia et quidam velut ἀττικισμός inveniri potest.
libertatis = παρρησίας §§94, 104. Hor. Sat. i. 4, 5 multa cum libertate
notabant: A. P. 281-284 successit vetus his comoedia, non sine
multa Laude; sed in vitium libertas excidit et vim Dignam lege regi; lex
est accepta chorusque Turpiter obticuit sublato iure nocendi. Isocr. de
Pace 14 ἐγὼ δ᾽ οἶδα μὲν ὅτι ... δημοκρατίας οὔσης οὐκ ἔστι
παρρησία πλὴν ... ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ τοῖς κωμῳδιδασκάλοις. Marc. Aurel.
xi. 6:)
62
ἡ ἀρχαία κωμῳδία ... παιδαγωγικὴν παρρησίαν
ἔχουσα.—For the reading see Crit. Notes.
grandis = ὑψηλός, §77: 2 §16 (where it is opposed to
tumidus). Hor. A. P. 93-4 Interdum tamen et vocem comoedia
tollit. Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore.
elegans: §§78, 87, 93, 99: 2 §19, ‘choice,’ ‘tasteful.’ Cp.
Cic. Brut. §272 verborum delectus elegans. In the treatise ad Herenn.
(iv. 12) elegantia stands along with compositio and
dignitas as a requisite of style: it includes Latinitas
(which avoids solecisms and barbarisms), and explanatio, which
uses verba usitata and propria.
venusta: vi. 3, 18 venustum esse quod cum venere quadam et
gratia dicatur apparet. Krüger sees in these adjj. a reference to the
main characteristics of the three different styles distinguished by
rhetoricians, §44.
nescio an ulla: see Crit. Notes.
ut Achillen: Il. ii. 673-4 Νιρεύς, ὃς κάλλιστος ἀνὴρ ὑπὸ Ἴλιον ἦλθε Τῶν ἄλλων
Δαναῶν μετ᾽ ἀμύμονα Πηλεΐωνα: ib. 768. Alcaeus fr. 63 Κρονίδα βασιλήας γένος Αἴαν, τὸν ἄριστον πεδ᾽
Ἀχιλλέα.
similior oratoribus: §63
plerumque oratori similis. The same description of the style of the Old
Comedy is given by one of the rhetoricians, Walz Rhet. Gr. v. 471 (cp.
vi. 164, vii. 932) λόγοειδεστέρα‧
τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν ἡ κωμικωτέρα καὶ προσβεβληκυῖα λόγῳ πεζῷ κατὰ
συνθήκην, ὅθεν τινὲς καὶ ῥητορικὴν ἔμμετρον τὴν κωμῳδίαν
ἐκόλεσαν. Students of oratory went to the comic actors for
pronuntiatio and gestus: i. 11, 1-14: 12, 14: xi. 3,
181.
I:66
Plures eius auctores, Aristophanes tamen et Eupolis
Cratinusque praecipui. Tragoedias primus in lucem
Aeschylus protulit, sublimis et gravis et grandiloquus
63
saepe usque ad vitium, sed rudis in plerisque et incompositus; propter
quod correctas eius fabulas in certamen deferre posterioribus poetis
Athenienses permiserunt, suntque eo modo multi coronati.
§ 66.
Aristophanes ... Eupolis ... Cratinus. The same representatives
of Old Comedy are named in Hor. Sat. i. 4, 1: cp. Persius i. 123 Audaci
quicumque adflate Cratino Iratum Eupolidem praegrandi cum sene palles.
So also Dionysius, Art. Rhet. viii. 11, p. 302 R (there is
nothing about Old Comedy in the ἀρχ. κρ.): ἡ δὲ κωμῳδία ὅτι
πολιτεύεται ἐν τοῖς δράμασι καὶ φιλοσοφεῖ, ἡ τῶν περὶ τὸν Κρατῖνον καὶ
Ἀριστοφάνην καὶ Εὔπολιν, τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν; Velleius i. 16, 3:
Diomed. p. 489 K (p. 9 Reiff.) ‘Ar. Eup. et Crat. qui vel principum
vitia sectati acerbissimas comoedias composuerunt.’ The chronological
order would be, Cratinus (519-422), Aristophanes (448-380), Eupolis
(446-410). In 424 B.C. Cratinus with
his Πυτίνη (‘Wine-flask’)
gained the victory over the Clouds of Aristophanes, while in the
previous year Eupolis is said to have helped his greater rival in the
composition of the Knights. Cratinus was the real originator of
political comedy: see the grammarian quoted by Meineke (i. p. 540):
‘he added a serious moral object to the mere amusement in comedy, by
reviling evil-doers (τοὺς κακῶς πράττοντας διαβάλλων, cp.
insectandis vitiis) and chastising them with his comedy, as it were with
a public scourge’: cp. Platon. de Com. p. 27 οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ὁ
Ἀριστοφάνης ἐπιτρέχειν τὴν χάριν τοῖς σκώμμασι ποιεῖ ... ἀλλ᾽ ἁπλῶς καὶ
κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν γυμνῇ κεφαλῇ τίθησι τὰς βλασφημίας κατὰ τῶν
ἁμαρτανόντων.
primus. Just as in treating of Comedy Quintilian passes over
the Megarian farces of Susarion, and such earlier writers as Chionides
and Magnes, so now he omits all mention of Pratinas, Choerilus, Thespis
and Phrynichus. Thespis introduced the actor (ὑποκριτής) and arranged that the dithyrambic
choruses should be interrupted by regular dialogue between the
coryphaeus and the actor. This step secured the entrance of the dramatic
element, as distinct from the lyric, and made subsequent development
easy. Aeschylus is however the real founder of tragedy: he introduced a
second actor and subordinated the choral song to the dialogue, besides
elaborating the machinery of the stage and the scenic decoration
employed thereon. Cp. Hor. A. P. 275 sqq.
sublimis, &c. Cp. Dionysius, l.c., (Usener, p. 21)
63
Ὁ δ᾽ οὖν Αἰσχυλος πρῶτος ὑψηλός τε καὶ τῆς
μεγαλοπρεπείας ἐχόμενος, καὶ ἠθῶν καὶ παθῶν τὸ πρέπον εἰδώς, καὶ τῇ
τροπικῇ καὶ τῇ κυρίᾳ λέξει διαφερόντως // κεκοσμημενος, πολλαχοῦ δὲ καὶ
αὐτος δημιουργὸς καὶ ποιητὴς ἰδίων ὀνομάτων καὶ πραγμάτων.
grandiloquus. Cp. Aristoph. Frogs 823 βρυχώμενος ἥσει ῥήματα
γομφοπαγῆ, 939 τὴν τέχνην ...
οἰδοῦσαν ὑπὸ κομπασμάτων καὶ ῥημάτων ἐπαχθων, 1004, ἀλλ᾽ ὦ πρῶτος τῶν Ἑλλήνων πυργώσας
ῥήματα σεμνὰ καὶ κοσμήσας τραγικὸν λῆρον κ.τ.λ. So too the
biographer of Aeschylus, κατὰ δὲ τὴν σύνθεσιν τῆς
ποιήσεως ζηλοῖ τὸ ἁδρὸν (see on §44)
ἀεὶ πλάσμα ... πᾶσι τοῖς δυναμένοις
ὄγκον τῇ φράσει περιθεῖναι χρώμενος. Hor. A. P. 280 ‘et
docuit magnumque loqui nitique cothurno.’
rudis et incompositus, ‘uncouth and inharmonious.’ Cp. horride
atque incomposite 2 §17: and note on
compositus §44. In the de Comp.
Verb. c. 22 Dionysius names Aeschylus along with Antimachus as a
representative of ἡ
αὐστηρὰ ἁρμονία (p. 150 R). For rudis cp. Hor. Sat.
i. 10, 66 rudis et Graecis intacti carminis auctor: for
incompositus see Introd. p. xlv. The author of the
treatise ‘On the Sublime’ qualifies his eulogy of Aeschylus by adding in
the same way that his plays were frequently unpolished, ill digested,
and rough in style.
in plerisque; neut. ‘in general,’ ‘for the most part.’ See
Intod. p. xlvii.
propter quod = quam ob rem: 7 §6: 5 §23. See on §10.
correctas ... permiserunt. This passage has been the subject
of much controversy. It seems inconsistent with our knowledge of the
statute passed by the orator Lycurgus (396) enacting that official
copies of the plays of the three great tragedians should be made, and
that no new performance of them should be allowed without a comparison
of the acting copy with the State MS. Perhaps Quintilian misunderstood
the phrase δράματα
διεσκευασμένα, commonly applied to plays revised by the author
himself with a view to a second representation. Madvig however (Kl.
philol. Schr. 1875, pp. 464-5) thinks it quite probable that
revised versions of plays of Aeschylus were allowed to be brought into
competition by later poets (say in the latter half of the 4th century),
when Aeschylus came in for criticism on the score of the defects alluded
to above (rudis et incompositus), but when, on the other hand,
creative genius was not so abundant. Krüger quotes Rohde (‘Scenica,’
Rhein. Mus. 1883, vol. 38, p. 289 sqq.), who sees in the words of
the scholiast on Arist. Ach. 10 (μόνου
αὐτοῦ τὰ δράματα ψηφίσματι κοινῷ καὶ μετὰ θάνατον ἐδιδάσκετο) a
compliment paid to Aeschylus alone, and consisting not merely in the
appreciative revival of his plays after his death, but in the fact that
they were reproduced not as παλαιαί but as new dramas, were provided afresh with
choruses by the archon, and were admitted to competition at the great
Dionysia (where only new tragedies were represented) if any one
appeared, who in the name of the dead poet asked to be provided with a
chorus. Cp. οὐκ ὀλίγας μετὰ τελευτὴν νίκας ἀπηνέγκατο, vit.
Acschyl. 68, Dindorf5.
I:67
Sed longe clarius inlustraverunt hoc opus Sophocles atque
Euripides, quorum in dispari dicendi via uter sit poeta melior
inter plurimos quaeritur. Idque ego sane, quoniam ad praesentem materiam
nihil pertinet, iniudicatum
64
relinquo. Illud quidem nemo non fateatur necesse est, iis qui se ad
agendum comparant utiliorem longe fore Euripiden.
§ 67.
longe, with the comp. vi. 4, 21: 3 §13. Cp. Verg. Aen. ix.
556: Vell. ii. 74, 1. In Cicero longe is used only with the
superl. (and with alius: pro Caec. i. §3) with the compar. he
generally has multo. Quintilian has also longe princeps §61: and multo with superl., e.g. i.
2, 24.
opus: sc. tragoedias in lucem proferendi. See on §9.
in dispari dicendi via. By Dionysius Euripides is made the
only representative of the ‘smooth’ style of composition (γλαφυρὰ ἁρμονία, de Comp.
Verb. c. 23), while Sophocles represents the middle style (κοινή or μέση ἁρμονία, ib. c. 24). This must of course be
kept distinct from the three λέξεις, or styles of diction, which he enumerates
in his essay on Demosthenes, c. 1-3.
quaeritur. Modern criticism has taken
64
up the issue, and Euripides has suffered from being identified with what
was practically a dramatic revolution. Schlegel depreciated him as
contrasting with Sophocles in many points. Mr. Jebb’s utterance will
stand: ‘no one is capable of feeling that Sophocles is supreme who does
not feel that Euripides is admirable’ (Att. Or. i. p. xcix).
utiliorem: so magis accedit oratorio generi immediately
below: Dionysius l.c. xi. (Usener, p. 22) κεκραμένη μεσότητι τῆς
λέξεως κέχρηται.
I:68
Namque is et sermone (quod ipsum reprehendunt quibus gravitas et
cothurnus et sonus Sophocli videtur esse sublimior) magis accedit
oratorio generi, et sententiis densus et in iis quae a sapientibus
tradita sunt paene ipsis par, et dicendo ac respondendo cuilibet eorum
qui fuerunt in foro diserti comparandus; in adfectibus vero cum omnibus
mirus, tum in iis qui in miseratione constant facile praecipuus.
§ 68.
quod ipsum reprehendunt: see Crit. Notes.
gravitas ... sublimior. The use of the comparative takes away
from the difficulty which commentators have found in the conjunction of
sublimior as a predicate with gravitas and
cothurnus as well as with sonus.—For
cothurnus, cp. Iuv. vi. 634 Fingimus haec, altum Satira sumente
cothurnum Scilicet et finem egressi legemque priorum Grande Sophocleo
carmen bacchamur hiatu.
sententiis densus: cp. sent. creber §102: and for densus (= pressus) §§73, 76. Euripides
had been a pupil of Anaxagoras. Something might be said in support of
Halm’s suggestion to insert est after densus.
sapientibus. In Euripides philosophy is brought on the stage,
and different theories are put forward in his plays as to such questions
as the moral government of the world, the opposition between freedom and
authority, the nature of punishment, the question of a future life,
&c.
dicendo ac respondendo. In this appears the influence of his
sophistic training. Euripides knew his audience, and in his plays the
characters indulge to the full all the tendencies that were fostered by
the sophistic habit of debate, while the chorus is as it were the jury
to which they address their arguments for and against a particular
proposition. Cp. Dion. l.c. πολὺς ἐν ταῖς ῥητορικαῖς εἰσαγωγαῖς.
adfectibus ... miseratione. Arist. Poet. 13 τραγικώτατός γε
τῶν ποιητῶν φαίνεται.
facile. So facile princeps Cic. ad Fam. vi. 10, 2:
facile primus pro Rosc. Amer. §15. For the reading see Crit. Notes.
I:69
Hunc admiratus maxime est, ut saepe testatur, et secutus, quamquam in
opere diverso, Menander, qui vel unus meo quidem iudicio
diligenter lectus ad cuncta quae praecipimus effingenda sufficiat: ita
omnem
65
vitae imaginem expressit, tanta in eo inveniendi copia et eloquendi
facultas, ita est omnibus rebus, personis, adfectibus accommodatus.
§ 69.
testatur: not in any extant fragment, though it is by no means
improbable that in some of his numerous plays Menander expressed an
admiration for the most popular tragedian of the day.
Menander, 342-290 B.C. At
his death the Athenians erected his tomb near the cenotaph of Euripides,
in token of the affectionate regard in which he had held the elder poet.
‘Euripides was the forerunner of the New Comedy; the poets of this
species admired him especially, and acknowledged him for their master.
Nay, so great is this affinity of tone and spirit between Euripides and
the poets of the New Comedy, that apothegms of Euripides have been
ascribed to Menander and vice versa. On the contrary, we find
among the fragments of Menander maxims of consolation which rise, in a
striking manner, even into the tragic tone.’ Schlegel. See Meineke Com.
Frag. iv. Epimetrum ii., Menander imitator Euripidis.
omnem vitae imaginem. Menander was the ‘mirror of life’: cp.
the exclamation of Aristophanes of Byzantium Ὦ Μένανδρε
καὶ βίε, πότερος ἄρ᾽ ὑμῶν πότερον ἐμιμήσατο; Manilius v. 470
Menander
65
Qui vitam ostendit vitae. So Cicero in a fragment of the De Republica
(or the Hortensius, Usener, p. 120): Comoedia est imitatio vitae,
speculum consuetudinis, et veritatis imago.—For this use of
exprimere, a figure from the plastic art, cp. Hor. A. P.
32-3.
tauta in eo, &c. Cp. with this Dionysius l.c. (Usener,
p. 22) τῶν δὲ κωμῳδῶν μιμητέον τὰς λεκτικὰς ἀρετὰς
ἁπάσας‧ εἰσὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασι καθαροὶ καὶ σαφεῖς, καὶ βραχεῖς καὶ
μεγαλοπρεπεῖς καὶ δεινοὶ καὶ ἠθικοί. Μενάνδρου δὲ καὶ τὸ πραγματικὸν
θεωρητέον.
I:70
Nec nihil profecto viderunt qui orationes, quae Charisi nomini
addicuntur, a Menandro scriptas putant. Sed mihi longe magis orator
probari in opere suo videtur, nisi forte aut illa iudicia, qua
Epitrepontes, Epicleros, Locroe habent, aut meditationes in Psophodee,
Nomothete, Hypobolimaeo non omnibus oratoriis numeris sunt
absolutae.
§ 70.
nihil viderunt: they have not ‘lacked discrimination.’ So, of
political insight or foresight, Cic. pro. Leg. Manil. §64 sin autem vos
plus in republica vidistis: Phil. ii. §39 cum me vidisse plus fateretur,
se speravisse meliora.
Charisius, an Athenian orator, a contemporary of Demosthenes,
who wrote speeches for others, in which he was thought to imitate
Lysias: he was in turn imitated by Hegesias, Cic. Brut. §286.
addicuntur: Aul. Gell. iii. 3. 13 istaec comoediae nomini eius
(Plauti) addicuntur.
in opere suo: ‘I consider that he proves his oratorical
ability far more in his own department’ (i.e. as a writer of
comedy)—than in those speeches of Charisius, supposing that he did
compose them. For opus see on §9: cp.
§67.
nisi forte, ironical: see on 5 §6: cp. 2 §8. The formula introduces ‘a
case which is in fact inadmissible, but is intended to suggest to
another person that he cannot differ from our opinion, without admitting
as true a thing which is improbable and absurd,’ Zumpt §526.
iudicia ... meditationes: ‘judicial pleadings,’ speeches
suitable to be made before a court—‘extra-judicial pleadings,’
law-school speeches, declamationes, μελέται. Cp. iv. 2, 29 cum sit declamatio forensium
actionum meditatio: 5 §14.—The names are those
of some of Menander’s comedies: The Trusting, The Heiress, The Locri,
The Timid Man, The Lawyer, The Changeling. The second and the last are
known to have been imitated by Caecilius. For the reading see Crit. Notes.
numeris: here as at §91 rather
than as at §4, where see note. Here it only
= partibus and has nothing to do with rhythmical composition. In
this sense it is found almost invariably with omnis: Varro apud
Aul. Gell. xiii. 11, 1 ipsum deinde convivium constat ex rebus quatuor,
et tum denique omnibus suis numeris absolutum est, &c.: Cic. de
N. D. ii. §37 mundum ... perfectum expletumque omnibus suis numeris
et partibus: de Div. i. §23 quod omnes habet in se numeros: de Off. iii.
§14: de Fin. iii. §24 omnes numeros virtutis continent: Sen. Ep.
71 §16 (veritas) habet numeros suos: plena est: 95 §5: Iuv.
vi. 249: Tac. Dial. 32 per omnes eloquentiae numeros isse. So viii. pr.
§1 per omnes numeros penitus cognoscere.
I:71
Ego tamen plus adhuc quiddam collaturum eum declamatoribus puto, quoniam
his necesse est secundum
66
condicionem controversiarum plures subire personas, patrum filiorum,
militum rusticorum, divitum pauperum, irascentium deprecantium, mitium
asperorum; in quibus omnibus mire custoditur ab hoc poeta decor.
§ 71.
plus adhuc quiddam = πλέον τι, or ἔτι καὶ πλέον. Adhuc with compar. (for
etiam) is post-Augustan: cp. §99.
Here quiddam (like τι)
is used to modify the force of the comparative. So adhuc melius ii. 4,
13: adhuc difficilior i. 5, 22: liberior adhuc disputatio vii. 2, 14:
and Tac. Germ. 29: Suet. Nero 10: Sen. Ep. 85, 24: Spalding on i.
5, 22.
declamatoribus. Students in the schools of rhetoric, and even
speakers of a more mature type, practised declamation at Rome in the
shape of oratorical compositions on questions which, though fictitious,
were yet akin to such as were argued in the law-courts. The youthful
aspirant learned in this way to speak in
66
public (Cic. de Orat. i. §149: Quint. ii. 10, 4: ib. §12), while the
orator had the opportunity of perfecting his articulation and delivery.
To these two aims the Greek terms μελέτη and φωνασκία correspond: for the first cp. de Orat. i.
§251, and for the second Brut. §310. It was in the age of the decadence
of Roman oratory that declamation came to be an end in itself. At first
it had been merely a preparatory exercise; now, under the head of
suasoriae (deliberativae materiae) and controversiae
(iudiciales materiae), finished oratorical compositions were produced,
graced by all the ornaments of genuine rhetoric. Cp. Tac. Dial. 35.
controversiarum. Cp. iv. 2, 97 evenit aliquando in
scholasticis controversiis quod in foro an possit accidere dubito: iii.
8, 51 praecipue declamatoribus considerandum est quid cuique personae
conveniat, qui parcissimas controversias ita dicunt ut advocati:
plerumque filii, parentes, divites, senes, asperi, lenes, avari, denique
superstitiosi, timidi, derisores fiunt, ut vix comoediarum actoribus
plures habitus in pronuntiando concipiendi sunt, quam his in
dicendo.
decor: see on §27.
I:72
Atque ille quidem omnibus eiusdem operis auctoribus abstulit nomen et
fulgore quodam suae claritatis tenebras obduxit. Tamen habent alii
quoque comici, si cum venia leguntur, quaedam quae possis decerpere, et
praecipue Philemon; qui ut prave sui temporis iudiciis Menandro
saepe praelatus est, ita consensu tamen omnium meruit credi
secundus.
§ 72.
eiusdem operis, i.e. Comedy, not the New Comedy only, as is shown
by alii comici below. Along with Menander and Philemon, Velleius
(i. 16, 3) and Diomedes (p. 489 K, p. 9 Reiff.) mention
Diphilus, on whom both Plautus and Terence drew for material.
nomen: see on §87.
fulgore ... obduxit: ‘has put them in the shade by the
brightness of his own glory.’
cum venia: cp. i. 5, 11: Ov. Tr. i. 1, 46 scriptaque cum venia
qualiacumque leget: ib. iv. 1, 104 cum venia facito, quisquis es, ista
legas. Kiderlin rightly holds this reading to be, not only possible, but
at least as appropriate to habent quaedam as any of the
conjectures (see Crit. Notes) by which it has been proposed to supplant
it. The severe critic will perhaps not find anything in the other
comic poets useful for the orator: but he who reads them with indulgence
(i.e. making allowance for their poverty as compared with Menander) will
find something. It is different with Menander, in whose plays even the
rigorous critic will find everything that the orator needs (§69).
Philemon, of Soli in Cilicia, 360-262. Fragments of fifty-six
of his ninety plays are extant. His Θησαυρός was used by Plautus for the
Trinummus, and his Ἔμπορος for the Mercator.
prave, ‘adverbium pro sententia.’ Cp. iii. 7, 18 quidam sicut
Menander iustiora posteriorum quam suae aetatis iudicia sunt consecuti:
Aul. Gell. 17, 1 Menander a Philemone nequaquam pari scriptore in
certaminibus comoediarum ... saepenumero vincebatur.—See Crit. Notes.
meruit credi = merito creditus est (or creditur). Cp. §74. Elsewhere mereo means little more than
adipisci, consequi: §§94, 116: vi. 4, 5 nec immerito quidam ...
meruerunt nomina patronorum. For the nomin. with inf. cp. §97 qui esse docti adfectant: Ov. Met. xiii. 314 esse
reus merui.
§73-75.
Greek Historians:—
In his Ἀρχαίων
κρίσις (or περὶ
μιμήσεως 2) Dionysius says nothing of Ephorus, Clitarchus,
or Timagenes, but draws a more elaborate parallel (Usener, p. 22)
between Herodotus and Thucydides, as well as between Philistus and
Xenophon: Theopompus he treats by himself. Illustrative
67
passages are found also in the Iudicium de Thucydide and the
Epistola ad Cn. Pompeium (de Praecip. Historicis). Cp. also
Cicero, de Orat. ii. §55 sq., where the order is Herodotus and
Thucydides, Philistus, Theopompus and Ephorus, Xenophon, Callisthenes,
and Timaeus. For the last two Quint. substitutes Clitarchus and
Timagenes. Cp. Introd. p. xxxiii.
I:73
Historiam multi scripsere praeclare, sed nemo dubitat longe
67
duos ceteris praeferendos, quorum diversa virtus laudem paene est parem
consecuta. Densus et brevis et semper instans sibi
68
Thucydides, dulcis et candidus et fusus Herodotus:
ille concitatis hic remissis adfectibus melior, ille contionibus hic
sermonibus, ille vi hic voluptate.
§ 73.
scripsere. In i. 5, 42 Quint. (speaking of the forms
scripsere and legere) says ‘evitandae asperitatis gratia
mollitum est ut apud veteres pro male mereris, male
merere,’ ib. §44 ‘quid? non Livius circa initia statim primi
libri, tenuere, inquit, arcem Sabini? et mox, in
adversum Romani subiere? sed quem potius ego quam M. Tullium
sequor, qui in Oratore, non reprehendo, inquit, scripsere;
scripserunt esse verius sentio.’ The passage referred to is Or.
§157. The termination -ere for -erunt is ‘found in some of
the earliest inscriptions, and is not uncommon in Plautus and Terence,
rare in Cicero and Caesar, but frequent in dactylic poets and
Livy,’ Roby, §578. Mr. Sandys also quotes Dr. Reid: ‘There is hardly a
sound example of -ere in the perfect in any really good MS. of
Cicero (see Neue, ii. 390 ff.); and similarly in the case of Caesar.’
Quintilian has permiserunt, §66 (where the
later MSS. give -ere): illustraverunt §67: viderunt §70:
indulsere §84. See Bonnell, Proleg. de
Gramm. Quint. p. xxvii.
nemo dubitat ... praeferendos. The acc. and inf. with
dubito (for the negative expression of doubt) is much the more
common construction in Quint. (cp. §81, 4 §2), though he also uses
quin and subj. (e.g. 2 §1: xii. 1, 42 ad hoc nemo
dubitabit quin ... magis e republica sit). A study of the instances
in Bonn. Lex. will fail to reveal any principle of difference: cp. vii.
6, 10 quis dubitaret quin ea voluntas fuisset testantis? with ix. 4, 68
quis enim dubitet unum sensum in hoc et unum spiritum esse? and i. 10,
12 atqui claros nomine sapientiae viros nemo dubitaverit studiosos
musices fuisse. The acc. with inf. belongs on the whole to the usage of
the Silver Age, being frequent in Livy, Nepos (e.g. his opening words
‘non dubito fore plerosque, Attice’), Tacitus, Pliny (e.g. praef. 18 nec
dubitamus multa esse), Pliny the Younger, Tacitus and Suetonius. It
never occurs in Caesar or Sallust, and in Cicero only in doubtful cases:
these are his youthful transl. of Xenophon’s Oeconomicus, where he has
(§6) quis enim dubitet nihil esse pulchrius in omni ratione vitae
dispositione atque ordine? ad Att. vii. 1, 2, where the passage may be
differently construed: de Fin. iii. 11, 38 nihil est enim de quo minus
dubitari possit quam et honesta expetenda per se et eodem modo turpia
per se esse fugienda. In the last instance the dependent clause ‘de quo
... possit’ = ‘certius’: and after ‘quam’ ‘illud’ may be supplied. On
the other hand cp. for quin Rep. i. 23: Brut. §71: de Sen. §31:
in Verr. ii. 1, 40. In young Cicero’s letter to Tiro (ad Fam. xvi.
21, 2) we find the acc. c. inf., though below (§7) he has the usual construction.
diversa virtus ... consecuta: as for example from Dionysius,
Epist. ad Cn. Pomp. pp. 775-7 R (Usener, p. 57 sq.).
Densus, §68. It is opposed to
fusus here as in §106 to
copiosus. Cp. Dionysius, p. 869 R, τό τε
πειρᾶσθαι δι᾽ ἐλαχίστων ὀνομάτων πλεῖστα σημαίνειν πράγματα, καὶ πολλὰ
συντιθέναι νοήματα εἰς ἕν.
brevis: Dion. Ἀρχ.
κρ. p. 425 R (Usener, pp. 22-3) καὶ τὸ μὲν σύντομόν ἐστι παρὰ Θουκυδίδῃ τὸ δ᾽ ἐναργὲς
παρ᾽ ἀμφοτέροις. This is what Dion. calls τὸ τάχος τῆς σημασίας
p. 793 R (Us. p. 82).
semper instans sibi, ‘ever pressing on.’ Thucydides does not
‘let things drift,’ but closely follows up each thought, making every
word tell, and even hurrying on to a new idea before he has fully
developed the previous one: Dion. l.c. καὶ ἔτι
προσδεχόμενόν τι τὸν ἀκροατὴν ἀκούσεσθαι καταλιπεῖν. Cp. xi. 3,
164 instandum quibusdam in partibus et densanda oratio. Hor. Ep. i. 2,
71 nec praecedentibus insto: cp. Sat. i. 10, 9 est brevitate opus ut
currat sententia neu se impediat verbis lassas onerantibus
aures.—Cicero’s references to Thucydides are similar: Orat. §40
Thucydides praefractior nec satis ut ita dicam rotundus; de Orat. ii.
§56 creber est rerum frequentia ... porro verbis est aptus et pressus;
ibid. §93 (with Pericles and Alcibiades) subtiles, acuti, breves,
sententiisque magis quam verbis abundantes; Brut. §29 grandes erant
verbis, crebri
68
sententiis, compressione rerum breves et ob eam ipsam causam interdum
subobscuri.
dulcis, §77, ‘pleasing,’ cp.
voluptate, below. So Cic. Hortens. ‘quid enim aut Herodoto dulcius aut
Thucydide gravius?’ Γλυκύτης is one of the essentials of ἡδεῖα λέξις in Dionysius (de Comp.
Verb. xi. p. 53 R). In the preceding chapter he has
distinguished between ἡ
ἡδονή and τὸ
καλόν, allowing the latter to Thucydides and both to Herodotus:
ἡ δὲ Ἡροδότου σύνθεσις ἀμφότερα
ταῦτα ἔχει‧ καὶ γὰρ ἡδεῖά ἐστι καὶ καλή. Hermogenes (ii.
p. 226) makes γλυκύτης the characteristic of Herodotus on account of
the attractiveness of his digressions.
candidus: §§113, 121: Cic. Orat. §53 elaborant alii in ... puro et
quasi quodam candido genere dicendi. So in ii. 5, 19 Quintilian
recommends young persons to read candidum quemque et maxime
expositum,—Livy rather than Sallust: of Livy he says elsewhere (§101) in narrando mirae iucunditatis
clarissimique candoris. The word denotes ‘clearness,’ ‘transparency’:
Dion. (Ἀρχ. κρ. R,
Us. p. 22) τῆς δὲ σαφηνείας
ἀναμφισβητήτως Ἡροδότῳ τὸ κατόρθωμα δέδοται. Such a quality of
style is the revelation of a man’s inner nature. It avoids all
adventitious ornament (ibid. τῷ ἀφελεῖ αὐτοφυεῖ ἀβασανίστῳ). Undue
brevitas often interferes with it (ἀσαφὲς γίγνεται τὸ βραχύ), so that
the word gives a partial antithesis to brevis.
fusus supplies the antithesis to densus as well as to
semper instans sibi. Cp. §77: ii. 3,
5 constricta an latius fusa oratio: ix. 4, 138 fusi ac fluentes. So
Cicero Orat. §39 alter sine ullis salebris quasi sedatus amnis fluit,
alter incitatior fertur.
concitatis ... remissis adfectibus. Dionysius, speaking of
τῶν ἠθων
τε καὶ παθῶν μίμησις (ad Cn. Pomp. p. 776 R, Us.
p. 58), says διῄρηνται τὴν ἀρετὴν
ταύτην οἱ συγγράφεις‧ Θουκυδίδης μὲν γὰρ τὰ πάθη δηλῶσαι κρείττων,
Ἡρόδοτος δὲ τὰ γ᾽ ἤθη παραστῆσαι δεινότερος. So (Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 425 R, Us.
p. 23) ἐν μέντοι τοῖς
ἠθικοῖς κρατεῖ Ἡρόδοτος, ἐν δὲ τοῖς παθητικοῖς ὁ Θουκυδίδης. Cp.
p. 793 R ὑπὲρ ἅπαντα δ᾽ αὐτοῦ ταῦτα τὸ παθητικόν.
For the distinction between τὸ ἠθικόν (the appeal to the moral sense) and τὸ παθητικόν (the appeal
to the emotions) see Cic. Orat. §128: Quint. vi. 2, §§8-10 Adfectus
igitur hos concitatos πάθος illos mites atque compositos ἦθος esse dixerunt, and sq. Cp. §§48 and 101 of
this book, and iii. 4, 15 concitandis componendisve adfectibus.
contionibus ... sermonibus: not the same antithesis as
narrando ... contionibus §101, q.v.
The opposition here is between the set harangues of Thucydides and the
less formal conversations of Herodotus. In Thucydides the only dialogues
are that between the Melians and the Athenians in Book V, and that
between Archidamus and the Plataeans in Book II, whereas Herodotus
‘seldom speaks where there is a fair pretext for making the characters
speak.... Even the longer speeches have usually the conversational tone
rather than the rhetorical,’ Jebb. (Hild is wrong in referring
sermonibus to τὸ πραγματικὸν εἶδος in Dionysius and contionibus
to τὸ λεκτικόν: Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 424 R,
Us. p. 22: cp. de Admir. Deor. vi. c. 51, p. 1112 R sq.).
The speeches of Thucydides are criticised by Dionysius (under the head
both of τὸ
πραγματικὸν μέρος and τὸ λεκτικόν) in his Iudicium, ch. 34,
p. 896 R sq. Herodotus on the other hand (ibid. 23 ad fin.),
οὐδὲ δημηγορίαις πολλαῖς ... οὐδ᾽ ἐναγωνίοις
κέχρηται λόγοις, οὐδ᾽ ἐν τῷ παθαίνειν καὶ δεινοποιεῖν τὰ πράγματα τὴν
ἀλκὴν ἔχει. Dionysius’s own opinion of the speeches in Thucydides
is seen from the last chapter of his Iudicium (pp. 950-2 R) to have
agreed with that of Cicero, Orator §30: ipsae illae contiones ita multas
habent obscuras abditasque sententias vix ut intellegantur. (Cp. Brutus
§287.) On this ground he says nihil ab eo transferri potest ad forensem
usum et publicum: cp. de Opt. Gen. 15, 16. Dionysius, however (ch. 34 ad
init.) indicates that some people thought differently: τῶν δημηγοριῶν ἐν αἷς οἴονταί τινες τὴν
ἄκραν τοῦ συγγραφέως εἶναι δύναμιν.—For the speeches see
Blass, Att. Bereds p. 231 sq.: and Jebb’s Essay in
Hellenica, esp. pp. 269-275.
vi ... voluptate. Many passages may be quoted from Dionysius
to illustrate this antithesis: Ἀχρ. κρ. p. 425 R, Usener p. 23
69
ῥώμῃ δὲ καὶ ἰσχύι καὶ τόνῳ καὶ τῷ περιττῷ καὶ
πολυσχηματίστῳ παρηυδοκίμησε Θουκυδίδης: ἡδονῇ δὲ καὶ πειθοῖ καὶ χάριτι
... μακρῷ διενεγκόντα τὸν Ἡρόδοτον εὑρίσκομεν: ad. Cn. Pomp. iii.
p. 776 R (Us. p. 58) ἕπονται ταύταις αἱ
τὴν ἰσχὺν καὶ τὸν τόνον καὶ τὰς ὁμοιοτρόπους δυνάμεις τῆς φράσεως ἀρεταὶ
περιέχουσαι. κρείττων ἐν ταύταις Ἡροδότου Θουκυδίδης. ἡδονὴν δὲ καὶ
πειθὼ καὶ τέρψιν καὶ τὰς ὁμοιογενεῖς ἀρετὰς εἰσφέρεται μακρῷ Θουκυδίδου
κρείττονας Ἡρόδοτος. So Iud. de Thucyd. 23, p. 866 R
πειθοῦς τε καὶ χαρίτων καὶ τῆς εἰς ἀκρὸν
ἡκούσης ἡδονῆς ἕνεκα. So in the Epist. ad Pomp. iii.
p. 767 R he praises Herodotus for his choice of subject (ὑπόθεσιν ... καλὴν καὶ κεχαρισμένην τοῖς
ἀναγνωσομένοις Us. p. 50), while Thucyd. was conscious ὅτι εἰς μὲν ἀκρόασιν ἧττον ἐπιτερπὴς ἡ γραφή ἐστι
(de Comp. Verb. p. 165 R). It is his variety (μεταβολὴ καὶ ποικίλον)
and the providing of agreeable ἀναπαύσεις that give Hdt. his charm: καὶ γὰρ τὸ βιβλίον ἢν
αὐτοῦ λάβωμεν μέχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης συλλαβῆς ἀγάμεθα καὶ ἀεὶ τὸ πλεῖον
ἐπιζητοῦμεν p. 772 R: while Thucydides is by comparison
ἀσαφὴς
καὶ δυσπαρακολούθητος p. 773 (Usener pp. 54-5).
For vi cp. also Orat. §39 alter incitatior fertur, et de bellicis
rebus canit etiam quodam modo bellicum: for voluptate Quint. ix. 4, 18
in Herodoto vero cum omnia, ut ego quidem sentio, leniter fluunt, tum
ipsa διάλεκτος habet
eam iucunditatem ut latentes in se numeros complexa videatur. And again
Dionysius, p. 777 R: Us. p. 59 διαφέρουσι δὲ κατὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα
ἀλλήλων ὅτι τὸ μὲν Ἡροδότου κάλλος ἱλαρόν ἐστι, φοβερὸν δὲ
(‘impressive’) τὸ
Θουκυδίδου.
I:74
Theopompus his proximus
69
ut in historia praedictis minor, ita oratori magis similis, ut qui,
antequam est ad hoc opus sollicitatus, diu fuerit orator.
Philistus quoque meretur qui turbae quamvis bonorum post eos
auctorum eximatur, imitator Thucydidi et ut multo infirmior,
70
ita aliquatenus lucidior. Ephorus, ut Isocrati visum,
calcaribus eget. Clitarchi probatur ingenium, fides
infamatur.
§ 74.
Theopompus, of Chios, born about 378 B.C. What Quint. says of him is not found in Dion.
though the latter gives him high praise in the Epist. ad Cn. Pomp.
p. 782 R sq. Cp. Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 428 sq. He wrote two histories, neither of
which has come down to us:—(1) Ἡλληνικά, containing in twelve books the sequel to
the Peloponnesian War, down to the battle of Knidos (B.C. 394); and (2) Φιλιππικά, a history of affairs under Philip, in
fifty-eight books. Dionysius says that he was the most distinguished of
all the pupils of Isocrates, whom he resembled in style (l.c.
p. 786). His master said that he needed the bit, as Ephorus (see
below) the spur: ii. 8, 11, cp. Brut. §204. Quint. says elsewhere (ix.
4, 35) that, like the followers of Isocrates in general, he was
unduly solicitous about avoiding the coalition of vowels: Orat. §151. In
the Brutus (§66) Cicero, comparing him with Philistus and Thucydides,
says officit Theopompus elatione atque altitudine orationis suae. His
fragments are collected in Müller’s Fragm. Histor. Graec. i.
pp. 278-333.
praedictis = antea, supra dictis. This is the usual meaning of
the word in Quint.: cp. tria quae praediximus iii. 6, 89: vicina
praedictae sed amplior virtus viii. 3, 83: ii. 4, 24: ix. 3, 66: Vell.
Pat. i. 4, 1: Suet. Aug. 90: Plin. N. H. lxxii. 16, 35. The
Ciceronian use appears only in ‘praedicta pernicies’ iii. 7, 19 (cp. iv.
2, 98): vii. 1, 30.
opus: §§31, 67, 69, 70, 96, 123: 2 §21. Cp. Introd. p. xliv.
sollicitatus by his master Isocrates. Cicero tells us this:
postea vero ex clarissima quasi rhetorum officina duo praestantes
ingenio, Theopompus et Ephorus, ab Isocrate magistro impulsi se ad
historiam contulerunt (de Orat. ii. §57).
Philistus, of Syracuse, born about B.C. 430. He was a contemporary of both the
Dionysii, by the elder of whom he was exiled and by the younger
recalled. He wrote a history of Sicily in two parts,—περὶ Σικελίας μὲν τὴν προτέραν ἐπιγραφων,
περὶ Διονυσίου δὲ τὴν ὑστέραν, Dion. ad Pomp. p 780 R (Us.
p. 61). Cicero says he liked the latter: me magis de Dionysio
delectat, ad Q. Fr. ii. 13, 4.—Müller, Fragm. Hist. Gr.
i. 185-192.
meretur qui: see on §72.
quamvis bonorum. For this brachyology cp. §94, and note: Livy ii. 54 §7 nec auctor quamvis
audaci facinori deerat: ibid. 51 §7. Cp. quamlibet properato 3 §19. Introd. p. liv.
eximatur: with ex or de in classical Latin, as
in the phrase ex reis eximi, aliquem de reis eximere (Cic.) For the dat.
cp. i. 4, 3 ut auctores alios omnino exemerint numero (opp. to in
ordinem redigere): Hor. Car. ii. 2, 19 Phraaten numero beatorum eximit
virtus. The same meaning appears in xii. 2, 28 quid ... eximat nos
opinionibus vulgi. In Tac. the dat. is common in the sense of to ‘free
from’: infamiae, morti, ignominiae.
70
What follows might be a condensation of Dion.’s criticism of Philistus:
Φίλιστος δὲ μιμητής
ἐστι Θουκυδίδου, ἔξω τοῦ ἤθους‧ ᾧ μὲν γὰρ ἐλεύθερον καὶ φρονήματος
μεστόν‧ τούτῳ δὲ θεραπευτικὸν τῶν τυράννων καὶ δοῦλον πλεονεξίας,
Ἀρχ. κρ.
p. 426 R, Us. p. 24: cp. ad Pomp. v. (p. 779 R)
Φίλιστος
δὲ Θουκυδίδη μᾶλλον <ἂν> δοξεῖεν ἐοικέναι, καὶ κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον
κοσμεῖσθαι τὸν χαρακτῆρα: Cic. de Orat. ii. 57 hunc (Thucydidem)
consecutus est Syracosius Philistus qui, cum Dionysii tyranni
familiarissimus esset, otium suum consumpsit in historia scribenda,
maximeque Thucydidem est, sicut mihi videtur, imitatus.
infirmior: Cic. ad Q. Fr. ii. 13, 4 Siculus ille (Philistus)
capitalis, creber, acutus, brevis, paene pusillus Thucydides: Dionysius,
Ἀρχ. κρ. (p.
427 R, Us. p. 25) μικρὸς δὲ ἐστι καὶ ταπεινὸς κομιδῇ ταῖς
ἐκφράσεσιν ... οὐδὲ ὁ λόγος τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ πράγματος ἐξισοῦται:
ad Pomp. (p. 781 R) μικρός τε περὶ πᾶσαν ἰδέαν ἐστὶ καὶ
ἐντελής κ.τ.λ.
aliquatenus with comparative, instead of the ablative
aliquanto, just as he uses longe and multum for
multo. So xi. 3, 97 aliquatenus liberius.
lucidior: τῆς δὲ λέξεως τὸ
μὲν γλωσσηματικὸν καὶ περίεργον οὐκ ἐζήλωκε Θουκυδίδου (Ἀρχ. κρ. l.c.). Yet Dionysius
blames him, even more than Thucyd., for ἀταξία τῆς οἰκονομίας, and adds that,
like Thucyd., δυσπαρακολούθητον τὴν
πραγματείαν τῇ συνχύσει τῶν εἰρημένων πεποίηκε.
Ephorus, of Cumae in Aeolis, was a contemporary of Philip and
Alexander: fl. cir. B.C. 340. He wrote
a Universal History down to his own times. Like Theopompus, he was a
pupil of Isocrates (de Orat. ii. §57: iii. §36: Orator §191); and
Dionysius mentions him, along with Theopompus, as the best example,
among historians, of ἡ γλαφυρὰ καὶ ἀνθηρὰ σύνθεσις, just as
Isocrates was among rhetoricians (de Comp. Verb. 23,
p. 173 R). Plutarch (Dion. 36) blames him for his sophistical
tendencies: Polybius (v. 33, 2) praises his wide knowledge.
calcaribus. Brutus §204 ut Isocratem in acerrimo ingenio
Theopompi et lenissimo Ephori dixisse traditum est, alteri se calcaria
adhibere, alteri frenos: de Orat. iii. 9, 36 quod dicebat Isocrates,
doctor singularis, se calcaribus in Ephoro contra autem in Theopompo
frenis uti solere: Hortensius: quid ... aut Philisto brevius aut
Theopompo acrius aut Ephoro mitius inveniri potest? Cp. also ad Att. vi.
1, 12: Quint, ii. 8, 11. So Suidas, ὁ γοῦν Ἰσοκράτης τὸν μὲν Θεόπομπον ἔφη χαλινοῦ δεῖσθαι,
τὸν δὲ Ἔφορον κέντρου (s.v. Ephorus). A similar story is
told of Plato, teacher of Aristotle and Xenocrates; and of Aristotle,
who in turn taught Theophrastus and Callisthenes.
Clitarchus, of Megara, a contemporary of Alexander the Great,
whom he accompanied on his expeditions, and whose history he wrote, in
twelve books, down to the battle of Ipsos. He also wrote a history of
the Persians before and after Xerxes. Cicero alludes (Brutus §42 sq.) to
his romantic turn: concessum est rhetoribus ementiri in historiis, ut
aliquid dicere possint argutius (‘more racily’); ut enim tu nunc de
Coriolano, sic Clitarchus, sic Stratocles de Themistocle finxit: de
Legg. i. 2.
I:75
Longo post intervallo temporis natus Timagenes vel hoc est ipso
probabilis, quod intermissam historias scribendi industriam nova
71
laude reparavit. Xenophon non excidit mihi, sed inter
philosophos reddendus est.
§ 75.
Timagenes belongs to the Augustan Age. He is said to have been a
native of Syria, who came to Rome after the capture of Alexandria (B.C. 55). At Rome he founded a school of
rhetoric, and wrote a history of Alexander the Great and his successors.
He was a friend of Asinius Pollio, and enjoyed the patronage of Augustus
till he incurred his censure for having spoken too boldly of the members
of the Imperial family: Hor. Ep. i. 19, 15. Quintilian might have filled
the gap (intervallo temporis) between Clitarchus and Timagenes
with such names as Timaeus (de Orat. ii. §58), Polybius, and Dionysius
himself.
historias scribendi: cp. §34 and
2 §7. The plural is
used of historical works, in the concrete: the sing. generally of
history as a mode of composition: §§31, 73, 74, 101, 102; 5 §15,—seldom as 1. 8, 20
cum historiae cuidam tanquam vanae repugnaret. Cp. Hor. Sat. i. 3, 89
amaras porrecto iugulo historias captivus ut audit: Car. ii. 12, 9
pedestribus dices historiis praelia Caesaris. Cicero has the sing. most
frequently: Brutus §287 si historiam scribere ... cogitatis: but the pl.
occurs ib. §42 (quoted above).
71
Xenophon §§33 and 82. By
Dionysius he is treated as a historian, and compared to Philistus. The
philosophic character of his work is however indicated in several
places: e.g. Ἀρχ. κρ.
(p. 426 R, Us. p. 24) ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τοῦ
πρέποντος τοῖς προσώποις πολλάκις ἐστοχάσατο, περιτιθεὶς ἀνδράσιν
ἰδιώταις καὶ βαρβάροις ἐσθ᾽ ὅτε λόγους φιλοσόφους: ad Cn. Pomp. 4
(p. 777) τὰς
ὑποθέσεις τῶν ἱστοριῶν ἐξελέξατο καλὰς καὶ μεγαλοπρεπεῖς καὶ ἀνδρὶ
φιλοσόφῳ προσηκούσας‧ τήν τε Κύρου παιδείαν, εἰκόνα βασιλέως ἀγαθοῦ καὶ
εὐδαίμονος κ.τ.λ.. Besides Cicero (de Orat. ii. §58 denique etiam
a philosophia profectus—Xenophon—scripsit historiam),
Diogenes Laertius and Dio Chrysostom speak of Xenophon as a philosopher,
all probably following an ancient authority. See Usener, p. 117,
and cp. Introd. p. xxxiii.
inter. Becher notes this use of the prep. ( = ‘among a number
of’) as occurring first in Livy. Cp. §116
ponendus inter praecipuos.
I:76
Sequitur oratorum ingens manus, ut cum decem simul Athenis
72
aetas una tulerit. Quorum longe princeps Demosthenes ac paene
lex orandi fuit: tanta vis in eo, tam densa omnia, ita quibusdam nervis
intenta sunt, tam nihil otiosum, is dicendi modus, ut nec quod desit in
eo nec quod redundet invenias.
ut cum. So utpote cum Cic. ad Att. v. 8, 1 and Asinius
Pollio ad Fam. x. 32, 4: quippe cum ad Att. x. 3. Bonn. Lex.
s.v. ut (B ad fin.) gives other exx. from Quintilian: e.g.
v. 10, 44: vi. 1, 51: 3, 9: ix. i, 15.
decem. This is not a round number (Hild), but indicates a
recognised group of orators, generally considered to have been canonised
by the critics of Alexandria, in the course of the last two centuries
before the Christian era. Brzoska, however, in a recent paper (De canone
decem oratorum Atticorum quaestiones—Vratislaviae, 1883) develops
with great probability the view of A. Reifferscheid, that the canon
originated, towards the end of the second cent. B.C., with the school of Pergamus, where special
attention was paid to rhetoric and grammar, which the Alexandrian
critics neglected in favour of poetry. The group consisted of Antiphon,
Andocides, Lysias, Isocrates, Isaeus, Demosthenes, Aeschines, Lycurgus,
Hyperides, and Dinarchus. Of these Quintilian omits here Antiphon,
Andocides, Isaeus, Lycurgus, and Dinarchus, though all except the
last-named are mentioned in xii. 10, §§21-22. Demetrius of Phalerum is
thrown in at the end, probably after Cicero (see on §80). The earliest reference to the Ten Orators as a
recognised group occurs in the title of a lost work by Caecilius of
Calacte,—περὶ χαρακτῆρος τῶν δέκα ῥητόρων. But though Caecilius
was a contemporary of Dionysius at Rome in the age of Augustus, and is
known to have been intimate with him (p. 777 R, Us. p. 59),
there is no reference in Dionysius’s writings to the canon thus adopted.
Mr. Jebb thinks he may have deliberately disregarded it as not helpful
for the purpose with which he wrote, viz. to establish a standard of
Greek prose by a study of the orators as representing tendencies in the
historical development of the art of oratory (Att. Or. Introd.
p. 67: but see Brzoska, pp. 20-22). Besides this decem
in Quintilian (cp. on ceteros §80),
the number ten is again recognised in the treatise on the Lives of the
Ten Orators, wrongly attributed to Plutarch, by Proclus (circ. 450 A.D.), and by Suidas (circ. 1100). In
selecting the five whom he treats here, Quintilian would seem to have
followed Dionysius. In the De Oratoribus Antiquis, 4 (p. 451 R), he
gives a chronological classification (κατὰ τὰς ἡλικίας), taking Lysias, Isocrates,
and Isaens to represent the first series (ἐκ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων: cp. his aetate Lysias
maior §74); and Demosthenes, Hyperides, and
Aeschines for the next. Elsewhere (de Din. Iud. i. p. 629 R)
he arrives at the same result on another principle, Lysias, Isocrates,
and Isaeus being classed as εὑρεταὶ ἰδίου χαρακτῆρος, while the other
three (Aeschines now taking the second place, as emphatically at
p. 1063 R) appear as τῶν εὑρημένων ἑτέροις τελειωταί.
Of Demosthenes, Hyperides, and Aeschines he says: ἡ γὰρ δὴ τελειοτάτη
ῥητορικὴ καὶ τὸ κράτος τῶν ἐναγωνίων λόγων ἐν τούτοις τοῖς ἀνδράσιν
ἔοικεν εἶναι, de Isaeo Iud. p. 629 R. The Ἀρχαίων κρίσις briefly
characterises, in the order in which they are named, Lysias, Isocrates,
Lycurgus, Demosthenes, Aeschines, and Hyperides; Quintilian omits
Lycurgus, the paragraph about whom in the Ἀρχ. κρ. is suspected by Claussen (p. 352). (Brzoska
notes that Quintilian’s list is identical with that given by Cicero de
Orat. iii. 28: and from a comparison of de Opt. Gen. Or. §7—qui
aut Attici numerantur aut dicunt
72
Attice—he infers that the canon was probably known also to
Cicero.) We have separate treatises by Dionysius on Lysias, Isocrates,
and Isaeus (the εὑρεταί), but those in which he discussed Demosthenes,
Hyperides, and Aeschines (the τελειωταί), are no longer extant. Instead we have the
first part of a longer work on Demosthenes (περὶ τῆς λεκτικῆς
Δημοσθένους δεινότητος pp. 953-1129 R), and a
bibliographical account of Dinarchus. Antiphon he only alludes to
briefly (de Isaeo, 20), in company with Thrasymachus, Polycrates, and
Critias: cp. Quint, iii. 1, 11.
Athenis. Dionysius groups the orators of whom he treats under
the title Ἀττικοί (p.
758 R, ἐν τῇ περὶ τῶν Ἀττικῶν πραγματείᾳ ῥητόρων).
Ammon (pp. 81-82) points out that Demetrius Magnes used the same
appellation (Dion. de Din. i. p. 631 R), and further suggests
that the Attic canon is already indicated in Cicero de Opt. Gen. Or. §13
ex quo intellegitur quoniam Graecorum oratorum praestantissimi sint ii
qui fuerunt Athenis, eorum autem princeps facile Demosthenes, hunc si
qui imitetur eum et attice dicturum et optime, ut quoniam attici
propositi sunt ad imitandum bene dicere id sit attice dicere.
aetas una, used here in a wide sense (as is shown by aetate
... maior, below). The period referred to extends from the latter
part of the 5th to the latter part of the 4th century B.C. So Cicero, Brut. §36 haec enim aetas effudit
hanc copiam: where he gives a place among the others to Demades.
longe princeps: Dion. de Thucyd. Iud. 55, p. 950 R,
Δημοσθένει ὃν ἁπάντων ῥητόρων
κράτιστον γεγενῆσθαι πειθόμεθα: cp. de vi Demosth. 33,
p. 1058 R sq.
vis, δεινότης.
Dion. de Thucyd. Iud. 53, p. 944 R τὴν ἐξεγείρουσαν τὰ πάθη
δεινότητα (of Demosthenes): cp. p. 865 τὸ ἐρρωμένον καὶ ἐναγώνιον πνεῦμα ἐξ ὧν ἡ καλουμένη γίγνεται
δεινότης: Cic. de Orat. iii. 28 vim Demosthenes habuit. For the
place of vis in oratory cp. Orat. §69, and de Orat. ii.
128-9.
densa: §§68, 73, 106. So
pressus: Introd. p. xliii. The Greek
equivalent is τὸ
πυκνόν, ἡ πυκνότης. Dionysius attributes his brevity and
conciseness, as well as his energy and power of rousing the emotions, to
the influence of Thucydides.
quibusdam, inserted on account of the metaphor, as often in
Cicero, e.g. de Orat. i. §9 procreatricem quandam et quasi parentem:
Brut. §46 eloquentia est bene constitutae civitatis quasi alumna
quaedam: and constantly in translating Greek words and phrases (cp. Reid
on Acad. i. 5, 20 and 24). For nervis intenta cp. εὔτονος τῇ φράσει, Ἀρχ.
κρ. p. 433 R: also ix. 4, 9, and note on 1 §60.
tam nihil otiosum, i.e. everything is so much to the point.
Cp. i. 1, 35 otiosas sententias, of copy-book headings that have no
point: viii. 3, 89 ἐνέργεια ... cuius propria sit virtus non esse quae
dicuntur otiosa: ibid. 4, 16: ii. 5, 7: Sen. Epist. 100, 11 exibunt
multa nec ferient et interdum otiosa praeterlabetur oratio. In Tac.
Dial. §§18 and 22 the meaning is ‘spiritless,’ ‘wearisome’ (cp.
lentitudo and tepor §21). In Quintilian there is also the idea of
‘superfluous,’ ‘unprofitable’: i, 12, 18 otiosis sermonibus, useless
gossip: ii. 10, 8: viii. 3, 55 quotiens otiosum fuerit et supererit: ix.
4, 58 adicere dum non otiosa et detrahere dum non necessaria. Cp.
Introd. p. xlv.
is dicendi modus: Cic. Orat. §23 hoc nec gravior exstitit
quisquam nec callidior nec temperatior.
quod desit: a reminiscence of Cic. Brut. §35 nam plane quidem
perfectum et cui nihil admodum desit Demosthenem facile dixeris.
Quintilian qualifies his eulogy in comparing him with Cicero §107 below: cp. xii. 12, 26, and Cic. Orat. §§90 and
104. See Crit. Notes.
I:77
Plenior Aeschines et magis fusus et grandiori similis, quo
73
minus strictus est; carnis tamen plus habet, minus lacertorum. Dulcis in
primis et acutus Hyperides, sed minoribus causis—
74
ut non dixerim utilior— magis par.
§ 77.
Plenior ... magis fusus: opposed to tam densa omnia, above.
Aeschines had not the terseness and intensity of Demosthenes, but was
not without a certain fluent vehemence of his own. Cicero mentions
levitas and splendor verborum as characteristics of
Aeschines,
73
Orat. §110; and Dionysius, Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 434 R, has ἀτονώτερος μὲν τοῦ Δημοσθένους, ἐν δὲ τῇ λέξεων ἐκλογῇ
πομπικός ἅμα καὶ δεινός ... καὶ σφόδρα ἐνεργὴς καὶ βαρὺς καὶ αὐξητικὸς
καὶ πικρὸς καὶ ... σφοδρός: Cic. de Orat. iii. §128 sonitum
Aeschines habuit. For a comparison between the two great rivals v.
Jebb’s Alt. Or. ii. 393 sq. See also Cicero’s de Optim. Gen. Orat.,
which was written as a preface to his translation of Aeschines’s speech
against Ctesiphon and Demosthenes on the Crown.
grandiori is certainly not neuter (sc. generi dicendi) as
Krüger (2nd edition), who compares the plural maioribus §63 (where however we have aptior, not
similior), and ii. 11, 2, which is quite different: moreover
Quintilian never uses grandius by itself to designate the more
sublime style, and with such an expression as ‘grandiori generi dicendi’
he would have employed magis accedit (§68) or propior est (§78) rather than similis. If the text is
allowed to stand grandiori must be masc. (just like
strictus) and be used in a good sense: e.g. Cic. de Opt. Gen. Or.
§9 imitemur Lysiam, et eius quidem tenuitatem potissimum: est enim
multis in locis grandior: Brut. §203 fuit Sulpicius ... grandis et ut
ita dicam tragicus orator: Orat. §119 quo grandior sit et quodam modo
excelsior. Similis gets the force of a comparative from
magis preceding, and minus following it (cp. §93 tersus atque elegans maxime: xii. 6, 6 a quam
maxime facili ac favorabili causa) so that we may render ‘he has an
appearance of greater elevation in proportion as his style is less
compressed.’ See Crit.
Notes.
minus strictus = remissior, cp. ἀτονώτερος above. Instead of being nervis
intenta (εὔτονος) his
style was characterised as προπετής (‘headlong’) by the critics.
carnis ... lacertorum. The style of Aeschines is deficient in
compact force: it is often overcharged and redundant (cp. πομπικός and αὐξητικός above). So also Dem. Or. 19 (of
Aeschines) §133 σεμνολόγος: §255 σεμνολογεῖ. For lacerti cp. Brut. §64 in
Lysia saepe sunt etiam lacerti sic ut fieri nihil possit valentius.
Hyperides, one of the leading orators of the patriotic party,
was put to death by order of Antipater, B.C. 322, just seven days before the death of
Demosthenes, with whom he had generally acted, though differences arose
between them in later life.
Dulcis: §73. So Dion. Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 435 R χάριτος μεστός: cp. de
Din. Iud. 8, p. 645 R, where he says that the imitators of
Hyperides, by failing to reproduce his exquisite charm, as well as his
force, became dry and rough in style: διαμαρτόντες τῆς χάριτος ἐκείνου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης δυνάμεως
αὐχμηροί τινες ἐγένοντο.
acutus. Cic. de Orat. iii. §28 acumen Hyperides ... habuit:
Orat. §110 nihil argutiis et acumine Hyperidi (cedit Demosthenes).
Acumen (§§106, 114) is the quality required for the tenue
genus which aims at instructing (Cic. de Orat. ii. §129: Quint, xii.
10, 59): it appeals mainly to the intellect. Here therefore
acutus means ‘pointed,’ ‘direct’: cp. xii. 10, 39, Orat. §§20,
84, 98, where it is used of style. Subtilis and acutus
sometimes go together as characteristics of the plain style: so in 5 §2 subtilitas is
ascribed to Hyperides. On the other hand acutus is used (§84 below) expressly of power of thought as opposed
to power of expression: cp. too §83
inventionem acumine opposed to eloquendi suavitate, and §81 acumine disserendi ... eloquendi facultate. So it
may be that Quintilian uses acutus here to represent Dionysius:
εὔστοχος μὲν ... καὶ συνέσει πολλῇ κεχορήγηται (p.
434 R).
minoribus causis. Cp. with this the criticisms of Longinus,
Hermogenes, and others in Blass’s preface to the Teubner text. The
author of περὶ ὕψους
says:—“He knows when it is proper to speak with simplicity, and
does not, like Demosthenes, continue the same key throughout,” §34, and
below: “Nevertheless all the beauties of Hyperides, however numerous,
cannot make him sublime. He never exhibits strong feeling, has little
energy, rouses no emotion” (Havell). His style is “that of a newer
school than Demosthenes—of the school of Menander and the New
Comedy, to whom long periods and elaborate structure seemed tedious, and
who affected short and terse statement, clear and epigrammatic points,
smart raillery, and an easy and careless tone even in serious debate.
Hence the critics, such as Quintilian, think him more suited to slight
subjects.” Mahaffy, ii. p. 377. Dionysius says εὔστοχος μὲν
σπάνιον δ᾽ αὐξητικός: he hits his mark neatly, but
74
seldom lends grandeur to his theme by amplification. His Funeral Oration
is an exception: here he has ‘thoroughly caught from Isocrates the tone
of elevated panegyric’ (Jebb). His reputation as a wit and an easy-going
member of society may have helped to produce on casual students the
impression Quintilian wishes to convey: ‘unquestionably one great secret
of his success as a speaker,’ says Mr. Jebb, ‘was his art of making a
lively Athenian audience feel that here was no austere student of
Thucydides, but one who was in bright sympathy with the everyday life of
the time.’ For his wit cp. Cic. Orat. §90 and Sandys’ note. Dionysius’s
judgment is given at length in Jebb’s Attic Orators, ii. p. 383
sq.
ut non dixerim = ne dicam. Cp. 2 §15, and note. Tacitus makes a
similar use of the potential perfect in secondary clauses.—For
utilior Maehly needlessly conjectures futilibus.
I:78
His aetate Lysias maior, subtilis atque elegans et quo nihil,
si oratori satis sit docere, quaeras perfectius; nihil enim est inane,
nihil arcessitum, puro
75
tamen fonti quam magno flumini propior.
§ 78.
aetate maior. The date of his birth has been variously fixed at
B.C. 459 and B.C. 436: see Sandys, Introd. to Orator,
p. xiii, and note; Wilkins, de Orat. i. (2nd ed.), p. 33. Jebb
gives the approximate date of his extant work as 403-380 B.C.
subtilis atque elegans. Cic. Orat. §30 subtilem et elegantem:
Brut. §35 egregie subtilis scriptor et elegans, quem iam prope audeas
oratorem perfectum dicere: ibid. §64: de Orat. iii. §28 subtilitatem ...
Lysias habuit: Orat. §110 nihil Lysiae subtilitate (cedit Demosthenes).
It is the ‘plain elegance’ of Lysias, his artistic and graceful
plainness, that Quintilian is commending: cp. ix. 4, 17 nam neque illud
in Lysia dicendi textum tenue atque rasum laetioribus numeris
corrumpendum erat: perdidisset enim gratiam, quae in eo maxima est,
simplicis atque inaffectati coloris, perdidisset fidem
quoque.—Subtilitas and elegantia go together 2 §19.
subtilis. Originally ‘suited for weaving’
(* sub–telis from tela—Wharton). From
this the word came to be used metaphorically:—(1) ‘graceful,’
‘refined,’ ‘delicate’: subtilitas pronuntiandi, de Orat. iii. §42,
‘graceful refinement of utterance’: (2) ‘precise,’ ‘accurate,’
common in Cicero to represent ἀκριβης: cp. praeceptor acer atque subtilis, Quintilian
i. 4, 25: (3) ‘plain,’ ‘unadorned’: especially subtile genus
dicendi (xii. 10, 58) = τὸ ἰσχνὸν γένος, the ‘plain’ style of rhetorical
composition, which, with a careful concealment of art, imitated the
language of ordinary life, unlike the ‘grand’ style, which was more
artificial, seeking by the use of ornament to rise above the common
idiom. The sense in which the word is used here is mainly (3): it
represents what Dionysius says Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 432 R, (Us. p. 28) ἰσχνότητι γὰρ τῆς φράσεως σαφῆ καὶ
ἀπηκριβωμένην ἔχουσι τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἔκθεσιν. But there is a
reference also to (1), helped out by the addition of elegans,
‘choice,’ ‘tasteful.’ The style of Lysias was plain, but not without
Attic refinement.
docere. So Dion., in eulogising him for τὴν δεινότητα τῆς εὑρέσεως,
says (de Lysia 15, p. 486 R), τὰ πάνυ δοκοῦντα τοῖς ἄλλοις ἄπορα εἶναι καὶ ἀδύνατα
εὔπορα καὶ δυνατὰ φαίνεσθαι ποιεῖ. He could make the most of his
case: persuasiveness (πιθανότης) is mentioned (ibid. 13) as one of his
leading characteristics. ‘His statements of facts,’ says Mr. Jebb (ii.
182), ‘are distinguished by conciseness, clearness, and charm, and by a
power of producing conviction without apparent effort to convince’: cp.
Dion. de Lysia 18, p. 492 R ἐν δὲ τῷ διηγεῖσθαι τὰ πράγματα ... ἀναμφιβόλως ἡγοῦμαι
κράτιστον αὐτὸν εἶναι πάντων ῥητόρων, ὅρον τε καὶ κάνονα τῆς ἰδέας
ταύτης αὐτὸν ἀποφαίνομαι: and below, αἱ
διηγήσεις ... τὴν πίστιν ἅμα λεληθότως συνεπιφέρουσιν. But that
this is not the whole office of the orator Quintilian himself declares
iv. 5, 6 non enim solum oratoris est docere, sed plus eloquentia circa
movendum valet. Cp. iii. 5, 2: Brut. §105: de Orat. ii. §128. In regard
to this, Lysias is comparatively weak: ‘he cannot heighten the force of
a plea, represent a wrong, or invoke compassion, with sufficient spirit
and intensity,’ Jebb: in the words of Dion. (19, p. 496 R),
περὶ τὰ
πάθη μαλακώτερός ἐστι: he understands οὔτε αὐξήσεις οὔτε
δεινώσεις οὔτε οἴκτους. Cp. 13 ad fin.
nihil ... inane: cp. Orator §29 dum intellegamus hoc esse
Atticum in Lysia, non quod tenuis sit atque inornatus sed quod nihil
habeat insolens aut ineptum.
75
nihil arcessitum: Cp. Dion. de Lysia 13 ad fin.
p. 483 R ἀσφαλής τε μᾶλλόν ἐστιν ἢ
παρακεκινδυνευμένη, καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἰσχὺν ἱκανὴ δηλῶσαι τέχνης ἐφ᾽
ὅσον ἀλήθειαν εἰκάσαι φύσεως. Cp. 8, p. 468 ἀποίητός τις καὶ ἀτεχνίτευτος ὁ τῆς ἁρμονίας αὐτοῦ
χαρακτήρ. So Ἀρχ.
κρ. πρὸς τὸ χρήσιμον καὶ ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν
αὐτάρκης—Krüger3 suggests nihil enim
inest inane. For the order see Introd. p. liii.
magno flumini: cp. Cicero, Orator §30 nam qui Lysiam sequuntur
causidicum quemdam sequuntur, non illum quidem amplum atque grandem,
subtilem et elegantem tamen et qui in forensibus causis possit praeclare
consistere. Cp. Dion. 13, p. 482, where he says that, besides
pathos, Lysias wants also grandeur and spirit: ὑψηλὴ δὲ καὶ μεγαλοπρεπὴς οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ Λυσίου λέξις, οὐδὲ
καταπληκτικὴ μὰ Δία καὶ θαυμαστή ... οὐδὲ θυμοῦ καὶ πνεύματος ἐστι
μεστή. Cicero says he shows elevation at times, though grandeur
was seldom possible in the treatment of the subjects he chose. Cp. the
whole passage, de Opt. Gen. Oratorum §9 Imitemur si potuerimus, Lysiam,
et eius quidem tenuitatem potissimum. Est enim multis locis grandior;
sed quia et privatas ille plerasque et eas ipsas aliis et parvarum rerum
causulas scripsit videtur esse ieiunior, cum se ipse consulto ad
minutarum genera causarum limaverit. He therefore prefers Demosthenes as
a model on account of his power: ib. §10 ita fit ut Demosthenes certe
possit summisse dicere, elate Lysias fortasse non possit.
Lysias was the favourite model of those who at Rome, in Cicero’s
time, sought to bring about the revival of Atticism. The unaffected
simplicity of his diction, his purity, lucidity, and naturalness amply
entitled him to this distinction. Dionysius’ criticism is most
appreciative: he praises the style of Lysias ‘not only for its purity of
diction, its moderation in metaphor, its perspicuity, its conciseness,
its terseness, its vividness, its truth to character, its perfect
appropriateness, and its winning persuasiveness; but also for a nameless
and indefinable charm, which he compares to the bloom of a beautiful
face, to the harmony of musical tones, or to perfect rhythm in the
marking of time’—v. de Lysia xi, xii.: Sandys, Introd. to Orator,
p. xvi.
I:79
Isocrates in diverso genere dicendi nitidus et comptus et
palaestrae quam pugnae
76
magis accommodatus omnes dicendi veneres sectatus est, nec immerito:
auditoriis enim se, non iudiciis compararat: in inventione facilis,
honesti studiosus, in compositione adeo diligens
77
ut cura eius reprehendatur.
§ 79.
Isocrates, the most celebrated of all the ancient teachers of
rhetoric, and called the father of eloquence (ille pater eloquentiae, de
Orat. ii. §10) from the number of orators produced by his school. His
home is described as being a school of eloquence and manufactory of
rhetoric for the whole of Greece, from which, as from the Trojan horse,
there came forth heroes only: Brut. §32 Isocrates, cuius domus cunctae
Graeciae quasi ludus quidam patuit atque officina dicendi: de Orat. ii.
§94 cuius e ludo tamquam ex equo Troiano meri principes exierunt: Orat.
§40 domus eius officina habita eloquentiae est. He is said to have died
of voluntary starvation shortly after the battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.) at the advanced age of 97. The story
of his death is examined by Jebb, ii. 31.
in diverso genere dicendi. The pupil of Gorgias, according to
Aristotle (v. Quint, iii. 1, 13), Isocrates worked out his master’s
theory of elaborately ornate and rhythmical style of composition. His is
not the subtile genus of which Lysias is the best representative:
suavitas (‘smoothness’) rather than subtilitas
(‘plainness’) is his chief characteristic (de Orat. iii. §28). He
carefully cultivated the period, to which he gave a large and luxuriant
expansion: Or. §40 primus instituit dilatare verbis et mollioribus
numeris explere sententias: Dion. de Isocr. 13, p. 561 R ὁ τῶν περιόδων ῥυθμός, ἐκ παντὸς διώκων τὸ γλαφυρόν.
In comparing him with Lysias (de Isocr. ii.-iii.), Dion. notes that his
style is less terse and compact, and characterised by a kind of opulent
diffuseness (κεχυμένη
πλουσίως), as well as by a more free use of metaphor and other
tropes.
nitidus: its opposite is sordidus (viii. 3, 49):
cp. Brut. §238 non valde nitens sed plane horrida oratio. So nitidum et
laetum (genus verborum) de Orat. i. §81: where Wilkins says the word is
used ‘especially of things which are bright, because of the pains
bestowed on them,’ and cps. Hor. Ep. i. 4, 15 ‘nitidum bene curata cute
vises.’ There is the same opposition between niddus and horridus
Orat. §36: squalidus, ibid. §115: cp. de Orat. iii §51 ita de horridis
rebus nitida ... est oratio tua: de Legg. i. 2, 6 (of Caelius Antipater)
habuitque vires agrestes ille quidem atque horridas, sine nitore et
76
palaestra: Brut. §238 (of C. Macer) non valde nitens, non plane horrida
oratio.
comptus—κομψεύεται, Dion. Ἀρχ. κρ.: cp. viii. 3, 42 non quia comi expolirique
non debeat (oratio). With nitidus et comptus cp. Cicero’s
statement that he had lavished on a Greek version of the story of his
consulship, ‘all the fragrant essences of Isocrates and all the
little perfume-boxes of his pupils’: totum Isocrati μυροθήκιον atque omnes eius
discipulorum arculas, ad Att. ii. 1, §1.
palaestrae quam pugnae: Cp. Orat. §42 of epideictic oratory
(dulce ... orationis genus) pompae quam pugnae aptius gymnasiis et
palaestrae dicatum, spretum et pulsum foro: de Orat. i. §81 nitidum
quoddam genus est verborum et laetum et palaestrae magis et olei quam
huius civilis turbae ac fori. So of Demetrius non tam armis institutus
quam palaestrae, Brut. §37. For the meaning cp. ibid. §32 forensi luce
caruit intraque parietes aluit eam gloriam. Isocrates had not the
vigorous compression of style necessary for real contests, πανηγυρικώτερος ἐστι μᾶλλον ἢ
δικανικώτερος ... καὶ πομπικός ἐστι ... οὐ μὴν ἀγωνιστικός Dion.
Ἀρχ. κρ.,
p. 432 R: Pseudo-Plut. Vit. X Or. p. 845 (Φιλιππος) ἐκάλει τοὺς μὲν αὐτοῦ (Δημοσθένους) λόγους
ὁμοίους τοῖς στρατιώταις διὰ τὴν πομπικὴν δύναμιν, τοὺς δ᾽ Ἰσοκράτους
τοῖς ἀθληταῖς. For the figure involved in pugnae (ἀγών) cp. §§29, 31: 3, 3: 5, 17. Cicero says the pupils of
Isocrates were great alike on parade and in actual combat: eorum partim
in pompa partim in acie illustres esse voluerunt, de Orat. §94. See
Jebb, ii. 70-71.
veneres: in this sense only in poetry and post-Augustan prose,
and generally in the singular. Cp. Hor. Ars Poet. 320 Fabula nullius
veneris sine pondere et arte. Cp. §100
illam solis concessam Atticis venerem: vi. 3, 18 venustum esse quod cum
gratia quadam et venere dicatur apparet: iv. 2, 116 narrationem ... omni
qua potest gratia et venere exornandam puto: Seneca, de Benef. ii. 28, 2
habuit suam venerem: Plin. 35, 10, 36 §79 (of paintings) deesse iis
unam illam suam venerem dicebat quam Graeci charita vocant.
sectatus est: cp. Dion. de Isocr. 2, p. 538 R ὁ
γὰρ ἀνὴρ οὗτος τὴν εὐέπειαν ἐκ παντὸς διώκει, καὶ τοῦ γλαφυρῶς λέγειν
στοχάζεται μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦ ἀφελῶς. There is a certain elaborate
affectation about Isocrates: what in Lysias is the gift of nature he
attempts to gain by the aid of art,—πέφυκε γὰρ ἡ Λυσίου λέξις ἔχειν τὸ χαρίεν, ἡ δ᾽ Ἰσοκράτους
βούλεται ibid. p. 541. For the whole passage cp. Orat. §38
In Panathenaico autem (§§1, 2) Isocrates ea se studiose consectatum
fatetur; non enim ad iudiciorum certamen sed ad voluptatem aurium
scripserat.
nec immerito: see on §27.
auditoriis ... non iudiciis: cp. §36: Dion, de Isocr. 2, p. 539 R ἀναγνώσεώς τε μᾶλλον οἰκειότερός
ἐστιν ἢ ῥήσεως‧ τοιγάρτοι τὰς μὲν ἐπιδείξεις τὰς ἐν ταῖς πανηγύρεσι καὶ
τὴν ἐκ χειρὸς θεωρίαν φέρουσιν αὐτοῦ οἱ λόγοι, τοὺς δ᾽ ἐν ἐκκλησίαις καὶ
δικαστηρίοις ἀγῶνας οὐχ ὑπομένουσι Aristotle, Rhet. i. a 9 (p.
1368 a) διὰ τὴν ἀσυνήθείαν τοῦ δικολογεῖν. Isocrates himself
tells us that it was his weakness of utterance and timidity of
disposition that precluded him from public appearances: Panath. §10
οὕτω
γὰρ ἐνδεὴς ἀμφοτέρων ἐγενόμην, φωνῆς ἱκανῆς καὶ τόλμης, ὡς οὐκ οἶδ᾽ εἰ
τις ἀλλος τῶν πολιτῶν. Cp. Cic. de Rep. iii. 30, 42 duas sibi res
quominus in volgus et in foro diceret confidentiam et vocem defuisse:
Plin. Ep. vi. 29, 6 infirmitate vocis, mollitie frontis, ne in publico
diceret impediebatur. Moreover he laid claim to being a teacher of
morality; and looking on rhetoric as the highest and most important
branch of education, he spoke with contempt of those who wrote for the
law-courts, and with whom victory was the only object: Jebb, ii.
p. 7 and p. 43: Isocr. Panegyr. §11 with Sandys’ note.
inventione: here Dionysius says he is in no way inferior to
Lysias: ἡ
μὲν εὕρεσις τῶν ἐνθυμημάτων ἡ πρὸς ἕκαστον ἁρμόττουσα πρᾶγμα πολλὴ καὶ
πυκνὴ καὶ οὐδὲν ἐκείνης (sc. Lysiae) λειπομένη Iud. de Isocr. 4, p. 452 R.
honesti studiosus. This may refer to the diction of Isocrates:
cp. Dion. Iud. 2, p. 538 R, where his λέξις is said to be ἠθική τε καὶ πιθανή: and again de Dem.
p. 963. Cp. ix. 4, 146-7, on which Becher mainly relies for his
proposal (supported by Hirt. Berl. Jahr. xiv. 1888, p. 59) to take
‘honesti studiosus in compositione’ together: compositio debet esse
77
honesta, iucunda, varia ... cura ita magna ut sentiendi atque eloquendi
prior sit: so viii. 3, 16. But two considerations seem to prove the
correctness of the traditional interpretation and punctuation:
(1) the ascription of honestum (in an ethical sense) to
Isocrates is peculiarly appropriate, and the word is constantly used in
this sense by Quintilian (see Bonn. Lex. s.v. ii γ): and
(2) diligens could hardly stand alone, divorced from in
compositione: and moreover a similar expression (in compositione
adeo diligens, &c.) is used by Dionysius, ἐν τῇ
συνθέσει τῶν ὀνομάτων ... Ἰσοκράτην περιεργότερον (de Isocr. Iud.
11, p. 557 R): cp. p. 538. There is a similar criticism
at §118 in cura verborum nimius et
compositione nonnumquam longior.
As to (1) cp. Jebb, ii. pp. 44-5. The high moral tone of Isocrates is
seen both in his choice of noble themes and in the care with which he
ever keeps the higher aspects of his subject in view. Dion. Iud. 4,
p. 543 R μάλιστα δ᾽ ἡ προαίρεσις ἡ τῶν λόγων περὶ οὓς
ἐσπούδαζε καὶ τῶν ὑποθέσεων τὸ κάλλος ἐν αἷς ἐποιεῖτο τὰς διατριβάς‧ ἐξ
ὧν οὐ λέγειν δεινοὺς μόνον ἀπεργάσαιτ᾽ ἂν τοὺς προσέχοντας αὐτῷ τὸν
νοῦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἤθη σπουδαίους ... κράτιστα γὰρ δὴ παιδεύματα πρὸς
ἀρετὴν ἐν τοῖς Ἰσοκράτους ἐστὶν εὑρεῖν λόγοις. (2) Though
Becher points to the chiasmus obtained by punctuating ‘in inventione
facilis, honesti studiosus in compositione’ (cp. §97: Bonn. Lex. pr. lxviii) the rhythm of the
sentence tells the other way; and to his objection that the ethical
point of view does not belong to the history of literature (especially
when inserted between two such words as inventio and
compositio) we can only answer that Quintilian is not an artist
in style, and that the ethical tone of Isocrates is too characteristic
to have been overlooked.
There is no need for Maehly’s conjecture ‘disponendi studiosus’: nor
for Eussner’s proposal to invert the clauses and read ... ‘compararat,
honesti studiosus: in inventione facilis, in comp. a. d.’ &c.: on
the ground that honesti studiosus refers to the γένος ἐπιδεικτικόν of
Isocrates, which is regulated by honestum, as the δημηγορικόν is by utile, and
the δικανικόν by
iustum.
compositione: §§44, 66; ix. 4, 116: quem in poemate locum habet
versificatio eam in oratione compositio: ad Her. iv. 12, 18 compositio
est verborum constructio quae facit omnes partes orationis aequabiliter
perpolitas: Ἀρχ. κρ.
p. 433 R, (Us. p. 28) καὶ
αὐτοῦ μάλιστα ζηλωτέον τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐκλογὴν καὶ συνέχειαν.
‘Isocrates was the earliest great artist in the rhythm proper to prose,’
Jebb, ii. pp. 60-1. Cicero, Brutus §32 primus intellexit etiam in
soluta oratione, dum versum effugeres, modum tamen et numerum quendam
oportere servari: Orat. §174.
cura ... reprehendatur. This refers especially to his studied
avoidance of hiatus: cp. ix. 4, 35 nimiosque non immerito in hac cura
putant omnes Isocratem secutos, praecipueque Theopompum. So Orat. §151
in quo quidam Theopompum etiam reprehendunt ... etsi idem magister eius
Isocrates—(with Sandys’ note). Dionysius (de Isocr. 2)
contrasts in general terms his σύνθεσις (compositio) with that of Lysias, noting
especially the point here alluded to: p. 558 R περιεργοτέραν, and de Dem. 4,
pp. 963-4 R. Plutarch, de gloria Athen. p. 350 E πῶς οὖν οὐκ
ἔμελλεν ἅνθρωπος (Isocr.) ψόφον
ὅπλων φοβεῖσθαι καὶ σύρρηγμα φάλαγγος ὁ φοβούμενος φωνῆεν φωνήεντι
συγκροῦσαι καὶ συλλαβῇ τὸ ἰσόκωλον ἐνδεὲς ἐξενεγκεῖν; Jebb, ii,
pp. 66-7. With such excessive solicitude we can understand how
Isocrates should have taken ten years to write the Panegyricus (4 §4).
The judgments of Cicero and Dionysius will be found conveniently
summarised in Sandys’ Introd. to Orator, pp. xx-xxii.
I:80
Neque ego in his de quibus sum locutus has solas virtutes, sed has
praecipuas puto, nec ceteros parum fuisse magnos. Quin etiam
Phalerea illum Demetrium,
78
quamquam is primum inclinasse eloquentiam dicitur, multum ingenii
habuisse et facundiae fateor, vel ob hoc memoria dignum, quod ultimus
est fere ex Atticis qui dici possit orator; quem tamen in illo medio
genere dicendi praefert omnibus Cicero.
§ 80.
ceteros: cp. on decem §76.
The use of the word involves a reference to a recognised group, from
which he has omitted Antiphon, Andocides, Isaeus, Lycurgus, and
Dinarchus. So Dion. p. 451 R, after mentioning Lysias,
Isocrates, Isaeus, Demosthenes, Hyperides, Aeschines, says οὓς ἐγὼ τῶν
ἄλλων ἡγοῦμαι κρατίστους. Demetrius is evidently an addition by
Quintilian himself, as is shown by the use of quin etiam.
78
Demetrius, of Phalerum, governed Athens, under Cassander, from
317 B.C. till he was overthrown by
Demetrius Poliorcetes in 307. He fled to Thebes and thence to Egypt,
where he died in 283, after assisting Ptolemy to draw up laws and found
his famous library. In citing him after the Attic orators, Quintilian
seems to follow Cicero, Brut. §37 Phalereus ... successit eis senibus
adulescens, &c. The same order (Phalereus before Demetrius) occurs
in Cicero, de Legg. iii. 14: de Orat. ii. §95: de Rep. ii. 2: Brut.
§285.—For illum see on §17.
inclinasse: Brut. §38 (where primus has been used
(Halm) as an argument against primum in the text, though
Quintilian is only quoting from memory, as often, cp. §94): hic primus inflexit orationem et eam mollem
teneramque reddidit et suavis, sicut fuit, maluit esse quam gravis. He
impaired the strength of Attic oratory, depriving it of what Cicero
calls its ‘sap and fresh vigour’ (sucus ille et sanguis incorruptus),
and substituting an ‘artificial gloss’ (fucatus nitor): processerat enim
in solem et pulverem, non ut e militari tabernaculo, sed ut e
Theophrasti doctissimi hominis umbraculis. ibid. §37. Of all the orators
who flourished after Demosthenes (when alia quaedam molliora ac
remissiora genera viguerunt) he was the most polished: de Orat.
ii. §95. He was more florid than Hyperides and Lysias, Brut. §285. In
the Orator, §§91-2, Cicero says that his diction has a smooth and
tranquil flow, and is also ‘lit up by the stars of metaphor and
metonymy’: oratio cum sedate placideque labitur, tum illustrant eam
quasi stellae quaedam tralata verba atque immutata. Cp. de Off. i. §3
disputator subtilis, orator parum vehemens, dulcis tamen, ut Theophrasti
discipulum possis agnoscere.
multum ingenii ... et facundiae: Diog. Laert. v. 82 χαρακτὴρ δὲ φιλόσοφος, εὐτονίᾳ ῥητορικῇ καὶ δυνάμει
κεκραμένος.
ultimus ... ex Atticis: Brut. §285 mihi quidem ex illius
orationibus redolere ipsae Athenae videntur.
medio genere dicendi: the ‘middle’ style: see on §44. In xii. 10, 59 he says of this style ‘ea fere
est ratio ut ... delectandi sive conciliandi praestare videatur
officium’: with which cp. Cicero of Demetrius, delectabat magis
Athenienses quam inflammabat.—Of the middle style generally Cicero
says (Orator, §21) est autem quidam interiectus inter hos medius et
quasi temperatus nec acumine posteriorum nec flumine utens superiorum,
vicinus amborum, in neutro excellens, utriusque particeps, vel
utriusque, si verum quaerimus, potius expers; isque uno tenore, ut
aiunt, in dicendo fluit nihil adferens praeter facilitatem et
aequabilitatem, aut addit aliquos ut in corona toros (‘raised ornaments’
or ‘knots’) omnemque orationem ornamentis modicis verborum
sententiarumque distinguit.
praefert omnibus Cicero: de Orat. ii. §95 omnium istorum mea
sententia politissimus: Orat. §92 in qua (sc. media orationis forma)
multi floruerunt apud Graecos, sed Phalereus Demetrius meo iudicio
praestitit ceteris.—For quem tamen see Crit. Notes.
§§ 81-84.
Greek Philosophers:—
In this paragraph there is a correspondence between the criticisms of
Quintilian and those of Cicero and Dionysius. In the Ἀρχ. κρ. (ch. 4, Us. pp. 26-7)
the latter recommends the study of the Pythagorean philosophers (μεγαλοπρεπεῖς γὰρ τῇ λέξει καὶ ποιητικοί), holding up
Xenophon and Plato as the best models, and eulogising also Aristotle and
his followers: μιμητέον δὲ ...
μάλιστα Ξενοφῶντα καὶ Πλάτωνα ... παραληπτέον δὲ καὶ Ἀριστοτέλη εἰς
μίμησιν ... φιλοτιμώμεθα δ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἐντυνχάνειν.
Quintilian’s selection of Theophrastus is probably motived by the
passage in Cicero, Orat. §2 (already quoted by him in §33): philosophi quidam ornate locuti sunt, siquidem
et Theophrastus divinitate loquendi nomen invenit et Aristoteles
Isocratem ipsum lacessivit
79
et Xenophontis voce Musas quasi locutas ferunt et longe omnium,
quicunque scripserunt aut locuti sunt, exstitit et gravitate et
suavitate princeps Plato.
I:81
Philosophorum, ex quibus plurimum se traxisse eloquentiae
79
M. Tullius confitetur, quis dubitet Platonem esse
praecipuum sive acumine disserendi sive eloquendi facultate divina
quadam et Homerica? Multum enim supra prosam orationem et quam pedestrem
Graeci vocant surgit, ut mihi non hominis ingenio, sed quodam Delphici
videatur oraculo dei instinctus.
§ 81.
confitetur: xii. 2, 23 nam M. Tullius non tantum se debere
scholis rhetorum quantum Academiae spatiis frequenter ipse testatus est:
neque se tanta unquam in eo fudisset ubertas si ingenium suum consaepto
fori non ipsius rerum natura finibus terminasset. In the Orator, §12,
Cicero tells us he had got his oratory not from the narrow schoolrooms
and mechanical workshops of the rhetoricians, but from the groves of the
Academy, the real school for every kind of discourse: fateor me
oratorem, si modo sim aut etiam quicunque sim, non ex rhetorum officinis
sed ex Academiae spatiis exstitisse; illa enim sunt curricula
multiplicium variorumque sermonum in quibus Platonis primum sunt
impressa vestigia. Cp. Tac. Dial. de Or. §32. In the De Div. ii. §4
Cicero speaks of his rhetorical works as bordering on philosophy:
quumque Aristoteles itemque Theophrastus, excellentes viri cum
subtilitate tum copia, cum philosophia dicendi etiam praecepta
coniunxerint, nostri quoque oratorii libri in eundem numerum referendi
videntur.
praecipuum: cp. Orat. §62 (quoted above) longe omnium ...
princeps Plato. So Dionysius ad Pomp. p. 752 R: de Dem. 41,
p. 1083 R.
sive ... sive: cp. xii. 10, 26 quae defuisse ei sive ipsius
natura seu lege civitatis videntur: Cic. pro Clu. §76. Sive is
frequently used as a single disjunctive, to give one word as an
alternative for another: i. 4, 20 vocabulum sive appellationem nomini
subiecerunt: xii. 10, 59 delectandi sive ... conciliandi officium. Cp.
too Cic. de Am. §100 ex quo exardescit sive amor sive amicitia—a
kind of brachyology: de Orat. ii. §70 in hac sive ratione sive
exercitatione dicendi,—a shorter formula than ib. §29 hoc totum,
quicquid est, sive artificium sive studium dicendi.
divina. Cic. Tusc. Disp. i. §79 quem (Platonem) omnibus locis
divinum, quem sapientissimum, quem sanctissimum, quem Homerum
philosophorum appellat (Panaetius). Cp. Dion. de Dem. 23,
p. 1024 R πάντων ... φιλοσόφων τε καὶ ῥητόρων ἑρμηνεῦσαι τὰ
πράγματα δαιμονιώτατον..
Homerica: §86 ut illi naturae
caelesit atque immortali cesserimus: §§48,
65.
prosam orationem et. The omission of et, proposed by
recent editors, would make Quintilian give a rather useless synonym for
prosa oratio, which (like prosa by itself) he often uses
without explanation. Prosa oratio is used of prose as contrasted
with verse (cp. xi. 2, 39 facilius versus ediscimus quam prosam
orationem): pedestris oratio includes all composition of a
prosaic order, not necessarily prose only: so Horace speaks of his
Satires as Musa pedestris (Sat. ii. 6, 17): pedestres
historiae in Car. ii. 12, 9 are prose histories: sermo
pedester in A. P. 95 (tragicus plerumque dolet sermone
pedestri) is homely language: cp. ib. 229, and Ep. ii. 1, 251. So Plato,
Soph. 237 A πεζῇ τε ὧδε ἑκάστοτε λέγων καὶ μετὰ μέτρων:
Aristoph. Fr. 713 παῦσαι μελῳδοῦς᾽ ἀλλὰ πεζῇ μοι φράσον. Palmer
(on Hor. Sat. l.c.) cites also Luc. de Consecr. Hist. 8 πεζή τις ποιητική of a
bombastic history: and adds ‘the metaphor is from a person soberly
jogging on on foot, contrasted with the dashing pace of a mounted
cavalier.’—For prose Cicero uses oratio soluta (Brut. §32)
to which he opposes vincula numerorum (Orat. §§64, 77: de Orat.
iii. §184).—Numerous examples of a similar use of et are
cited, Bonn. Lex. s.v. et iii.
quodam Delphici, &c. See Crit. Notes. For quodam cp. §109 dono quodam providentiae genitus: xii.
11, 5 ductus amore quodam operis: ib. 10 §21: ix. 2, 76: and §82 below; and for Delphici ... dei
Cic. de Legg. i. §58 cuius praecepti tanta vis ... est ut ea non homini
cuipiam sed Delphico deo tribueretur.
80
I:82
Quid ego
80
commemorem Xenophontis illam iucunditatem inadfectatam, sed
quam nulla consequi adfectatio possit? ut ipsae sermonem finxisse
Gratiae videantur, et quod de Pericle veteris comoediae testimonium est
in hunc transferri iustissime possit, in labris eius sedisse quandam
persuadendi deam.
§ 82.
Xenophontis, §§33, 75.
iucunditatem: so Tac. Dial. 31. Dionysius’s criticism is
fuller: καθαρὸς τοῖς
ὀνόμασι καὶ σαφὴς καὶ ἐναργής, καὶ κατὰ τὴν σύνθεσιν ἡδὺς καὶ
εὔχαρις: Diog. Laert. ii. 57 ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ καὶ
Ἀττικὴ Μοῦσα γλυκύτητι τῆς ἑρμηνείας: Suidas Ξενοφῶν Ἀττικὴ
μέλιττα ἐπανομάζετο: Brutus, §132 molli et Xenophonteo genere
sermonis: cp. ibid. §292: Orat. §32 cuius sermo est ille quidem melle
dulcior sed a forensi strepitu remotissimus: de Orat. ii. §58 leniore
quodam sono est usus, et qui illum impetum oratoris non habeat, vehemens
fortasse minus, sed aliquanto tamen est, ut mihi quidem videtur,
dulcior.—For inadfectatus, see Introd. p. xlii.
Gratiae: for the form of expression cp. Orat. §62 Xenophontis
voce Musas quasi locutas ferunt (x. 1
§33). So §99 below: Plin. Ep. ii. 13,
7: Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 27.
de Pericle. So xii. 2, 22: 10, 65: Pliny, Ep. i. 20, 17 nec me
praeterit summum oratorem Periclem sic a comico Eupolide laudari ...
πειθώ τις ἐπεκάθητο τοῖσι χείλεσιν κ.τ.λ. (The line is
given in Kock’s Fragmenta 1, p. 281 πειθώ τις ἐπεκάθιζεν
ἐπὶ τοῖς χείλεσιν: so Meineke ii. p. 458.) Brutus §38
quemadmodum de Pericle scripsit Eupolis: §59 πειθώ quam vocant Graeci, cuius effector est orator,
hanc Suadam appellavit Ennius ... ut quam deam in Pericli labris
scripsit Eupolis sessitavisse huius hic medullam nostrum oratorem (sc.
Cethegum) fuisse dixerit. (Cp. de Orat. iii. §138.) The phrase of which
this is the explanation (suadae medulla—the essence, marrow, of
persuasiveness) is used again de Sen. §50: cp. Quint, ii. 15, 4.
Horace has Suadela, Ep. i. 6, 38.
quandam, i.e. something which may be called persuadendi
dea: cp. quodam below, and quibusdam §76: xii. 10, ii quadam eloquentiae frugalitate. See
Crit. Notes.
I:83
Quid reliquorum Socraticorum elegantiam? Quid Aristotelen? Quem
dubito scientia rerum an scriptorum copia an eloquendi suavitate an
inventionum acumine an varietate operum clariorem putem. Nam in
Theophrasto tam est loquendi nitor ille divinus ut
81
ex eo nomen quoque traxisse dicatur.
§ 83.
Socratici §35.
elegantiam: §114: 2 §19: ‘chaste simplicity,’
Frieze.
Aristotelen. It is to be noticed that in both Dionysius and
Quintilian, Aristotle comes after Plato and Xenophon: Ἀρχ. κρ. 4, (Us. p. 27) παραληπτέον δὲ καὶ Ἀριστοτέλη εἰς μίμησιν τῆς τε περὶ τὴν
ἑρμηνείαν δεινότητος καὶ τῆς σαφηνείας καὶ τοῦ ἡδέος καὶ
πολυμαθοῦς: Brut. §121 quis Aristotele nervosior? Orat. §172 quis
omnium doctior, quis acutior, quis in rebus vel inveniendis vel
iudicandis acrior Aristotele fuit?
scientia ... copia ... suavitate: Orat. §5 admirabili quadam
scientia et copia: Topica 1 §3 dicendi incredibili quadam quum
copia tum etiam suavitate: cp. de Inv. ii. §6.
acumine: see on §77.
nam has come to serve as a transition-formula: so §§9, 12, 50: 4, 4. It generally involves an ellipse: cp.
Sall, Iug. ch. 19, 2: 31, 2: 82, 2: Cicero, Tusc. Disp. iv. §52.
Theophrasto. Brut. §121 quis Theophrasto dulcior? Theophrastus
succeeded Aristotle in the conduct of his school B.C. 322, and died 287.
tam est loquendi nitor ille divinus ut. Becher takes
tam closely with divinus, making tam divinus est
the pred. and loquendi nitor ille the subj.: and so Krüger (3rd
ed.). For the order of words he compares §122 habebunt magnam eos qui nunc vigent materiam
vere laudandi, and adds (Quaest. p. 18) ‘omnino autem tenendum est
perplexam et arcessitam verborum turbam magis quam ordinem (Bonn.
Proleg. lxxviii.) aetatis argenteae scriptoribus in deliciis fuisse,
quae intellectum legentium non tam adiuvet quam
81
impediat.’ We might also cp. §76 tam nihil
otiosum, and 7 §27.
Even in Cicero a similar separation occurs: pro Cael. §16 nunquam enim
tam Caelius amens fuisset: in Verr. v. §121 quis tam fuit illo tempore
durus et ferreus. Kiderlin, however (Hermes 23, p. 109), challenges
this explanation, contending that the words loquendi nitor ille
divinus are obviously meant to be taken together, and that
ille makes it impossible to join tam and divinus.
He rejects as inappropriate the analogies cited from Brutus §58 (cp.
§§174, 41): ad Q. Fr. i. 2, 3 §9 (atque ego haec tam esse quam
audio non puto—where it has been proposed to insert a word): ad
Fam. vi. 7, 1. But more weight should be attached to the following
passages to which K. himself refers: Quint. ii. 16, 15 (sed ipsa ratio
neque tam nos iuvaret neque tam esset in nobis manifesta, nisi, &c.)
and viii. 3, 5 (et fulmina ipsa non tam nos confunderent si, &c.).
Kiderlin however holds that all those passages differ from this,
inasmuch as either there is a negative with tam, or it is joined
with an adverb, or it follows quam immediately. He rejects
Spalding’s tantus est, and proposes to read tam manifestus
est: manifestus goes well with the preceding sentence, where
Quintilian does not know which of Aristotle’s great points to praise
most, while with Theophrastus there is no such doubt, since his
loquendi nitor is so striking that he is said, &c. K. thinks
that manifestus (which is a favourite word of Quintilian: see
Bonn. Lex.) might easily have fallen out, as tam est and
manifest are pretty much alike.—In support of the reading
loquendi (for which Meister gives, by a misprint,
eloquendi), Kiderlin points out that Quintilian probablv wished
to translate φράζειν.
nitor: cp. §§33, 9, 79 (where see note on
nitidus): Cicero, de Fin. iv. 3, 5 primum enim ipsa illa, quae
subtiliter disserenda erant, polite apteque dixerunt, tum definientes,
tum partientes, ut vestri etiam; sed vos (Stoici) squalidius; illorum
(sc. Peripateticorum et Academicorum) vides quam niteat oratio. Of the
Peripatetics generally he says (Brutus §120) in doctrina atque
praeceptis disserendi ratio coniungitur cum suavitate dicendi et
copia.
nomen traxisse: Orat. §62 siquidem et Theophrastus divinitate
loquendi nomen invenit: Diog. Laert. v. 38 τοῦτον, Τύρταμον λεγόμενον, Θεόφραστον διὰ τὸ
τῆς φράσεως θεσπέσιον Ἀριστοτέλης μετωνόμασεν.
I:84
Minus indulsere eloquentiae Stoici veteres, sed cum honesta suaserunt
tum in colligendo probandoque quae instituerant plurimum valuerunt,
rebus tamen acuti magis quam (id quod sane non adfectaverunt) oratione
magnifici.
82
§ 84.
Stoici veteres. See xii. 1, 24 sq. for a discussion of the
various philosophical systems in regard to their fitness for oratorical
purposes. For the comparative unfitness of the Stoic writers see esp.
Cic. de Orat. iii. 18, 66: de Fin. iv. 28, 78 sq.: de Orat. ii. 38, 159.
So too Brutus §114 (Stoicorum) peracutum et artis plenum orationis genus
scio tamen esse exile nec satis populari adsensioni adcommodatum: §118
ut omnes fere Stoici prudentissimi in disserendo sint et id arte faciant
sintque architecti paene verborum, eidem traducti a disputando ad
dicendum inopes reperiantur.
quae instituerant: ‘their principles.’ De Off. i. 1, 1
praecepta institutaque philosophiae: de Am. §13: de Fin. v. 3, 7 scripta
et instituta: Brut. §31 and esp. §119.
colligendo: ‘arguing,’ not necessarily here of the formal
process of syllogistic reasoning. Cp. xii. 2, 10 ambigua aperire et
perplexa discernere et de falsis iudicare et colligere et resolvere quae
velis oratorum est.
rebus acuti: ‘shrewd thinkers,’ rather than masters of the
grand style. For the constr. (where in Greek the pr. part. would have
been used) cp. §80 vel ob hoc memoria
dignum.
quod sane non adfect. Cp. Sen. Ep. 108, 35 illud admoneo,
auditionem philosophorum lectionemque ad propositum beatae vitae
trahendam, non ut verba prisca aut ficta captemus et translationes
improbas figurasque dicendi, sed ut profutura praecepta et magnificas
voces et animosas, quae mox in rem transferantur: sic ista ediscamus ut
quae fuerint verba sint opera.
82
§§85-100.
Roman Poets.—Quintilian’s criticisms of Latin literature,
though naturally more independent than his judgments of Greek authors,
are hampered, as Professor Nettleship has shown (Journ. Phil. 18
p. 262 sq.) by ‘the idea of making canons of classical Latin
authors to correspond as closely as possible with the Greek canons.
Vergil leads the van among the poets as the Latin Homer; Macer and
Lucretius follow as representing Hesiod and the didactic poets. The
elegiac poets, Propertius and Tibullus, follow next, answering to
Tyrtaeus; then the satirists who of course have no Greek counterparts;
then the writers of lampoon, Catullus, Bibaculus, and Horace, to match
Archilochus; the lyric poets, Horace corresponding to Pindar; the
dramatists, comic and tragic, among whom Varius is singled out as equal
to any Of the Greeks: the historians, Sallust being matched with
Thucydides, and Livy with Herodotus; the orators, Cicero being of course
compared in detail with Demosthenes; and the philosophers, among whom we
are told that Cicero is aemulus Platonis.’
I:85
Idem nobis per Romanos quoque auctores ordo ducendus est. Itaque ut apud
illos Homerus, sic apud nos Vergilius auspicatissimum dederit
exordium, omnium eius generis poetarum Graecorum nostrorumque haud dubie
proximus.
§ 85.
Idem ... ordo ducendus. Cp. 5 §1 robustorum studiis ordinem
dedimus: xii. 2, 10 ut ordinem retro agamus. There is a suggestion of
military associations in the use of the phrase: tr. ‘in the same way we
must marshal.’ Cp. Brut. §15 explicatis ordinibus temporum; and i. 4, 3
with Spalding’s note.—For ordinem ducere in the sense of
‘to be the leader of a company’ (sc. as centurion) cp. Cic. Phil. i. 8,
20: Caes. B. C. i. 13, 4: iii. 104, 3: Livy ii. 23, 4.
Vergilius: his claim to rank along with Homer is indicated in
i. 8, 5 optime institutum est ut ab Homero atque Vergilio lectio
inciperet.
auspicatissimum. Cp. Tac. Germ. 11 agendis rebus hoc
anspicatissimum initium credunt: Plin. ad Traian, xvii. 3 cum mihi
contigerit, quod erat auspicatissimum, natalem tuum in provincia
celebrare. Cp. the opening words of Pliny’s Panegyricus: Bene ac
sapienter, patres conscripti, maiores instituerunt ut rerum agendarum
ita dicendi initium a precationibus capere, quod nihil rite, nihil
providenter homines sine deorum immortalium ope consilio honore
auspicarentur. Cicero, de Div. i. 16, 28 Nihil fere quondam maioris rei
nisi auspicato ne privatim quidem gerebatur.
dederit: v. on §37.
haud dubie: see Crit.
Notes.
I:86
Utar enim verbis isdem quae ex Afro Domitio iuvenis excepi: qui mihi
83
interroganti quem Homero crederet maxime accedere, ‘secundus,’ inquit,
‘est Vergilius, propior tamen primo quam tertio.’ Et hercule ut illi
naturae caelesti atque immortali cesserimus, ita curae et diligentiae
vel ideo in hoc plus est, quod ei fuit magis laborandum; et quantum
eminentibus vincimur fortasse aequalitate pensamus.
§ 86.
Afro Domitio. The order is characteristic of the silver age,
though examples are found also in Cicero’s letters (Introd. p. lv.): cp. Atacinus Varro,
below, and §103. Domitius Afer (cp. §24) was a distinguished orator who flourished
under Tiberius and his successors, and died in the reign of Nero, A.D. 59 (Tac. Ann. xiv. 19). He was a native
of Nemausus (Nismes), and first rose to fame by the prosecution of
Agrippina’s cousin Claudia Pulchra: Tiberius avowed that he was a ‘born
orator’ (suo iure disertum, Tac. Ann. iv. 52). Being of an unscrupulous
character (quoquo facinore properus clarescere, ibid.) he placed his
rhetorical powers at the disposal of the government: mox capessendis
accusationibus aut reos tutando prosperiore eloquentiae quam morum fama
fuit, ibid. Quintilian’s connection with him (cp. v. 7, 7 quem
adolescentulus senem colui) comes out in the story he told to Pliny
about Afer: ‘adsectabar Domitium,’ Plin. Epist. ii. 14. Below (§118) he speaks of him, along with Iulius Africanus,
(to whom he prefers him) as the best orator he had ever heard: though he
tells us elsewhere that Afer lost much of his reputation by continuing
to speak in public after he should have retired: vidi ego longe omnium
quos mihi cognoscere contigit summum oratorem, Domitium Afrum, valde
senem, cotidie aliquid ex ea quam meruerat auctoritate perdentem, cum
agente illo quem principem fuisse quondam fori non erat dubium alii,
quod indignum videatur, riderent, alii erubescerent; quae occasio fuit
dicendi, malle eum deficere quam desinere. Cp. Tac. Ann. iv. 52 ad fin.
aetas extrema multum etiam eloquentiae dempsit dum fessa mente retinet
silentii impatientiam.
excepi. As distinguished from accipere,
83
which, when used in this sense, means to get some information at
second-hand, excipere always refers to what is said in one’s
presence, whether one is meant to hear, as in this passage, or not; as
Livy ii. 4 sermonem eorum ex servis unus excepit.
Homero. The same dative with accedere occurs §68 magis accedit oratorio generi (Euripides). With
the name of a person Cicero also uses the dative,—e.g. Crasso et
Antonio L. Philippus proximus accedebat, Brut. §173, and so ad Fam.
xi. 21, 4 me huic tuae virtuti proxime accedere: otherwise more commonly
ad c. acc. Cp. de Orat. 1 §262 (dubitare) utrius oratio propius ad
veritatem videretur accedere with Quint. xii. 10, 9 ad veritatem
Lysippum ac Praxitelem optime accessisse. So xii. 2, 2: 1, 20:
2, 25.
propior tamen primo. See note on §53 ut plane manifesto appareat quanto sit aliud
proximum esse, aliud secundum. Here the interval between first and
second is less than that between second and third: Vergil is a ‘good
second.’
ut illi: see Crit.
Notes.
naturae = ingenio, as §119 erant
clara et nuper ingenia: cp. §122. Cic. in
Verr. ii. 1 §40 non enim potest ea natura quae tantum facinus
commiserit hoc uno scelere esse contenta.
caelesti: for the hyperbole cp. caelestis huius in dicendo
viri (Ciceronis) 2 §18. So Cic. Phil. v. §28
caelestes divinasque legiones: Ps. Cic. ad Brutum ii. 7, 2 res a te
gesta memorabilis et paene caelestis.
ut ... cesserimus ita. For ut ... ita (μὲν ... δέ) cp. 3, §§1 and 31. Ut is not concessive and
does not affect the verb, which is in the subjunctive of modified
assertion (for cedendum est): cp. dederit above §85: Cic. Brut. §25 sine ulla dubitatione
confirmaverim. Quintilian is speaking throughout of the Romans in the
person of their great poet: cp. vincimur, pensamus, below; also §93 provocamus, §99
consequimur, §107 vincimus. Kiderlin’s
objection that, as fully admitting the superiority of Homer, he would
not have been likely to choose, on patriotic grounds, a form that seems
to modify the force of the concession, is met by the instance of the
potential subj. quoted above alongside of sine ulla
dubitatione.
eminentibus: neut. of adj. used substantively,—common
enough in Quintilian even with adjj. of the third declension: cp. 3 §5 nec protinus
offerentibus se gaudeamus. See Introduction, p. xlix (5). Such
‘outstanding’ passages as those alluded to Horace terms the ‘speciosa
miracula’ (‘striking,’ ‘picturesque marvels’) of the Homeric poems,
A. P. 144.
aequalitate, ‘uniform excellence’: cp. aequali quadam
mediocritate §54. In §24 Quintilian has already referred to the
quandoque dormitat, and his words are probably an echo of the
Horatian criticism. For the use of aequalitas cp. xi. 3, §§43-44.
In regard to style, Cicero has Orat. §198 omnis nec claudicans nec quasi
fluctuans sed aequaliter constanterque ingrediens numerosa habetur
oratio: and using aequabilitas ibid. §53 elaborant alii in
lenitate et aequabilitate et puro quasi quodam et candido genere
dicendi.
I:87
Ceteri omnes longe sequentur. Nam Macer et Lucretius
legendi quidem, sed non ut φράσιν, id est corpus eloquentiae faciant, elegantes in
sua quisque materia, sed alter humilis, alter difficilis. Atacinus
Varro in iis per quae nomen
84
est adsecutus interpres operis alieni, non spernendus quidem, verum ad
augendam facultatem dicendi parum locuples.
§ 87.
Macer: v. on §56.
Lucretius. The references made to Lucretius in Latin
literature are collected by Teuffel, R. L. §201. The two are named
together again xii. 11 §27.
φράσιν =
elocutionem, v, §42. So ad augendam facultatem dicendi, below. For
‘corpus eloquentiae’ cp. Petronius, Satyr. ii. (of the imitators of
Seneca) ‘effecistis ut corpus orationis enervaretur et caderet.’
humilis: ‘common-place,’
difficilis: cp. multis luminibus ingenii multae tamen
artis,—Cicero’s criticism, dealt with by Munro, ii. p. 315
(3rd ed.).
Varro, P. Terentius (B.C.
82-37), called
84
Atacinus from the river Atax in Gallia Narbonensis, his native province.
Quintilian’s criticism here refers to the work by which he was best
known—his translation of the Argonautica of Apollonius
Rhodius (‘interpres operis alieni’). He also wrote what is described as
a metrical system of astronomy and geography under the title
Chorographia or Cosmographia: a heroic poem Bellum
Sequanicum, in the style of Ennius and Naevias: and Saturae
which, if we may trust Horace, were a failure: Satires i. 10, 46 Hoc
erat experto frustra Varrone Atacino ... Melius quod scribere
possem.
per quae: common in Quintilian to designate ‘means by which’:
cp. v. 10, 32. So also per quod, per hoc: see on §10.
nomen: cp. §72, §120, 5,
§18: xii. 6, 7: ii. 11, 1: Tac. Dial. 10 nomen inserere famae: ib.
36 plus notitiae ac nominis apud plebem parabat.
I:88
Ennium sicut sacros vetustate lucos adoremus, in quibus grandia
et antiqua robora iam non tantam habent speciem quantam religionem.
Propiores alii, atque ad hoc de quo loquimur magis utiles. Lascivus
85
quidem in herois quoque Ovidius et nimium amator ingenii sui,
laudandus tamen in partibus.
§ 88.
Ennius, the Chaucer of Latin literature (239-169 B.C.),—qui primus amoeno detulit ex Helicone
perenni fronde coronam (Lucr. i. 119). Lucretius in this passage calls
him ‘Ennius noster,’ as does also Cicero, pro Archia §18, §22.
‘It will be observed,’ says Professor Nettleship, ‘that Quintilian is
a Ciceronian, and that both as against the younger school of his own day
and as against the pre-Ciceronian literature. Ennius he sets aside with
a few respectful words: Pacuvius and Accius, one must almost suppose, he
had never read (97): if he had read them, then, he did not think it
worth while to pass an independent judgment upon them (but see note ad
loc.) The comedians, Plautus, Caecilius, and Terence, he will hardly
notice; so far, he thinks, do they fall below their Greek originals.
Lucretius he totally misconceives, even granting his point of view, for
can it be said that there are no fine passages of rhetoric in the De
Rerum Natura? The criticisms on the post-Ciceronian orators are for the
most part (remembering that Quintilian is thinking of the needs of an
orator) sound and well expressed, notably that upon Ovid (88). But they
are mostly too short, and leave the impression that the writer is
anxious to get to the end of them. In speaking of Cicero, however,
Quintilian rises to the height of real enthusiasm.’ Journ. of Phil.
l.c.
sacros vetustate lucos. For the reverence attaching to groves
cp. Seneca, Epist. Mor. IV, xii. (41) Si tibi occurrerit vetustis
arboribus et solitam altitudinem egressis frequens lucus et conspectum
caeli ramorum aliorum alios protegentium umbra submovens: illa
proceritas silvae et secretum loci et admiratio umbrae in aperto tam
densae atque continuae fidem tibi numinis facit.
speciem. So Ovid, Trist. ii. 424 Ennius ingenio maximus, arte
rudis: Am. i. 15, 19 Ennius arte carens. Cp. Quint, i. 8, 8 plerique
plus ingenio quam arte valuerunt (veteres Latini).
Propiores, not Vergilio, as Bonnell and Krüger (the latter, in
2nd ed., contrasting §86 ceteri omnes longe
sequentur): but rather, by inference from ‘vetustate’ and ‘antiqua’ in
the previous sentence = propiores nostrae aetati. But see Claussen,
Quaest. Quintil. pp. 358-9.
ad hoc de quo loquimur = ad augendam facultatem dicendi: φράσιν.
lascivus: so below §93 Ovidius
utroque (Tibullo et Propertio) lascivior, sicut durior Gallus. The word
and its cognates are used by Quintilian of ‘running riot,’ whether in
thought, language, or manner. The verb lascivire is used in
regard to a certain mannerism of Ovid, iv. 1, 77 ut Ovidius lascivire in
metamorphosesi solet,—wrongly classed in Bonnell’s lexicon under
mores: cp. ix. 4, 28. So ii. 4, 3 neque ... arcessitis
descriptionibus, in quas plerique imitatione poeticae licentiae
ducuntur, lasciviat: xii. 10, 73 genus dicendi quod puerilibus
sententiolis lascivit: ix. 4, 6: iv. 2, 39: xi. 1, 56. See above,
recens haec lascivia §43: cp. ii. 5, 10 and
22: Tac. Dial. §26 lascivia verborum et levitate sententiarum et
licentia compositionis. The adjective occurs along with hilare v.
3, 27, and with dicaces vi. 3, 41: cp. Tac. Dial. §29 parvulos
assuefaciunt ... lasciviae et dicacitati. It
85
means ‘exuberance’ of any kind, as against severe restraint: ix. 4, 142
duram potius atque asperam compositionem malim esse quam effeminatam et
enervem, qualis apud multos, et cotidie magis, lascivissimis syntonorum
modis saltat: Horace, A. P. 106 ludentem lasciva (verba decent)
severum seria dictu: i.e. ‘sportive’ as opp. to ‘serious’: Ep. ii. 2,
216 lasciva decentius aetas, ‘that may more becomingly make merry.’
Wilkins says the word occurs ten times in Horace, and never in a
distinctly bad sense: lascivi pueri Sat. i. 3, 134: lasciva puella Verg.
Ecl. iii. 64.
in herois quoque: sc. versibus. Cp. ix. 4, 88 and 89. This
characteristic of his elegiac compositions reappears even in his heroic
verse, i.e. the Metamorphoses. At ix. 4, 88 (pes) herous = μέτρον ἡρῷον. So Martial iii. 20,
6 lascivus elegis an severus herois?
nimium amator ingenii sui: cp. §98 below, si ingenio suo imperare quam indulgere
maluisset. M. Seneca, Controv. iv. 28, 17 (p. 281) Ovidius nescit
quod bene cessit relinquere: ii. 10, 12 (of a declamatio by Ovid) verbis
minime licenter usus est nisi in carminibus, in quibus non ignoravit
vitia sua, sed amavit ... adparet summi ingenii viro non indicium
defuisse ad compescendam licentiam carminum suorum, sed animum. Cp. Sen.
Nat. Quaest. iii. 27, 13 poetarum ingeniosissimus ... nisi tantum
impetum ingenii et materiae ad pueriles ineptias reduxisset. Of Seneca
the philosopher Quintilian uses similar language below §130 si non omnia sua amasset. For the use of an
adv. with verb-noun in -tor (as if it were a participle) cp. Hor. Sat.
i. 10, 12 Quis tam Lucili fautor inepte est. See Introd. p. xlv.
in partibus, opp. to totum (‘in einzeln
Partien’—Nägelsbach §76 p. 296). Cp. in parte 7 §25: also 2 §26 in partibus: vii. 2, 22 si
quando in partibus laborabimus, universitate pugnandum est. The
frequency with which in parte occurs in Quintilian (as well as
ex parte, which is used by Cicero and Livy) makes the reading
probable, though the MSS. omit in, while many give parcius
for partibus. Cp. ii. 8, 6 quod ... mihi in parte verum videtur:
iv. 5, 13: v. 7, 22: xi. 2, 34.
I:89
Cornelius autem Severus, etiamsi sit versificator quam
poeta melior, si tamen, ut est
86
dictum, ad exemplar primi libri bellum Siculum perscripsisset,
vindicaret sibi iure secundum locum. Serranum consummari mors
immatura non passa est, puerilia tamen eius opera et maximam indolem
ostendunt et admirabilem praecipue in aetate illa recti generis
voluntatem.
§ 89.
Cornelius Severus, contemporary and friend of Ovid, who addresses
to him Epist. ex Ponto iv. 2 (1 O vates magnorum maxime regum:
11 sq. fertile pectus habes interque Helicona colentes Uberius
nulli provenit ista seges): cp. carmen regale iv. 16, 9. In spite
of the apology in iv. 2 (eius adhuc nomen nostros tacuisse libellos), it
is probable that Epist. i. 8 is also addressed to him: v. 2 pars animae
magna, Severe, meae: 25, o iucunde sodalis. M. Seneca (Suas.
vi. 26) quotes twenty-five hexameters of his, with the introductory
remark, which seems well deserved, ‘nemo ex tot disertissimis viris
melius Ciceronis mortem deflevit quam Severus Cornelius.’
etiamsi sit. The use of the subj. would seem to indicate that
Quintilian leaves the truth of the criticism an open question (Roby
§1560). Osann is wrong in taking it as indicating Quintilian’s own
opinion. See Crit. Notes.
versificator. This word occurs also in Justin. vi. 9, 4:
versificatores meliores quam duces: Vopisc. Saturn. i. 7, 4: Terent.
Maur. 1012: Bede 2354 P. If taken in a depreciatory sense it seems
rather inconsistent with the high praise given him in what follows: but
we gather from notices in the grammarians and from the extant fragments
that Severus was ‘inclined to artificiality of expression and to the
affectation of elegance, even where the thought is quite simple,’ as in
the quotation in Charisius, p. 83 Huc ades Aonia crinem circumdata
serta. For the antithesis versificator ... poeta cp. Hor. Sat. i.
4, 39 neque enim concludere versum dixeris esse satis ... (ut) putes
hunc esse poetam.
si tamen. Tamen really goes with vindicaret, but
the inversion tamen si (Hild) is quite unnecessary; elsewhere in
Quintilian tamen is found attached to the subordinate and not to
the principal sentence: xi. 3, 56 etiam si non utique vocis sunt vitia,
quia tamen propter vocem accidunt, potissimum huic loco subiciantur: ii.
17, 24-25: cp. cum tamen xi. 3, 91. (In ix. 2, 55 si tamen = si
modo, si quidem: in quo est et illa si tamen inter schemata numerari
debet ... digressio: cp. ii. 15, 4.)
ut est dictum. Becher agrees with Halm in considering this to
be a gloss on
86
etiam si (sit) melior, and it is omitted in Krüger’s 3rd ed. But it is
obvious that (unless he is quoting from himself) Quintilian is here
giving a criticism at secondhand (dictum sc. ab aliis), and conveying
the opinion of contemporary critics: cp. §60 adeo ut videatur quibusdam, of Archilochus. No
great difficulty need be occasioned by the position of the words, though
they would have been at least as well placed in the main sentence.
Kiderlin (in Hermes) proposes to read ‘etiamsi versificator quam poeta
melior sit, tamen, ut est dictum, si ad exemplar,’ &c.
bellum Siculum: i.e. the war with Sext. Pompeius B.C. 38-36 (Siculae classica bella fugae Propert.
ii. 1, 28). Scaliger suggested bellum civile, with which
Severus’s poems seem to have dealt, either in whole or in part. The
primus liber is unknown. Bernhardy refers to the extract in
Seneca, Suas. vii. (Burm. A. L. ii. 155) as justifying Quintilian’s
criticism, and seems inclined to hazard the conjecture (based on a
quotation from Valerius Probus in the Wiener Analecta Gramm.
p. 216—Cornelius Severus rerum Romanarum l. 1) that the
title of the whole work was Res Romanae, the Bellum Siculum being only a
section.—(Can bellum Siculum have crept into the text as a
gloss on ‘primi libri,’ the more general title bellum civile
dropping out? The whole poem cannot have dealt with the bellum
Siculum).
perscripsisset: common enough in the sense of ‘write a full
account of’: here ‘from beginning to end’: cp. perlegere, pervenire.
secundum locum—among epic poets, after Vergil.
Serranum is the conjectural emendation generally adopted in
place of the readings of the MSS. It rests on the passage in Juvenal
vii. 79 Contentus fama iaceat Lucanus in hortis Marmoreis; at Serrano
tenuique Saleio Gloria quantalibet quid erit, si gloria tantum est? Some
have ascribed to him the Eclogues which have come down to us under the
name of Calpurnius Siculus. Martial (iv. 37, 2) speaks of a
Serranus who was deep in debt. Most old edd. read Sed eum, still
referring to Severus.
consummari: cp. §122: 2 §28: 5 §14 and frequently in
Quintilian (v. Bonnell’s Lex.). Seneca, Ep. 88, 28, una re consummatur
animus, scientia bonorum ac malorum immutabili, quae soli philosophiae
competit.
in aetate illa: ‘for one so young.’
recti generis: cp. §44 rectum
dicendi genus: ix. 3, §3: ii. 5, §11. The objective genitive after
‘voluntas’ is noteworthy: cp. libertatis novae gaudium Flor. i.
9, 3.
I:90
Multum in Valerio Flacco nuper amisimus. Vehemens et poeticum
ingenium Salei Bassi
87
fuit, nec ipsum senectute maturuit. Rabirius ac Pedo
non in digni cognitione, si vacet. Lucanus ardens et concitatus
et sententiis clarissimus, et, ut dicam quod sentio, magis oratoribus
quam poetis imitandus.
§ 90.
Valerio Flacco. Martial addresses him in i. 77, exhorting him,
with some irony, to give up verse-writing as unprofitable and turn
lawyer. From another epigram (i. 61) we gather that he was a native of
Padua (‘Apona tellus’). He flourished in the reign of Vespasian, to whom
he dedicated his Argonautica, c. A.D. 70, and died about 88. Juvenal may be referring
to this poem i. 8-10: where see Mayor’s notes. There is a touch of
personal sorrow about the use of amisimus. For the expression cp.
Florus iv. 7, 14 Brutus cum in Cassio suum animum perdidisset.
nuper: Flaccus died about 88 A.D. Quintilian wrote his work between 93 and
95.
Salei Bassi. Cp. tenuique Saleio, Iuv. vii. 80, quoted above.
His name occurs several times in the Dial. de Orat.: Saleium Bassum, cum
optimum virum tum absolutissimum poetam §5: egregium poetam vel si hoc
honorificentius est praeclarissimum vatem §9, where it is stated that he
got a gift of 500 sestertia from Vespasian: cp. also §10. The Bassus
ridiculed by Martial (iii. 47, 58: v. 23: viii. 10: vii. 96) is a
different person, though he also wrote tragedies: v. 53, 1-2 Colchida
quid scribis, quid scribis, amice, Thyesten? Quo tibi vel Nioben, Basse,
vel Andromachen?
87
nec ipsum senectute maturuit: ‘but it was not mellowed by
age’: nec ipsum = his genius no more than that of Serranus,
above. On the other reading (senectus maturavit) ipsum would be
accus. masc.: but the construction is harsh, and maturo in this
transitive use is only found in Pliny, of the processes of nature.
Rabirius, a contemporary of Ovid, Ep. ex Ponto iv. 16, 5
magnique Rabirius oris. Velleius Paterculus mentions him along with
Vergil, omitting Horace: inter quae (ingenia) maxime nostri aevi eminent
princeps carminum Vergilius Rabiriusque ii. 36, 3: Seneca de Benef. vi.
3, 1 egregie mihi videtur M. Antonius apud Rabirium poetam ...
exclamare, hoc habeo quodcunque dedi. He is generally supposed to be the
author of a fragment on the battle of Actium and the death of Cleopatra,
discovered in the rolls of Herculaneum.
Pedo, C. Albinovanus, friend of Ovid, who styles him
sidereus ex Pont. iv. 16, 6, carissime iv. 10, 3.
Martial refers to him as a scholarly poet (doctique Pedonis ii. 77) and
epigrammatist (i. praef.)—in both places along with Domitius
Marsus: Paley and Stone are wrong in identifying him with the Celsus
Albinovanus of Horace, Epist. i. 3, 15 and 8, 1. Seneca tells a
story he had heard from him in Ep. 122, 13, and compliments him as being
‘fabulator elegantissimus.’ M. Seneca (Suas. i. 14) gives us 23
hexameters of his which formed part of a poem celebrating the famous
voyage of Germanicus (cp. Tac. Ann. ii. 23). The ‘Consolatio ad Liviam
Augustam de morte Drusi Neronis,’ first attributed to him by Scaliger,
is now believed to be a production of the fifteenth century (Bernhardy,
pp. 486-7). He also wrote a Theseis (Ovid, ex Pont. iv. 10, 71
sq.).
Lucanus, M. Annaeus, the author of the ‘Pharsalia,’ A.D. 38-65. The criticism of Quintilian puts
before us Lucan’s merits and defects,—the predominance of the
declamatory element being prominent among the latter. In the Dial. de
Orat. §20 he is classed along with Vergil and Horace, exigitur ... ab
oratore etiam poeticus decor ... ex Horatii et Vergilii et Lucani
sacrario prolatus. On the other hand Serv. ad Aen. i. 382 Lucanus ideo
in numero poetarum esse non meruit quia videtur historiam composuisse
non poema: cp. Petron. Sat. 118. So, too, Martial xiv. 194 Lucanus, Sunt
quidam qui me dicant non esse poetam, Sed qui me vendit bibliopola
putat. The ut dicam quod sentio seems to indicate that Quintilian
is combating the prevailing sentiment about Lucan.—Cp. Heitland’s
Introd. to Lucan’s Pharsalia (Haskins), p. lxx.
sententiis—γνώμαις, v. §§50, 61, ‘such general utterances as have
a bearing upon human life and action,’ Heitland, pp. lxv-lxvii.
I:91
Hos nominavimus, quia Germanicum Augustum ab
institutis studiis deflexit cura terrarum, parumque
88
dis visum est esse eum maximum poetarum. Quid tamen his ipsis eius
operibus, in quae donato imperio iuvenis secesserat, sublimius, doctius,
omnibus denique numeris praestantius? Quis enim caneret bella melius
quam qui sic gerit? Quem praesidentes studiis deae propius audirent? Cui
magis suas artes aperiret familiare numen Minervae?
§ 91.
Hos, sub. tantum: as 5 §7 uno genere. See Nägelsbach
§84 on the omission of adverbs: p. 331 sq.
Germanicum. Domitian took this title after his expedition
against the Chatti, A.D. 84:
Frontinus, Strateg. ii. 11, 7 Imperator Caesar Augustus Germanicus eo
bello quo victis hostibus cognomen Germanici meruit. Of this triumph
Tacitus says (Agric. 39) that Domitian was conscious ‘derisui fuisse
falsum e Germania triumphum.’ For the tone of adulation cp. Proem. Book
IV, 2 sq., where Domitian is spoken of as ‘sanctissimus censor,’ and
‘principem ut in omnibus ita in eloquentia eminentissimum,’ and is even
invoked as a divinity,—nunc omnes in auxilium deos ipsumque in
primis quo neque praesentius aliud nec studiis magis propitium numen
est, invocem. Hild compares the following passages as showing the spirit
of the age:—Statius, Silvae i. 1 and 4: iii. 3: iv. 1 and 2:
Silius Italicus iii. 618 sq.: Valerius Flaccus i. 12: and Martial,
Epist. Ded. of vii.: cp. 65, 82 et passim. See Introd. p. xi.
ab institutes studiis: Suet. Dom. 2 simulavit et ipse mire
modestiam imprimisque poeticae studium, tam insuetum antea sibi quam
postea spretum et abiectum, recitavitque etiam publice. From Val. Flacc.
i. 12 it would appear that he contemplated an epic poem on the war with
the Jews. Tac. Hist. iv. 86 Domitianus sperni a senioribus iuventam suam
cernens, modice quoque et usurpata antea munia imperii omittebat,
simplicitatis ac
88
modestiae imagine, in altitudinem conditus studiumque litterarum et
amorem carminum simulans, quo velaret animum et fratris aemulationi
subduceretur, cuius disparem mitioremque naturam contra interpretabatur.
Cp. Pliny, Introd. to Nat. Hist. But Suetonius §20 gives the reverse
side: nunquam ... aut historiae carminibusve noscendis operam ullam, aut
stilo vel necessario dedit. Praeter commentarios et acta Tiberii
Caesaris nihil lectitabat; epistolas orationesque et edicta alieno
formabat ingenio.
cura terrarum: cp. Mart. viii. 82 Posse deum rebus pariter
Musisque vacare Scimus, et haec etiam serta placere tibi.
donato imperio, i.e. to his father Vespasian, as he pretended,
and his brother Titus: cp. Suet. Dom. §13 principatum adeptus neque in
senatu iactare dubitavit ‘et patri se et fratri imperium dedisse.’
numeris: §70.
qui sic gerit: cp. §114 of
Julius Caesar, ‘eodem animo dixisse quo bellavit.’ Statius has a similar
compliment to Domitian, Achil. i. 15, 16 cui geminae florent vatumque
ducumque certatim laurus: olim dolet altera vinci.
praesidentes deae: §48
invocatione dearum quas praesidere vatibus creditum est.
propius audirent: cp. Aen. i. 526 parce pio generi et propius
res aspice nostras. The phrase is used of interest as well as nearness,
and refers either to the presence and sympathy of the Muses when the
poet reads his compositions (recitavitque etiam publice Suet.
Dom. 2), or (less probably) to their gracious answer to his prayer
for inspiration. Becher cites also Ovid, Trist. i. 2, 7 oderat Aenean
propior Saturnia Turno.—See Crit. Notes.
familiare numen Minervae: Domitian was desirous of passing for
a son of Minerva (Philostratus, Vit. Apoll. vii. 24), and punished with
death a priest of Tarentum who had failed to address him by this title
in offering sacrifice. He also instituted the Quinquatria Minervae
(Suet. 4), with contests in poetry and rhetoric. At the
quinquennial festival of Jupiter Capitolinus he himself presided,
‘capite gestans coronam auream cum effigie Iovis ac Iunonis
Minervaeque.’ Merivale vii. 391-394.—Krüger cites Aen. i. 447
(templum) donis opulentum et numine divae.
I:92
Dicent haec plenius futura saecula, nunc enim ceterarum fulgore virtutum
laus ista praestringitur. Nos tamen sacra litterarum colentes feres,
Caesar, si non tacitum hoc praeterimus et Vergiliano certe versu
testamur:
inter victrices hederam tibi serpere laurus.
§ 92.
praestringitur: §30.
feres, see Crit.
Notes. The subj. (feras) is given in many edd. as more
appropriate to the subservient tone of the whole passage.
Vergiliano: Ecl. viii, 13, addressed to Pollio. Cp. Mart.
viii. 82, 7 Non quercus te sola decet, nec laurea Phoebi: fiat et ex
hedera civica nostra tibi.
I:93
Elegea quoque Graecos provocamus, cuius mihi tersus atque
89
elegans maxime videtur auctor Tibullus: sunt qui
Propertium malint. Ovidius utroque lascivior, sicut
durior Gallus. Satura quidem tota nostra est, in qua primus
insignem laudem
90
adeptus Lucilius quosdam ita deditos sibi adhuc habet amatores
ut eum non eiusdem modo operis auctoribus sed omnibus poetis praeferre
non dubitent.
§ 93.
Elegea. The form elegea is received into the text by Halm
in i. 8, 6, but not by Meister. Ovid has elegeïa,—flebilis
indignos elegeia solve capillos, Am. iii. 9, 3: cp. cultis aut elegia
comis Martial v. 30, 4. Elegi is more common: Hor. Car. i.
33, 2 miserabiles, A. P. 77 exiguos: Tib. ii. 4, 13: Prop. v. 1,
135: Iuv. i. 4.—The same names are enumerated in chronological
order by Ovid: Successor fuit hic (Tibullus) tibi, Galle, Propertius
illi. Quartus ab his serie temporis ipse fui, Trist. iv. 10, 63: Teuffel
§29.
provocamus: post-Aug. in this figurative sense: Plin. Ep. ii.
7, 4 senes illos provocare virtute: (cp. ea pictura naturam ipsam
provocavit Plin. N. H. xxxv. 10, 36 §94.) So of things
immensum Iatus circi templorom
89
pulchritudinem provocat, Panegyr. §51.—Hild quotes Diomed. iii.
60, p. 484 Quod genus carminis praecipue scripserunt apud Romanos
Propertius et Tibullus et Gallus, imitati graecos Callimachum et
Euphoriona. Catullus also had used the elegiac metre, though, as Mr.
Munro says (Catullus, p. 231), his elegies are by no means up to
the level of his lyrics. In his hands the elegy retained the ease and
freedom of its original form, though often wanting in technical finish:
Tibullus and his successors Latinized it, and adapted it to new
conditions.
tersus, ‘smooth and finished’: xii. 10, 50 quod libris
dedicatur ... tersum ac limatum ... esse oportere. So below §94.
Tibullus, c. 54-18 B.C. Hor.
Epist. i. 4: Ovid, Am. iii. 9. As distinguished from Propertius (c.
50-15 B.C.), he is the poet of warm,
tender, natural feeling, which he expresses in neat and finished verse.
He confines himself to such themes and such scenes as suited the
limitations of his genius. Propertius has more force and strength; but
he is more involved, often in fact obscure; and his indirectness and
artificiality have greatly interfered with the adequate recognition of
his undoubted powers. Cp. Muretus, Schol. in Propert.: illum (Tibullum)
iudices simplicius scripsisse quae cogitaret: hunc (Propertium)
diligentius cogitasse quae scriberet. In illo plus naturae, in hoc plus
curae atque industriae perspicias. For a modern estimate cp. Postgate’s
Select Elegies lvii. sqq., esp. lxvii: “No real judge of poetry will
hesitate for a moment to place Propertius high above them both (Tibullus
and Ovid). It is true that in some respects they may both claim the
advantage over him; Tibullus for refined simplicity, for natural grace
and exquisiteness of touch; Ovid for the technical merits of execution,
for transparency of construction, for smoothness and polish of
expression. But in all the higher qualities of a poet he is as much
their superior.”
lascivior: v. on §88. The
antithesis is here given in durior (‘more masculine’), which
seems to show that the reference is primarily to Ovid’s style: (cp. ix.
4, 142, quoted at §88). Ovid’s exuberant
vivacity and sportive imagination, as well as his indifference to deep
conviction and high ideals, might however well be included in the
criticism. Tac. Dial. 10 elegorum lascivias et iamborum amaritudinem.
Martial has of Propertius ‘Cynthia te vatem fecit, lascive Properti’
viii. 73, 5: which, like Ovid’s tener (A. A. iii. 333),
Postgate thinks refers rather to his subject than to his treatment of
it. “With Tibullus and Propertius love was at any rate a passion. With
Ovid it was une affaire de cœur.”
Gallus, Cornelius, of Forum Iulii (69-26), was the first
praefectus Aegypti under Augustus, but on a report of some rash
speeches was banished, and committed suicide in his forty-third year.
Vergil is said to have originally finished the Georgics with a tribute
to Gallus, and on being ordered to erase it, substituted the Aristaeus
episode which now occupies the latter half of Book IV. Vergil’s regard
for him, however, comes out in Eclogue vi. 64 sqq., and in the
dedication of Eclogue x. (sollicitos Galli dicamus amores), in which he
seeks to console him for the loss of his love Lycoris (Cytheris). On it
Servius observes: et Euphorionem ... transtulit in latinum sermonem (l.
50) et amorum suorum de Cytheride scripsit libros quatuor. Cp. Ovid,
Trist. ii. 445 Nec fuit opprobrio celebrasse Lycorida Gallo, Amor. i.
15, 30: Trist. iv. 10, 53: Remed. 765 Quis potuit lecto durus discedere
Gallo?
Satura. As to the derivation, v. Diomed. iii. p. 485
(Palmer, Introd. to Hor. Sat. p. vii) Satira autem dicta sive a
Satyris, quod similiter in hoc carmine ridiculae res pudendaeque
dicuntur, quae velut a Satyris proferuntur et fiunt; sive satura a
lance, quae referta variis multisque primitiis in sacro apud priscos dis
inferebatur...; sive a quodam genere farciminis, quod multis rebus
refertum saturam dicit Varro vocitatum. The second derivation (lanx
satura—the platter filled with first fruits of various sorts which
was an annual thank-offering to Ceres and Bacchus: and so a ‘medley’ or
‘hodge-podge’) was long preferred; but Mommsen holds (cp. Ribbeck, Röm.
Trag. 21) that the word means the ‘masque of the full men’ (σάτυροι),—the song enacted at a
popular carnival, when repletion in the performers leads to
90
a certain ‘fulness’ about the performance. Cp. Tibullus ii. 1, 23 saturi
... coloni: 53 satur arenti primum est modulatus avena carmen
(agricola).
tota nostra. This claim must be understood of satire in its
Roman form. The spirit of personal invective had already found
expression in the lampoons of Greek satire, e.g. in the iambics of
Archilochus and Hipponax, to say nothing of the Old Comedy at Athens;
but Satire at Rome grew to be a distinct art, a serious practical aim
being imposed on the literary form that was developed out of the
original Satura (for which see below, §95). “It followed the Old Comedy of Athens in its
plain-speaking, and the method of Archilochus in its bitter hostility to
those who provoked attack. But it differed from the former in its
non-political bias, as well as its non-dramatic form; and from the
latter in its motive, which is not personal enmity, but public spirit.
Thus the assertion of Horace (S. i. 4, 1-6) that Lucilius is indebted to
the old comedians, must be taken in a general sense only, and not be
held to invalidate the generally received opinion that, in its final and
perfective form, Satire was a genuine product of Rome” (Cruttwell,
R. L. p. 76). Contrast the ‘hinc omnis pendet Lucilius hosce
secutus’ (est) of the passage referred to with ‘Lucilius ausus (est)
primus in hunc operis componere carmina morem’ (ii. 1, 62), and the
recognition of Ennius as ‘Graecis intacti carminis auctor’ (i. 10, 66).
The claim made by Quintilian springs from the consciousness that Satire
was pre-eminently the national organ of public opinion at Rome. Whatever
the topic treated might be,—politics, literature, philosophy, or
social life and manners,—the tone was always genuinely national
and popular. Moreover, it was the only form of literature that enjoyed a
continuous development at Rome, extending as it did from the most
flourishing era of the Commonwealth into the second century of the
Empire. See for the whole subject Professor Nettleship’s Essay on the
Roman Satura—its original form in connection with its literary
development, Clarendon Press, 1878: Palmer’s Satires of Horace, Intr. p. ix.
Lucilius, C. (B.C.
168(?)-103), was a member of an equestrian family of Suessa, and
belonged to the circle of the younger Scipio, under whom he had served
during the Numantine War. He left behind him thirty books of Satires, of
which the first twenty and the thirtieth were in hexameter verse, the
others being in different metres; and of these only some 1100 lines are
now extant. He gave Satire its true popular tone at Rome, speaking out
openly and with a courageous frankness against the iniquity and
incompetence of the nobles, the sordid, avaricious and pleasure-seeking
aims of the middle-class, and the venality of the mob. Horace passes a
rather mixed judgment on him, censuring his discursiveness, roughness,
careless rapidity, and verbosity; but commending him for his original
force and frank outspokenness. See Sat. i. 4, 6-12, 57: 10, 1-5, 20-24,
48-71: ii. 1, 17, 29-34, 62-75. In the time of Tacitus some preferred
Lucilius to Horace: Dial. 23 vobis utique versantur ante oculos qui
Lucilium pro Horatio et Lucretium pro Vergilio legunt.
I:94
Ego quantum ab illis, tantum ab Horatio dissentio, qui Lucilium fluere
lutulentum et esse aliquid quod tollere possis, putat. Nam eruditio in
eo mira et libertas atque inde acerbitas et abunde salis. Multum est
tersior ac
91
purus magis Horatius et, non labor eius
amore, praecipuus. Multum et verae gloriae quamvis uno libro
Persius meruit. Sunt clari hodieque et
qui olim nominabuntur.
§ 94.
fluere lutulentum, a quotation from memory of Sat. i. 4, 11 cum
flueret lutulentus erat quod tollere velles. Cp. i. 10, 50-1 ferentem
plura quidem tollenda relinquendis.
eruditio mira: i. 6, 8 hominis eruditissimi (Lucili).
libertas: Hor. Sat. i. 4, 5 multa cum libertate notabant.
Trebonius in Cic. Fam. xii. 16, §3 deinde qui magis hoc Lucilio licuerit
assumere libertatis quam nobis? quum, etiamsi odio pari fuerit in eos
quos laesit, tamen certe non magis dignos habuerit, in quos tanta
libertate verborum incurreret: Macr. iii. 16, §17 Lucilius acer et
violentus poeta.
inde: it was his personal independence (libertas) that gave so
keen an edge to his satire (acerbitas): Hor. Sat. ii. 1, 62.
inde is in fact causal here. Becher notes pro Mur. §26 as
the only parallel
91
instance in Cicero, and there it occurs in a law formula: inde ibi ego
te ex iure manu consertum voco.
abunde salis: Verg. Aen. vii. 552 terrorum et fraudis abunde
est: Suet. Caes. 86 potentiae gloriaeque abunde, but not in earlier
prose. According to Hand. Turs. i. 71 abunde was originally neut.
of abundis, used substantially (cp. pote and necesse) and so
becoming an adverb, from which was formed in time, by a false analogy,
an adj. abundus. Other uses are (1) like ‘satis esse,’ as in
Tac. Hist. ii. 95, §5 ipse abunde ratus si praesentibus frueretur:
(2) as simple adv. qualifying verbs adjectives and other adverbs
(cp. on §25): Cic. Div. ii. 1, 3 erit
abunde satisfactum toti huic quaestioni. Sall. Iug. 14, 18 abunde magna
praesidia. Wharton takes it from *habundus, ‘possessing,’ the
gerundive of habeo.—See Crit. Notes.
multum: for multum before a comparative, like πολὺ μεῖζον etc., see
Introd. p. li.: cp.
Stat. Theb. ix. 559, Iuv. x. 197. In spite of ‘multum maius’ (de Or.
iii. §92), Cicero very rarely has multum for multo. For
the reading, see Crit. Notes.
purus magis gives the antithesis to lutulentus.
non labor: cp. vi. 3, 3 sive amore immodico praecipui in
eloquentia viri (Ciceronis) labor: Cic. Brut. 244 ambitione labi. In
spite of the stricture passed in i. 8, 6 (Horatium nolim in quibusdam
interpretari), Quint. had a high admiration for Horace: see below §96. Many codd. give nisi for
non: see Crit. Notes. For praecipuus used absolutely cp.
§§68, 81, 116.
Multum et verae = multum gloriae et quidem verae gloriae. Cp.
Cic. ad Fam. iv. 6, 1 filium consularem, claram virum et magnis rebus
gestis, amisit. So the Greek καὶ ταῦτα. For acc. w. mereo cp. §116.
quamvis: cp. §74. Even in
classical Latin quamvis is used with adjectives and adverbs, and
without any verb: but this is a more remarkable instance than e.g. Cic.
Nat. Deor. ii. 1, 1 rhetorem quamvis eloquentem: Tusc. iii. §73
stultitiam accusare quamvis copiose licet.
Persius (34-62 A.D.) The
best account of his satires is that prefixed to Conington’s edition. Cp.
Mart. iv. 29, 7 Saepius in libro numeratur Persius uno Quam levis in
tota Marsus Amazonide.
Sunt clari hodieque et: ‘there are brilliant satirists at the
present day,—men whose names will hereafter be on the roll of
fame.’ Cp. for the general sense iii. 1, 21 sunt et hodie clari eiusdem
operis auctores, qui si omnia complexi forent, consuluissent labori meo,
sed parco nominibus viventium: veniet eorum laudi suum tempus: ad
posteros enim virtus durabit, non perveniet invidia. So too §104 below qui olim nominabitur nunc
intellegitur.—This use of hodieque (‘noch
heutzutage’) is quite different from such simple instances as e.g. Cic.
de Orat. i. 103 hoc facere coeperunt hodieque faciunt, where -que is
merely copulative. The Dictt. quote several instances in post-Augustan
prose, though the word occurs in Quint. only here: Vell. Paterc. i. 4, 3
quae hodieque appellate Ionia: ii. 8, 3 porticus quae hodieque celebres
sunt: 27, 3 Utcunque cecidit, hodieque tanta patris imagine non
obscuratur eius memoria: Seneca, Epist. 90, 16 non hodieque magna
Scytharum pars tergis vulpium induitur? Plin. ii. 58, 59 §150 in
Abydi gymnasio colitur hodieque: viii. 45, 70 §176 et hodieque
reliquiae durant: Tac. Germ. iii. quod in ripa Rheni situm hodieque
incolitur: Dial. 34 ad fin., quas hodieque cum admiratione legimus:
Suet. Claud. 17: Tit. 2. Krüger (3rd. ed.) thinks that que
is thrown in to correspond with et in what follows (τε ... καί, ‘sowohl als auch’):
‘posthumous renown is introduced, as the more precious, not simply by
et olim but in a special relative clause.’ Certainly it is the
same writers who are clari now and who will hereafter receive
proper recognition (nominabuntur cp. §104 below), though at present he refrains from
giving names. The position of et, and indeed its presence at all
in the sentence, seem to be motived by the choice of the form
hodieque. But see Crit.
Notes.
Juvenal can hardly be referred to here, as his first Satire is later
than the reign of Domitian, under whom Quint. composed his work. The
reference is more probably to some minor Satirists, like the authors of
the ‘scripta famosa, vulgoque edita, quibus primores viri ac feminae
notabantur,’—mentioned by Suet. (Dom. 8) as current in
Domitian’s reign. Cp. Nero 42: Tac. Ann. i. 72.—For olim see on §104.
I:95
Alterum illud etiam
92
prius saturae genus, sed non sola carminum varietate mixtum condidit
Terentius Varro, vir Romanorum eruditissimus.
93
Plurimos hic libros et doctissimos composuit, peritissimus linguae
Latinae et omnis antiquitatis et rerum Graecarum nostrarumque, plus
tamen scientiae collaturus quam eloquentiae.
§ 95.
Alterum illud, &c. This takes
92
us back to the earliest forms of the Roman Satura. Alongside of the
Fescennine verses (Hor. Epist. ii. 139, sq.), which had originated in
the rustic raillery and coarse mirth of vintage and harvest homes, there
grew up a sort of dramatic medley or farce, probably containing an
element of dialogue, to give opportunity for the sportive exchange of
repartees, and soon coming to have a regular musical accompaniment and
corresponding gestures. These ‘Saturae’ differed from the Fescennine
verses in having more of a set form and not being extemporised; while,
again, they were distinct from the developed drama in having no
connected plot. They seem from the first to have contained a dramatic
element, consisting as they did of comic songs or stories recited with
gesticulation and flute accompaniment. In addition to the censorious
freedom which they derived from the Fescennine verses, the Saturae
received an impulse from the mimetic dances that had been imported from
Etruria. They had been acted on the stage for more than a century before
Livius Andronicus gave his first dramatic representation (B.C. 240), and after the development of the regular
drama they passed into a distinct form of literature, which retained to
some extent its dramatic cast, but was not intended now for public
representation. In the hands of Ennius the Satura became a medley of
metrical pieces—a metrical miscellany—in which the poet gave
utterance, not without the element of dialogue, to his views on things
in general, in a tone that began to be more serious than would have
suited the stage and the theatre-going public, who were now to look to
Latin Comedy for undiluted amusement. With Lucilius, Satire passed from
miscellaneous metrical composition to that aggressive and censorious
criticism of persons, manners, literature, and politics, which the word
has ever since been employed to denote. It was a form of literary
activity that would seem to have been called for by the social and
political conditions of Roman life in the latter part of the second
century.—The transition is indicated in the following passage from
Diomedes, Art. Gram. iii. p. 485 K Satira dicitur carmen apud
Romanos nunc quidem maledicum et ad carpenda hominum vitia archaeae
comoediae charactere compositum, quale scripserunt Lucilius et Horatius
et Persius; at olim carmen quod ex variis poematibus constabat satira
vocabatur, quale scripserunt Pacuvius et Ennius.
etiam prius, i.e. even before the satura of Lucilius:
cp. olim carmen quod, &c. in the passage just quoted. The
satura of Varro (like that of Menippus, whom he imitated),
besides being composed in all sorts of metres, admitted prose also:
hence ‘non sola carminum varietate mixtum’ (for the implied antithesis
cp. 7 §19 in prosa
... in carmine). It was also, in respect of material, a sort of
pot-pourri or ‘hodge-podge’: cp. multis rebus refertum, Diomedes,
l.c. See Crit. Notes.
condidit: see §56. There is no
need for Jahn’s conj. condivit. The word means ‘wrote,’
‘composed’ (not ‘founded,’ as Mayor in his analysis): cp. iii. 1, 19
primus condidit aliqua (in arte rhetorica) M. Cato: xii. II, 23
Cato ... idem historiae conditor.
Terentius Varro, M. (B.C.
116-27). Of his many works (said to number about 600) we have only three
books of the De Re Rustica, parts of the De Lingua Latina (in 25 books),
and fragments of the Menippean Satires. For the last v. esp. Mommsen,
iv. pt. 2, p. 594. A good account of Varro’s life and writings
is given in Cruttwell’s Rom. Lit. pp. 141-156. In regard to the
Saturae, v. esp. pp. 144-145: ‘There was one class of semi-poetical
composition which Varro made peculiarly his own, the Satura Menippea, a
medley of prose and verse, treating of all kinds of subjects just as
they came to hand in the plebeian style, often with much grossness, but
with sparkling point. Of these Saturae he wrote no less than 150 books,
of which fragments have been preserved amounting to near 600 lines.
Menippus of Gadara, the originator of this style of composition, lived
about 280 B.C.; he interspersed
jocular and commonplace topics with moral maxims and philosophical
doctrines, and may have added contemporary pictures, though this is
uncertain. Varro followed him; we find him in the Academicae
Quaestiones of Cicero (i. 2, 8) saying that he adopted this
method in the hope of enticing the unlearned to read something that
might profit them. In these saturae topics were
93
handled with the greatest freedom. They were not satires in the modern
sense. They are rather to be considered as lineal descendants of the old
saturae which existed before (cp. etiam prius) any regular
literature.’
Romanorum eruditissimus: cp. Cicero ad Att. xiii. 18 where,
with some pique, he writes homo πολυγραφώτατος nunquam me lacessivit (by
dedicating a work to him): August. C. D. vi. 2 homo omnium facile
acutissimus et sine ulla dubitatione doctissimus. Dion. Hal. ii. 21
ἀνὴρ ...
πολυπειρότατος: and Plut. Rom. 12 ἄνδρα Ῥωμαίων ἐν ἱστορίᾳ
βιβλιακώτατον.
omnis antiquitatis. He wrote Antiquitates rerum humanarum et
divinarum, in forty-one books. Cp. Cic. Brut. 15, 60 diligentissimus
investigator antiquitatis. For his general activity v. Acad. Post. i. 3,
9 nos in nostra urbe peregrinantes ... tui libri quasi domum reduxerunt
... tu aetatem patriae, tu descriptiones temporum, tu sacrorum iura, tu
sacerdotum, tu domesticam, tu bellicam disciplinam, tu sedem regionum,
locorum, tu omnium divinarum humanarumque rerum nomina, genera, officia,
causas aperuisti plurimumque idem poetis nostris omninoque latinis et
litteris luminis et verbis attulisti, atque ipse varium et elegans omni
fere numero poema fecisti philosophiamque multis locis inchoasti, ad
inpellendum satis, ad edocendum parum. Cp. Phil. ii. 41, 105, where
distinct reference is made (as Halm points out) to treatises de Iure
Civili, in fifteen books: de Vita Populi Romani, in four books: Annales
in three books: Antiquitates in forty-one books: de Fama Philosophiae:
and nine books Disciplinarum: Quint. xii. 11, 24, Quam multa, paene
omnia, tradidit Varro.—For this use of antiquitas cp. Tac.
Ann. ii. 59 cognoscendae antiquitatis: and other exx. in Nettleship’s
Lat. Lex. s.v. 3.
scientiae ... eloquentiae: cp. August. C. D. vi. 2
M. Varro ... tametsi minus est suavis eloquio, doctrina tamen atque
sententiis ita refertus est ut in omni eruditione ... studiosum rerum
tantum iste doceat quantum studiosum verborum Cicero delectat. For the
datives cp. §27, §63, §71: conferre with
in c. acc. occurs 7 §26, q.v.
I:96
Iambus non sane a Romanis celebratus est ut proprium opus, sed
aliis quibusdam interpositus; cuius acerbitas in Catullo,
Bibaculo,
94
Horatio, quamquam illi epodos intervenit, reperietur. At
lyricorum idem Horatius fere solus legi dignus; nam et insurgit
aliquando et plenus est iucunditatis et gratiae et varius figuris et
verbis felicissime audax. Si quem adicere velis, is erit Caesius
Bassus, quem nuper vidimus; sed eum longe praecedunt ingenia
viventium.
§ 96.
Iambus = carmina iambica: cp. §9, §59.
celebratus est: cp. ix. 2, 92 celebrata apud Graecos schemata:
i. 9, 6 narratiunculas a poetis celebratas. Cp. frequentare.
ut proprium opus, i.e. as a separate form of composition, such
as it was in the hands of Archilochus, Hipponax, and Simonides.
aliis quibusdam (sc. carminibus) interpositus. Hild
takes this as referring both to the alternation of the iambic with other
metres and the substitution of other feet for the iambus itself (as
commonly in Horace). It is probable that it only includes the former,
being repeated, as regards Horace, in the words quamquam illi epodos
intervenit.’ See Crit. Notes.
Catullo. Cp. Fragm. i. At non effugies meos iambos. The most
famous examples of his acerbitas are the lampoons on Julius
Caesar, especially that contained in the twenty-ninth poem (where see
Munro for an appreciation of the meaning of ancient defamation and
invective). Here Catullus appears as the genuine successor of the early
Greek iambic writers. (Cp. the more offensive hendecasyllabics of lvii.)
These are the two poems which Suetonius (Caesar 73) regarded as having
attached an ‘everlasting stigma’ to the name of Caesar: cp. liii. ad
fin. Irascere iterum meis iambis Immerentibus unice imperator. Sellar’s
Roman Poets, p. 431 sq.
Bibaculo. M. Furius Bibaculus (b. at Cremona B.C. 99),
like Catullus, the author of lampoons directed especially against the
monarchists: Tac. Ann. iv. 34 carmina Bibaculi et Catulli referta
contumeliis Caesarum leguntur: sed ipse divus Iulius, ipse divus
Augustus et tulere ista et reliquere. Some apply to him the words of
Horace, Satires ii. 5, 40, sq. seu pingui tentus omaso Furius hibernas
cana nive conspuet Alpes (where the scholiast credits him with having
written an account of the Gallic War): also i. 10, 36 Turgidus
94
Alpinus iugulat dum Memnona,—the nickname Alpinus having been
given to him on account of this ludicrous description of Jupiter
sputtering snow over the Alps: v. Quint. viii. 6, 17, where the
original line is quoted as an instance of a forced metaphor. The
reference in i. 10, 36 is however doubtful; and Bernhardy (R. L.
p. 566) supposes that in both passages some unknown poet is meant,
whose name may have been Furius Alpinus. See Teuffel, R. L. i.
313.
illi, sc. iambo = iambicis versibus.
epodos: ὁ
ἐπῳδός, sc. στίχος
= a shorter (iambic) verse, alternating with a longer. Epodi dicuntur
versus quolibet modo scripti et sequentes clausulas habentes
particularum quales sunt epodi Horatii: in quibus singulis versibus
singulae clausulae adiciuntur.... Dicti autem epodi συνεκδοχικῶς a partibus versuum,
quae legitimis et integris versibus ἐπᾴδονται, i.e. accinuntur: Diomedes. Though the term
epode includes all kinds of metre (except elegiac) in which a long and a
short line are combined, it is used especially of the alternation of the
iambic trimeter and dimeter (Hor. Epod. 1-10). Horace himself (who has
only one poem—Epod. 17—in iambic trimeter by itself)
includes all his Epodes under the head of iambi: Epod. 14, 7: Ep. i. 19,
23-25 Parios ego primus iambos ostendi Latio numeros animosque secutus
Archilochi: cp. Car. i. 16, 3, and esp. 23-25 me quoque pectoris
Tentavit in dulci iuventa Fervor et in celeres iambos Misit furentem. In
Ep. ii. 2, 59 he divides his poetry into carmina—Odes:
iambi—Epodes: and ‘Bionei sermones’—Satires.
Of course it was not Horace who introduced the epode into the
Archilochean iambics: the form was invented and used by Archilochus
himself. See Bernhardy, p. 601.
legi dignus: a poetical constr., which passed into the prose
of the Silver Age: cp. Plin. Paneg. vii. 4 dignus alter eligi alter
eligere. See Crit. Notes.
varius figuris: cp. §68
sententiis densus.
verbis felicissime audax: cp. Hor. A. P. 46 sq.: In
verbis etiam tenuis cautusque serendis, hoc amet, hoc spernat promissi
carminis auctor. Dixeris egregie notum si callida verbum Reddiderit
iunctura novum,—where Orelli gives, as instances of callida
iunctura in Horace himself, the well-known phrases ‘splendide
mendax,’ ‘insanientis sapientiae consultus,’ ‘animae magnae prodigus.’
Cp. Petron. Sat. 118 Horatii curiosa felicitas. Ovid pronounces his
eulogy in Trist. iv. 10, 49 Tenuit nostras numerosus Horatius aures, Dum
ferit Ausonia carmina culta lyra.
Caesius Bassus: mentioned by Ovid in the lines immediately
preceding the passage just quoted, ll. 47-8: Ponticus Heroo, Bassus
quoque clarus Iambo, Dulcia convictus membra fuere mei. He was the
friend of Persius, who addresses his sixth Satire to him: and at the
request of Cornutus he edited the whole six, after they had been
prepared for publication by the latter. He is said to have perished in
the eruption of Vesuvius (A.D. 79),
which was fatal also to the elder Pliny. He is probably the Bassus who
wrote a treatise on metres, which still exists in an interpolated
epitome: Keil. Gram. Lat. vi. 305 sq.—For vidimus,
‘amisimus’ and ‘perdidimus’ have been needlessly suggested.
ingenia viventium: cp. sunt clari hodieque §94 above. It is only in favour of Domitian §91 that Quint. breaks his rule not to mention living
writers. Hild suspects Quint. of a little ‘log-rolling’ in these
compliments.
I:97
Tragoediae scriptores veterum Attius atque Pacuvius
clarissimi
95
gravitate sententiarum, verborum pondere, auctoritate personarum.
96
Ceterum nitor et summa in excolendis operibus manus magis videri potest
temporibus quam ipsis defuisse; virium tamen Attio plus tribuitur,
Pacuvium videri doctiorem qui esse docti adfectant volunt.
§ 97.
Tragoediae scriptores. Quint. did not consider it necessary for
his purpose to take any account of the first beginnings of tragedy,
otherwise he would have mentioned Livius Andronicus (284-204), Naevius
(235), and Ennius himself, who was probably almost as great in tragedy
as in narrative poetry. It was
95
Ennius who first impressed on Roman tragedy the deeply moral and highly
didactic character which it bore down to the age of Cicero. He made it
his endeavour to hold up patterns of heroic virtue to his audience and
to inspire them with right ideas of life. Even his adaptations from the
Greek (nearly half of the extant names of his tragedies suggest subjects
taken from the Trojan cycle) are fired with the truly national spirit
which he succeeded in handing on to his successors, Attius and Pacuvius.
Ennius also wrote some praetextatae (i.e. national tragedies on
historic subjects of poetic interest, e.g. the Rape of the Sabine
Women); and in view of this fact it may appear strange that his example
was not more widely followed, so that these national dramas should have
outlived the hackneyed subjects drawn from Greek legend. The reason
probably is that there was too much party life in Rome to make the
dramatic treatment of the national history equally acceptable to all.
Few incidents could have been dramatised that would not have excited
various feelings in the hearts of an audience, say, in the times of the
Gracchi. Under the Empire the free treatment of the national history for
dramatic purposes was positively discouraged, and under the Republic the
Senate had exercised almost as severe a political censorship as the
Emperor did in later times.
From many points of view it might have been expected that tragedy
would have found a congenial home at Rome. There was much in the
national character, history, and institutions that was favourable to its
growth. The speculative element and the deep spiritual interest which
pervades Greek tragedy must no doubt have been absent; though Schlegel
thought that the place of Nemesis could naturally have been taken by the
idea of Religio, in so far as it comprehended the subordination of the
individual to the State, and his supreme self-surrender. But tragedy
flourished at Rome only during a comparatively short period: the
populace probably failed to rise to the demands made on them by its
lofty and serious purpose. Their tastes became more and more estranged
from it, as gladiatorial and spectacular shows grew in favour; and
appreciation of the drama came to be the proof of the culture of a small
and exclusive class. But the popularity which it enjoyed for a time must
have been due to the fact that, though the subjects were generally
adapted from the Greek, Roman tragedy came to have a character of its
own. It appealed to the ethical and political sympathies of the
audience, and satisfied that taste for rhetoric which led afterwards to
the development of Latin oratory. There may have been about it no subtle
analysis of character, no lofty delineation of the action and passion of
men entangled in the meshes of a destiny which they could neither
understand nor unravel; but it seems to have embodied all the manly
feeling and moral dignity of which the nation was capable. By its
vigorous rhetoric it may be said at least to have helped to develop the
language for use in those departments in which it achieved so great
success, i.e. oratory, history, and philosophical composition. And when
under the Empire literature had become altogether divorced from
practical life, the composition of tragedies was still a favourite
practice with many (e.g. Seneca) who recognised in that pursuit an
appropriate sphere for the rhetorical style which was then so much in
vogue.
Attius L., (170-about 90 B.C.) should have come after Pacuvius, as being
fifteen years younger. He produced his first play in conjunction with
Pacuvius, cir. 140. We have the titles of about fifty of his dramas, and
the fragments extant contain some 700 verses. He seems to have had
pretty much the same qualities as Ennius and Pacuvius, manly seriousness
of style combined with fervour of spirit. Cicero, who is said to have
conversed with him in his boyhood, and others, bear witness to his
oratorical force, his gravity, and passionate energy: pro Plancio, §59
gravis et ingeniosus poeta: pro Sest. §120 summus poeta: Ovid, Am. i.
15, 19 animosi Attius oris: Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 55-6 Ambigitur quotiens uter
utro sit prior, aufert Pacuvius docti famam senis, Accius alti. Sellar’s
Rom. Poets, pp. 146-7. Quintilian gives a shrewd answer of his (v.
13, 43): aiunt Attium interrogatum cur causas non ageret, cum apud eum
in tragoediis tanta vis esset optime respondendi, hanc reddidisse
rationem: quod illic ea dicerentur quae ipse vellet, in foro dicturi
adversarii essent quae minime vellet.
Pacuvius, M. (220-132), the son of Ennius’s sister. Of
provincial birth (his birth-place was Brundisium), he could
96
not, according to Cicero, boast the pure Latinity which was the pride of
Naevius and Plautus: Brut. §258 Caecilium et Pacuvium male locutos
videmus. But in Orat. §36 an imaginary opinion is given as
follows:—omnes apud hunc ornati elaboratique versus, multa apud
alterum (Ennium) neglegentius. Martial (xi. 90), addressing a
wrong-headed admirer of the old poets, jeers at him for delighting in
archaisms,—Attonitusque legis terrai frugiferai Attius et quidquid
Pacuviusque vomunt. We have about 400 lines extant, which are discussed
in Sellar’s Roman Poets, and also by Ribbeck (Römische Tragödie,
pp. 216-339). The epithet doctus, in the use of which Horace
and Quintilian agree, probably refers to his wide acquaintance with
Greek literature: see below.
clarissimi: see Crit.
Notes.
nitor: v. on §79: and cp. §§33, 83, 98, 113: §124 cultus ac nitor.
summa manus: Cic. Brut. §126 manus extrema (the ‘finishing
touch’) non accessit operibus eius: Cp. i. pr. §4 quasi perfectis omni
alio genere doctrinae summam inde eloquentiae manum imponerent. See on
§21.
magis ... temporibus: but see Cicero, Brut. l.c. Aetatis
illius ista fuit laus, tamquam innocentiae, sic latine loquendi ...
omnes tum fere ... recte loquebantur.
virium Attio: cp. Ovid’s ‘animosi oris,’ quoted above: Vell.
Paterc. ii. §9 adeo quidem ut in illis limae in hoc paene plus videatur
fuisse sanguinis. Persius is less complimentary, Brisaei ... venosus
liber Acci (1, 76), the ‘shrivelled volume of the old Bacchanal
Accius.’—Quintilian is here only recording current literary
opinion: but such references as those at i. 5, 67: 7, 14: 8, 11: v. 10,
84: 13, 43 go far to prove independent knowledge.
doctiorem: cp. Horace’s ‘docti famam senis,’ quoted above.
esse docti adfectant: for the constr. cp. §72 meruit credi secundus: Introd. p. lvi. Cp. Hor. Sat. i. 9, 7
noris nos, inquit, docti sumus, where Professor Wilkins remarks: “The
epithet of doctus was especially assumed by those who were versed
in Greek literature and mythology, especially the products of the
Alexandrine school.” It aptly characterises the artificial tendencies of
the literature of the Empire.
Iam—a formula of transition. Kr.3 suggests
Nam: see on §12.
I:98
Iam Vari Thyestes cuilibet Graecarum comparari potest.
Ovidi Medea videtur mihi ostendere quantum ille vir praestare
potuerit si ingenio suo imperare quam indulgere
97
maluisset. Eorum quos viderim longe princeps Pomponius
Secundus, quem senes quidem parum tragicum putabant, eruditione ac
nitore praestare confitebantur.
§ 98.
L. Varius Rufus (64 B.C.-9
A.D.), the friend of Vergil and Horace
(Hor. Sat. i. 5, 40: 6, 55), enjoyed a high reputation as an epic
poet before he took up tragedy. Macrobius (vi. 1, 39 sq.: i. 2, 19 sq.)
gives twelve hexameters of his from an epic poem on Caesar’s death:
hence Hor. Sat. i. 10, 51 forte epos acer ut nemo Varius ducit. From a
Panegyricus Augusti Horace is said to have borrowed the verses which
occur Ep. i. 16, 27-29. Cp. the ode addressed to Agrippa (i. 6)
Scriberis Vario ... Maeonii carminis alite. He is mentioned as an epic
poet together with Vergil, Ep. ii. 1, 147: A. P. 55. His tragedy
Thyestes was performed at the games after the battle of Actium (B.C. 29). Cp. Tac. Dial. 12 Nec ullus Asinii
aut Messallae liber tam illustris est quam Medea Ovidii aut Varii
Thyestes: Philargyr. on Verg. Ecl. viii. 10 Varium cuius exstat Thyestes
tragoedia, omnibus tragicis praeferenda. A quotation from it is
given iii. 8, 45. He edited the Aeneid after Vergil’s death, along
with Plotius and Tucca: probably prefixing the biographical sketch from
which Quintilian quotes x.
3, 8.
Graecarum, sc. fabularum.
Medea: a quotation from it is given viii. 5, 6 servare potui:
perdere an possim rogas?
quantum potuerit ... si maluisset: cp. §62. The use of the perf. subj. in such a sentence
corresponds to the use of the pf. ind. in oratio recta with verbs
implying possibility, duty, right, &c., as if to express the idea
more unconditionally: e.g. deleri totus exercitus potuit si fugientes
persecuti victores essent (Livy xxxii. 12), So Ventum erat eo ut si
hostem similem antiquis Macedonum regibus habuisset consul magna clades
accipi potuerit (Livy xliv. 4). Roby, 1568.
ingenio imperare: cp. nimium amator ingenii sui §88.
97
quos viderim, §118. The subj.
seems to be used here on the analogy of the qui of restriction
and limitation (Roby 1692): omnium quidem oratorum, quos quidem ego
cognoverim, acutissimum iudico Q. Sertorium Brut. §48: cp. §65. The indic. is also used: in iis etiam quos
ipsi vidimus xii. 10, 11.
Pomponius Secundus underwent an imprisonment of several years’
duration on account of his friendship with Aelius Gallus, son of
Sejanus: Tac. Ann. v. 8 multa morum elegantia et ingenio illustri: ibid.
xi. 13: xii. 28, where we are told that he obtained a triumph under
Claudius,—modica pars famae eius apud postero, in quis carminum
gloria praecellit: Dial. xiii, ne nostris quidem temporibus Secundus
Pomponius Afro Domitio vel dignitate vitae vel perpetuitate famae
cesserit. One of his plays was called ‘Aeneas.’ He died 60 A.D.
parum tragicum: contrast Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 166 Nam spirat
tragicum satis et feliciter audet. See Crit. Notes.
I:99
In comoedia maxime claudicamus. Licet Varro Musas, Aeli Stilonis
sententia,
98
Plautino dicat sermone locuturas fuisse, si Latine loqui vellent, licet
Caecilium veteres laudibus ferant, licet Terenti
scripta ad Scipionem Africanum referantur (quae tamen sunt in hoc
99
genere elegantissima, et plus adhuc habitura gratiae si intra versus
trimetros stetissent),
§ 99.
maxime claudicamus. No doubt this dictum must be taken as
implying that ‘the educated taste of Romans under the Empire did not
find much that was congenial in the works of Plautus, Caecilius, or
Terence’ (Sellar, R. P. p. 154). But Quintilian must also have
been biassed by a comparison with Greek Comedy, of the superiority of
which we can have only an imperfect appreciation, owing to the
scantiness of the survivals; while in depreciating Roman Comedy, as
compared with Tragedy, he also had the advantage over us of a full
acquaintance with the whole range of the latter. Moreover, it was
Satire, not Comedy, that represented at Rome much of the spirit of the
old Comedy of Athens. Horace, too, is more severe on Plautus than on
Ennius and the tragic poets (Ep. ii. 1, 170: A. P. 270 sq.). Again,
in Quintilian’s day the Mimus had so completely re-asserted its position
that the production of comedies seems to have almost entirely ceased.
“Comedy was not congenial to the educated or the uneducated taste of
Romans in the last years of the Republic, and in the early Empire. But,
on the other hand, the popularity enjoyed by the old comedy between the
time of Naevius and of Terence, and even down to the earlier half of the
Ciceronian age, when some of the great parts in Plautus continued to be
performed by the ‘accomplished Roscius,’ and the admiration expressed
for its authors by grammarians and critics, from Aelius Stilo down to
Varro and Cicero, shows its adaptation to an earlier and not less
vigorous, if less refined stage of intellectual development; while the
actual survival of many Roman comedies can only be accounted for by a
more real adaptation to human nature, both in style and substance, than
was attained by Roman tragedy in its straining after a higher ideal of
sentiment and expression.” Sellar, Roman Poets l.c.
Musas. To this Muretus added ‘Ne illae saepe, si Plautino more
loquerentur, meretricio magis quam virginali more loquerentur.’ For the
epigram cp. Plato on Aristophanes Αἱ χάριτες τέμενός τι λαβεῖν ὅπερ οὐχὶ πεσεῖται Διζόμεναι
ψυχὴν εὗρον Ἀριστοφάνους.
Aeli Stilonis, the first Roman philologist (144-70 B.C.). His name was L. Aelius Praeconinus: he
received the additional cognomen Stilo on the ground of his literary
eminence. Suet, de Gramm. 2 Aelius cognomine duplici fuit; nam et
Praeconinus, quod pater eius praeconium fecerat, vocabatur, et Stilo,
quod orationes nobilissimo cuique scribere solebat. Cp. Cic. Brut. §205
scribebat tamen orationes quas alii dicerent: and above, fuit is omnino
vir egregius et eques Romanus cum primis honestus idemque eruditissimus
et Graecis litteris et Latinis, antiquitatisque nostrae et in inventis
rebus et in actis scriptorumque veterum litterate peritus. Quam
scientiam Varro noster acceptam ab illo auctamque per sese ... pluribus
et illustrioribus litteris explicavit. Varro ap. Gell. N. A. i. 18,
2 L. Aelius noster, litteris ornatissimus memoria nostra: and
L. L. vii. 2 homo in primis in litteris latinis exercitatus. Varro
was his pupil; and we are told by Gellius (iii. 3, 1) that both
master and pupil made lists of the plays of Plautus, Varro
distinguishing his classes according to his personal feeling and
judgment as to whether a play was worthy of Plautus or not. Cicero tells
98
us (l.c.) that in his youth he was a very diligent student under Aelius;
and as Lucilius addressed some of his satires to him he may be looked on
as a bond of connection between the two epochs.
sententia: abl. by itself, after the analogy of mea,
tua, sententia. Varro took the criticism from his
master.
vellent: the possibility is looked upon as still present.
Plautino sermone. Plautus (254-184) fills a very distinct
place in the development of Latin comedy. He engrafted the festive
traditions of the Italian farce on the literary form which he borrowed
from Greece, producing a picture of Roman life and manners which secured
for his dramas a degree of popularity that caused them to be represented
almost uninterruptedly down even to the fourth century of our era.
Modern comedy is under deep obligations to him if only for his spirit of
unrestrained fun. See Bernhardy, p. 452 sq.: Teuffel §§84-88:
Cruttwell’s Rom. Lit. pp. 43-48: and Sellar’s Roman Poets,
p. 189 sq.
Caecilius, Statius (219-166), an Insubrian Gaul by birth, and
contemporary with Ennius. Fragments of his plays are preserved by
Gellius, who tells us (xv. 24) that Volcatius Sedigitus (a critic
who probably belonged to the earlier part of the first
century,—Ritschl, Parerga, p. 240 sq.) placed him at the head
of all the Roman comic poets: Caecilio palmam statuo dandam comico,
Plautus secundus facile exsuperat ceteros. The three next are Naevius,
Licinius, and Atilius; Terence comes only sixth on the list. Cicero
inclines to the same verdict: de Opt. Gen. Orat. §1 itaque licet dicere
et Ennium summum epicum poetam, si cui ita videtur: et Pacuvium
tragicum: et Caecilium fortasse comicum. But elsewhere he censures his
provincial style: Brutus, §258 Caecilium et Pacuvium male locutos
videmus: ad. Att. vii. 3, 10 malus enim auctor Latinitatis est. For
other quotations v. de Orat. ii §40: Lael. 99: de Sen. 96: de Fin.
i. 4. Nonius (p. 374) quotes Varro as saying In argumentis
Caecilius poscit palmam, in ethesi Terentius, in sermonibus Plautus.
Horace’s criticism (Ep. ii. 1, 57) is still more familiar: Dicitur
Afrani toga convenisse Menandro, Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare
Epicharmi, Vincere Caecilius gravitate, Terentius arte. By
gravitas Horace probably means the sententious maxims for which
he was distinguished (Sellar, p. 202). See Mommsen, ii. 441.
Caecilius imitated Menander mainly, to whom Gellius compares him (ii.
23), while admitting the superiority of his Greek model. He is said
neither to have amused his audience, like Plautus, by confounding Greek
and Roman terms, manners, and customs, &c., nor like Terence, on the
other hand, to have carefully excised everything that did not accord
with Roman usage. He is said also to have recognised the division of
tastes and interests that was now springing up at Rome, and to have
begun to address only the higher classes, to whom Plautus had appealed
along with ‘the gallery.’
laudibus ferant, for the Ciceronian efferant: Tac. Ann.
ii. 13. Cp. Introd. p. l.
Terentii scripta ... elegantissima. The gap between the
classes at Rome, alluded to above, had widened in the interval that
separates Plautus from Terence (cir. 194-159 B.C.). The educated class was growing more refined
and fastidious under the leavening influence of Greek culture, while the
uneducated section of the people was gradually becoming coarser and more
debased. A leading member of the Scipionic circle, he may be said
to have begun the movement by which the creations of the genius of Rome
became more perfect as works of art addressed to a smaller circle of men
of rank and education, but lost also something of directness of purpose
as having less bearing on the passions and interests of the time. The
growing appreciation of Greek literature had produced a sense of
dissatisfaction with the uncouth efforts of a previous age; and elegance
of style, the cultivation of refinement and taste in thought and
language, were the objects now aimed at. There is distinctly less of the
drollery of the tavern about Terence than about Plautus. The ‘art’ with
which Horace credits him (v. above) is seen in the careful finish of his
style. Cp. Caesar’s lines, quoted by Sueton. Vit. Terent., in which he
calls him puri sermonis amator, and dimidiate Menander.
See Sellar, p. 208 sq.: Mommsen, vol. iii. p. 449 sq.
ad Scipionem Africanum. Cp. Sueton. Vit. Ter. (Roth.
p. 293) non obscura fama
99
est adiutum Terentium in scriptis a Laelio et Scipione, eamque ipse
auxit nunquam nisi leviter refutare conatus, ut in prologo Adelphorum:
Nam quod isti dicunt malevoli, homines nobiles Hunc adiutare adsidueque
una scribere, &c. The rumour may have arisen from the fact of his
Carthaginian origin, which renders all the more remarkable the success
with which he cultivated a refined and elegant style.
plus adhuc = etiam plus: see on §71.
habitura. For this use of the fut. part, in a conditional
sentence cp. xi. 1, 74 detracturus alioqui plurimum auctoritatis sibi si
eum se esse qui temere nocentes reos susciperet fateretur. So too §119 below (without a si clause):
pronuntiatio vel scaenis suffectura.
intra versus trimetros. This is a curious criticism, but it
can be paralleled from Priscian, de Metris Terentii: quosdam vel
abnegare esse in Terentii comoediis metra, vel ea quasi arcana quaedam
et ab omnibus doctis semota sibi solis esse cognita confirmare. The
vagaries of comic prosody were certainly not appreciated by ancient
critics: they could not excuse what to them seemed carelessness and
undue freedom from constraint: cp. Cicero, Orat. §184 at comicorum
senarii propter similitudinem sermonis sic saepe sunt abiecti ut
nonnunquam vix in eis numerus et versus intellegi possit. Quintilian and
others would no doubt have preferred a stricter imitation of Menander’s
versification. Horace himself took the same point of view in writing
about Plautus, Ep. ii. 1, 272 si modo ego et vos ... legitimumque sonum
digitis callemus et aure. Cp. Bernhardy, 325 n. and 350 n.
I:100
vix levem consequimur umbram: adeo ut mihi sermo ipse Romanus non
recipere videatur illam solis concessam Atticis venerem, cum eam ne
Graeci quidem in alio genere linguae suae obtinuerint. Togatis
excellit Afranius: utinam non inquinasset argumenta puerorum
foedis amoribus mores suos fassus.
100
§ 100.
vix levem ... umbram: a proverbial expression, from the same
disparaging point of view as claudicamus, above.
alio genere linguae suae, i.e. another dialect. The charm
referred to is the peculiar property of Attic writers
generally,—not the comic poets alone. Latin is too formal and
rhetorical to fall into the simple naturalness and directness of Attic
Greek. For suae see Crit.
Notes.
Togatis, sc. fabulis. The Comoediae Togatae (though
founded on Greek models) aspired to be thoroughly national in dress,
manners, and tone: quae scriptae sunt secundum ritus et habitum
togatorum, i.e. Romanorum (Diom. iii. p. 489). On the other hand,
in the Palliatae of Plautus, Caecilius and Terence (so called
from pallium, the Greek actor’s cloak, xi. 3, 143), all the
surroundings are meant to be Greek, though much of the fun of the
Plautine comedy is the result of the inconsistencies that sprang from
the introduction into Greek circumstances of Roman names, scenes,
manners, and characters.
Afranius, fl. cir. 150 B.C.
He was the chief writer of togatae, and began to aim at getting
rid altogether of Greek surroundings: and so comedy, descending into the
low humours of Italian country life, and specially the debaucheries of
the Italian towns, rapidly degenerated into farce. He borrowed freely
from Menander: dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menandro, Hor. Ep. ii. 1,
57,—‘Menander’s speeches came very well from the characters of
Afranius.’ Cic. de Fin. i. 3, 7. But he did not confine his
attentions to Menander only: Macrob. Sat. vi. 1, 4 Afranius togatarum
scriptor ... non inverecunde respondens arguentibus quod plura
sumpsisset a Menandro, ‘Fateor,’ inquit, ‘sumpsi non ab illo modo sed ut
quisque habuit conveniret quod mihi, quodque me non melius facere
credidi, etiam a Latino.’ Cicero, Brut. §167 L. Afranius poeta,
homo perargutus, in fabulis quidem etiam, ut scitis, disertus.
utinam non, i. 2, 6: ix. 3, 1: more usually utinam ne:
Cic. ad Fam. 5, 17 illud utinam ne vere scriberem: Catull. 64, 171.
Krüger (3rd ed.) cites however Cic. ad Att. xi. 9, 3 haec ad te die
natali meo scripsi: quo utinam susceptus non essem aut ne quid ex eadem
matre postea natum esset.
foedis amoribus: cp. Auson. Epigr.
100
71 vitiosa libido ... quam toga facundi scenis agitavit Afrani.
I:101
At non historia cesserit Graecis. Nec opponere Thucydidi
Sallustium verear, nec indignetur sibi Herodotus aequari
Titum Livium, cum in narrando mirae iucunditatis clarissimique
candoris, tum in contionibus supra quam enarrari potest eloquentem:
101
ita quae dicuntur omnia cum rebus, tum personis accommodata sunt:
adfectus quidem praecipueque eos qui sunt dulciores, ut parcissime
dicam, nemo historicorum commendavit magis.
§ 101.
cesserit. So §85 auspicatissimum
dederit exordium: cp. cesserimus §86. There
is no need for Halm’s suggestion in historia cesserimus: or
Spalding’s cesserim with historia in abl. Cp. Cicero, de
Legg. i. 2, 5 ut in hoc etiam genere Graeciae nihil cedamus, and the
whole passage.
Sallustium. This is a bold statement. Sallust evidently
accepted Thucydides as his literary model, imitating his style, and
following him in his speeches and the general arrangement of his work.
(Capes’ Sallust: Introd. p. 13 sq.). Brevity (cp. illa Sallustiana
brevitas §32) is a conspicuous feature in
both: but the brevity of Thucydides is greatly the result of inability
to keep pace with the rush of thought, whereas that of Sallust is often
laboured and artificial, and is attained by conscious processes of
excision and compression. Cp. iv. 2, 45 vitanda est etiam illa
Sallustiana (quamquam in ipso virtutis obtinet locum) brevitas et
abruptum sermonis genus: Seneca, Ep. 114, 17 Sallustio vigente amputatae
sententiae et verba ante exspectatum cadentia et obscura brevitas fuere
pro cultu: Aul. Gell. iii. 1, 6 Sallustium subtilissimum brevitatis
artificem. His Grecisms are referred to by Quint. ix. 3, 17 ex Graeco
vero translata vel Sallustii plurima. According to Suetonius (Gramm. 10
extr.) Ateius exhorted Asinius Pollio (ut) vitet maxime obscuritatem
Sallustii et audaciam in translationibus. For the high esteem in which
he was held in antiquity cp. Velleius ii. 36, 2 aemulum Thucydidi
Sallustium: Tacitus, Ann. iii. 30 rerum Romanarum florentissimus auctor:
Martial xiv. 191 primus Romana Crispus in historia. See Teuffel
§§203-205. In modern times Milton exalted him above Tacitus, saying of
the latter that ‘his highest praise consists in his having imitated
Sallust with all his might.’ On the other hand Scaliger spoke of
Sallust’s style as ‘anxium atque insiticium dicendi genus.’
Titum Livium. Quintilian’s estimate of Livy is very happily
expressed so far as it goes. He ignores of course the defects which are
obvious to modern students of Livy,—his want of that historic
sense which shows itself in ability to trace the gradual development of
institutions and to take a philosophic view of general political and
social conditions, his indifference to the scrupulous collation and
weighing of evidence, and his neglect of chronological and geographical
precision. Munro in his ‘Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus’ speaks
of Livy’s style as the greatest prose style that has ever been written
in any age or language, and certainly it has all the beauties which
Quintilian mentions here: besides, the happy adaptation of the language
to the ever-varying phases of the subject is one of its greatest charms.
Teuffel, §251 sq. The best proof of Livy’s popularity in ancient times
may be found in the story of the man from Gades, Pliny, Ep. ii. 3, 8
Nunquamne legisti Gaditanum quendam Titi Livi nomine gloriaque commotum
ad visendum eum ab ultimo terrarum orbe venisse statimque ut viderat
abisse?
narrando ... contionibus. This antithesis is common in
Dionysius: διηγήσεσιν ... δημηγορίαις (ad Pomp.
p. 776 R, Us. pp. 58-9) τὸ διηγηματικὸν μέρος ... τὸ
δημηγορικόν (Iud. de Thucyd.) p. 952 R.
candoris, ‘transparency’: ii. 5, 19 candidissimum quemque et
maxime expositum velim, ut Livium a pueris magis quam Sallustium: etsi
hic historiae maior est auctor, ad quem tamen intellegendum iam profectu
opus sit: §32 lactea ubertas. Cp. dulcis et candidus et fusus Herodotus
§73, where see note: §113 nitidus et candidus.—In a different
sense, Seneca, Suas. vi. 22, ut est natura candidissimus omnium magnorum
ingeniorum aestimator T. Livius.
contionibus. The speeches are introduced in order to give a
portrait of some one (xlv. 25, 3), or to indicate motives (viii. 7:
iii. 47, 5). Though they make no claim to historical truth (in hanc
sententiam locutum accipio iii. 67, 1), they generally give a
trustworthy picture of the circumstances and character of the speaker:
cp. e.g. vii. 34. In some instances we can see how Livy rhetorically
101
enlarges on the brief hints of a predecessor: cp. Polyb. iii. 64 with
Liv. xxi. 40 sq. Teuffel §252, 12.
supra quam: cp. Sall. Cat. 5, 3 supra quam cuiquam credibile
est: Iug. 24, 5: Cicero, Orator §139 saepe supra feret quam fieri posset
(cp. de Nat. Deor. ii. §136). Quintilian has inenarrabilis xi. 3,
177, which occurs also in Livy xliv. 5, 1: xli. 15, 2.
eloquentem: viii. 1, 3 Tito Livio, mirae facundiae viro: Tac.
Agr. 10 Livius veterum Fabius Rusticus recentium eloquentissimi
auctores: Ann. iv. 34 T. Livius eloquentiae ac fidei praeclarus in
primis: Seneca, de Ira i. 20, 6 apud disertissimum virum Livium.
adfectus: §48 adfectus quidem,
vel illos mites vel hos concitatos: ‘the softer passions.’
parcissime: cp. below, 4 §4 qui parcissime: xi. 1, 66:
3, 100.
commendavit magis: ‘has set in a fairer light,’ ‘represented
more perfectly’ (‘hat angemessen und eindringlich
dargestellt.’—Bonnell-Meister). Spalding felt a difficulty about
this word, but rightly suggested that it means ‘approbavit suis
lectoribus,’—a meaning to which ut parcissime dicam is
quite appropriate. The nearest parallel is iv. 1, 13 Nam tum dignitas
eius (litigatoris) adlegatur, tum commendatur infirmitas (‘set in a
strong light,’ ‘made much of’),—where too the verb is used
absolutely, without a dative. The usual construction is found v. 11, 38
misericordiam commendabo iudici. In the sense of ‘set off’
(ornare), without a dat., we have quae memoria complecteretur
actio commendaret viii. Prooem. 6: quaedam ... virtus haec sola
commendat ix. 4, 13: hoc oratio recta, illud figura declinata commendat
x. 5, 8.—For the
reading commodavit see Crit. Notes.
I:102
Ideoque immortalem Sallusti velocitatem diversis virtutibus consecutus
est. Nam mihi egregie dixisse videtur Servilius Nonianus, pares
eos magis quam similes; qui et ipse a
102
nobis auditus est clarus vi ingenii et sententiis creber, sed minus
pressus quam historiae auctoritas postulat.
§ 102.
immortalem: so §86, where it is more
appropriate.
velocitatem: ‘rapid brevity.’ It is the quality which
Dionysius denotes by τὸ τάχος τῆς ἀπαγγελίας p. 870 R. Cp. Hor.
Sat i. 10, 9 Est brevitate opus ut currat sententia,—quoted on §73 brevis et semper instans sibi Thucydides,
where see note. Arist. Rhet. iii. 16, 4 ταχεῖαν διήγησιν. So celeritas xii.
10, 65 hanc vim et celeritatem in Pericle miratur Eupolis: Eupolis
having said of Pericles ταχὺς λέγειν μέν, πρὸς δέ γ᾽
αὐτῷ τῷ τάχει πειθώ τις (Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 535).
consecutus est, lit. = ‘equalled in point of fame’: the real
object is not velocitatem, so that the idea is awkwardly
expressed. Quintilian means that by other good points (cp. §73 diversis virtutibus) Livy obtained a degree of
fame not inferior to what Sallust gained by his ‘velocitas.’ It is in
fact a brachyology for ‘immortalitatem illius Sallustianae velocitatis.’
Cp. Cic. Phil. xiv. 35 parem virtutis gloriam consecuta est (legio):
Quint. iii. 7, 9 quod immortalitatem virtute sint consecuti. See Crit.
Notes.
Servilius Nonianus. In mentioning his death (A.D. 60) along with that of Domitius Afer (§86), Tacitus says that he rivalled the latter’s
abilities and surpassed his morals:—summis honoribus et multa
eloquentia viguerant, ille orando causas, Servilius diu foro, mox
tradendis rebus Romanis celebris et elegantia vitae, quam clariorem
effecit, ut par ingenio, ita morum diversus. Cp. Dial. ch. 23 eloquentia
... Servilii Noniani. Like most of the Roman historians, except Livy, he
was a man of affairs. Pliny, N. H. xxviii. 2, 5 princeps civitatis.
He was the friend—possibly at one time the teacher—of the
satirist Persius, who is said to have reverenced him as a father (coluit
ut patrem). Pliny tells us (Ep. i. 13, 3) how Claudius, on hearing
the thunders of applause that greeted his recitations, entered the
building and seated himself unobserved among the audience: memoria
parentura Claudium Caesarem ferunt, cum in palatio spatiaretur
andissetque clamorem, causam requisisse, cumque dictum esset recitare
Nonianum, subitum recitanti inopinantique venisse.
et ipse. Quintilian had not only read his works, but had heard
him: he
102
would be between twenty and twenty-five when Servilius died.—For
et ipse see on §31.
clarus vi ingenii: see Crit. Notes.
sententiis creber; cp. §68
sententiis densus. For sententiis (γνώμαις) cp. §60 §61: 2 §17. He was full of point and
matter, but not concise enongh for the dignity of history. For
pressus v. §44.
I:103
Quam paulum aetate praecedens eum Bassus Aufidius egregie,
utique in libris belli Germanici, praestitit genere ipso, probabilis in
omnibus, sed in quibusdam suis ipse viribus minor.
§ 103.
Bassus Aufidius. Tacitus mentions him along with Servilius
Nonianus, Dial. 23, where he speaks of antiquarians ‘quibus eloquentia
Aufidii Bassi aut Servilii Noniani ex comparatione Sisennae aut Varronis
sordet.’ Seneca gives some account of him in his thirtieth letter: §1
Bassum Aufidium, virum optimum, vidi quassum, aetati obluctantem: §3
Bassus tamen noster alacer animo est. hoc philosophia praestat. Cp. §§5,
10, 14. His history probably ended with the reign of Claudius, at which
point Pliny the elder took it up: N. H. praef. 20 diximus ...
temporum nostrorum historiam, orsi a fine Aufidii Bassi. The ‘libri
Belli Germanici’ may have been an independent work.—The practice
of placing the cognomen before the gentile name grew under the Empire:
many instances are found even in Cicero’s letters, but not in the
ordinary prose of the Republic; cp. §86,
and Introd. p. lv.
genere ipso = ‘gerade durch den Stil’ (Kiderlin)—as
being suitable to historiae auctoritas. Quintilian often uses
genus in this sense (without dicendi): often with an adj. like
rectum, but often also without, e.g. x. 2, 18 noveram quosdam &c.: 2 §23 uni alicui generi.
For the reading, see Crit.
Notes.—From the specimens (on the death of Cicero) given by
Seneca the rhetorician (Suas. vi. 18 and 23), we should infer that the
style of Bassus was rather affected and pretentious.
I:104
Superest adhuc et exornat
103
aetatis nostrae gloriam vir saeculorum memoria dignus, qui olim
nominabitur, nunc intellegitur. Habet amatores nec immerito
Cremuti libertas, quamquam circumcisis quae dixisse ei
nocuerat; sed elatum abunde spiritum et audaces sententias deprehendas
etiam in his quae manent. Sunt et alii scriptores boni, sed nos genera
degustamus, non bibliothecas excutimus.
§ 104.
Superest. The fact that Cremutius put an end to his life in A.D. 25 is sufficient to disprove the theory
that he is referred to here: superest when taken along with
exornat aetatis nostrae gloriam cannot mean anything but
superstes est (cp. supersunt 2 §28).—The
Bonnell-Meister edition (1882) understands the reference to be to
Tacitus: but though admirers of Tacitus would like to appropriate for
him the phrase vir saeculorum memoria dignus, this can hardly be
accepted. In the first place the words superest adhuc are, in
their natural sense, inapplicable to one who had not published anything
when Quintilian wrote (about 93 A.D.).
He has just spoken of Servilius, who is known to have died in A.D. 60, and of Aufidius, who was old and
frail in Seneca’s life-time, i.e. before A.D. 65: and though it may be proposed to take
superest adhuc as meaning simply ‘I have still to refer to
(a living writer),’ (cp. supersunt §123), in which sense the words might apply to
Tacitus, it seems extremely improbable that after speaking of a youthful
contemporary, Quintilian would in the next sentence return to Cremutius,
who died as far back as A.D. 25. It
might be argued that the point of the passage is that, after this
indirect eulogy of Tacitus, the writer means to imply that the spirit of
Cremutius still survives in him: ‘there is with us now one who will
afterwards be famous but of whom we may not speak at present. The
independence of Cremutius is still appreciated.’ But habet
amatores will hardly cover this interpretation: it introduces a
critique of Cremutius which has no relation to what goes before. And
moreover it is doubtful whether Quintilian, who never mentions any
living writer, except Domitian, would have hazarded a reference to one
whose anti-imperial tendencies must have been so well known in Rome.
Krüger’s supposition (3rd ed. p. 97) that after adhuc the
name Tacitus has fallen out, or that we should write ‘superest
Tacitus et ornat,’ is altogether out of the question: it would quite
destroy the point of the sentence (nominabitur ... intellegitur). It
seems safest, therefore, to follow those who with Nipperdey (Philol. vi.
p. 193) understand the historian here meant to be Fabius Rusticus.
It would have been strange if Quintilian had omitted to mention him,
considering his eminence: Livius veterum, Fabius Rusticus recentium
eloquentissimi
103
auctores, Tac. Agr. 10. And what he says fits Fabius very well; he was
an intimate friend of Seneca (Tac. Ann. xiii. 20 sane Fabius inclinat ad
laudes Senecae cuius amicitia floruit), and from the fact that he was
made co-heir with Tacitus and Pliny in the will of Dasumius we know that
he was still alive 108 or 109 A.D.
Mommsen thinks that to him also is addressed Pliny, Ep. ix. 29.
vir saeculorum memoria dignus: Cp. §80: iii. 7, 18 ingeniorum monumenta, quae saeculis
probarentur: xi. 1, 13 perpetua saeculorum admiratione celebrantur.
olim, of future time, as §94. The
writer referred to will come actually to enjoy the renown of which
Quint. here declares him worthy.
nunc intellegitur. For Quint.’s rule not to mention living
writers cp. iii. 1, 21, quoted at §95; and
for the antithesis between nominabitur and intellegitur,
xi. 1, 10 maluit emim vir sapientissimus (Socrates) quod superesset ex
vita sibi perire quam quod praeterisset. Et quando ab hominibus sui
temporis parum intellegebatur, posterorum se iudiciis reservavit brevi
detrimento iam ultimae senectutis aevum saeculorum omnium
consecutus.
Cremuti libertas: παρρησία, §65, §94. Cremutius Cordus published a history of the
Civil Wars and of the reign of Augustus—unius saeculi facta, Sen.
Cons. ad Marc. 26, 5. Augustus is said to have read the work, or to
have heard it read, without disapproval (Dion. 57, 24, 2; Sueton. Tib.
61). He afterwards incurred the displeasure of Sejanus by some bold
remarks, as, for example, when he said in regard to the statue of
Sejanus which he was told the Senate had resolved to erect in Pompey’s
theatre, restored by Tiberius after a fire, ‘tunc vere theatrum
perire’—Sen. Cons. ad Marc. 22, 4. In A.D. 25 he was brought to trial ‘novo ac tunc primum
audito crimine, quod editis annalibus laudatoque M. Bruto
C. Cassium Romanorum ultimum dixisset’ (Tac. Ann. iv. 34 sq.).
Finding his case prejudged, after a spirited defence he went home and
starved himself to death. The Senate ordered his books to be burned:
‘sed manserunt,’ says Tacitus, ‘occultati et editi.’ Dion. tells us that
‘afterwards (i.e. under Caligula) they were published again, for they
had been preserved by various people, and particularly by his daughter
Marcia; and they were esteemed much more highly on account of the fate
of Cordus’ (lvii. 24). For Marcia v. Senecae Consolatio ad Marciam
c. 1. Suet. Calig. 16 tells us that the suppressed writings of
others also (Titus Labienus and Cassius Severus) were allowed by
Caligula to come again into circulation, after a process of editing
similar to that referred to by Quint. (circumcisis, &c.).
Tacitus’s reflections on the ineffectual attempt to destroy Cremutius’s
works are interesting in connection with our passage: quo magis
socordiam eorum inridere licet, qui praesenti potentia credunt extingui
posse etiam sequentis aevi memoriam. Nam contra, punitis ingeniis
gliscit auctoritas, neque aliud externi reges aut qui eadem saevitia usi
sunt, nisi dedecus sibi atque illis gloriam peperere, Ann. iv. 35 ad
fin.
abunde: used here to emphasise elatum: v. on §94.
spiritus, §§44, 61; 3 §22. The excisions and
emendations in regard to matters of detail had evidently not interfered
with the independent tone of Cremutius’s writings.
alii scriptores, συγγραφεῖς: the word being used specially of
historians. He has not mentioned Caesar, or Nepos, or Velleius, or
Quintus Curtius.
degustamus: ‘dipping into’: 5 §23 inchoatae et quasi
degustatae. The opposite is persequi: §45 genera ipsa lectionum ... persequar.
I:105
Oratores vero vel praecipue Latinam eloquentiam parem facere
104
Graecae possunt; nam Ciceronem cuicumque eorum fortiter
opposuerim. Nec ignoro quantam mihi concitem pugnam, cum
105
praesertim non id sit propositi ut eum Demostheni comparem hoc tempore;
neque enim attinet, cum Demosthenen in primis legendum vel ediscendum
potius putem.
§ 105.
parem facere. Cicero uses aequare in a passage of the
Brutus (§138), in which, speaking of Antonius and Crassus, he says: nam
ego sic existimo,
104
hos oratores fuisse maximos et in his primum cum Graecorum gloria Latine
dicendi copiam aequatam. In the Silver Age, the phrase paria
facere commonly occurs for ‘settling up’: e.g. nihil differamus.
cotidie cum vita paria faciamus Sen. Ep. 101, 7. A near
parallel to the passage in the text is ii. 8, 13 ea cura paria faciet
iis in quibus eminebat.—Other reff. to Cicero’s pre-eminence are
vi. 3, 1 Latinae eloquentiae princeps: xii. 1, 20 stetisse ipsum
(Ciceronem) in fastigio eloquentiae fateor.
cuicumque, §12. The use of
quicumque (which in classical Latin is joined with a verb) for
quivis or quilibet (which are used absolutely) may be
noted as a sign of the decay of the language. Cp. note on §12: Roby §2289.—For eorum Andresen and
Jeep propose Graecorum.
fortiter opposuerim. The adv. is not merely one of manner: it
conveys the expression of a judgment, ‘nicht die Art und Weise, sondern
ein Urteil über die Handlung,’ Becher. So ‘inique Castorem cum Domitio
comparo,’ Cicero, pro Deiot. §31. Cp. i, 5, 72 fortiter diceremus: v.
10, 78 fortiter ... iunxerim.—Roby (1540) gives numerous examples
of this use of subj. (involving a suppressed condition such as ‘if
occasion arose’) with such adverbs as merito, facile, lubenter,
citius.
quantam ... pugnam: owing to the existing prejudice against
the style of Cicero. Cp. Tac. Dial. 12 Plures hodie reperies qui
Ciceronis gloriam quam qui Vergilii detrectent: ibid. 18 Satis constat
ne Ciceroni quidem obtrectatores defuisse, quibus inflatus et tumens nec
satis pressus, sed supra modum exsultans et superfluens et parum Atticus
videretur. Legistis utique et Calvi et Bruti ad Ciceronem missas
epistulas ex quibus facile est deprehendere Calvum quidem Ciceroni visum
exsanguem et aridum, Brutum autem otiosum atque diiunctum, rursus
Ciceronem a Calvo quidem male audisse tamquam solutum et enervem, a
Bruto autem, ut ipsius verbis utar, tamquam fractum atque
elumbem.—Hortensius had been from B.C. 95 the Latin representative of Asianism. Under
the influence of his teachers, the Rhodian eclectics, Cicero emancipated
himself from this school without, on the other hand, binding himself by
the most rigorous canons of Atticism. His critics, who adhered to
severer models, considered the fulness and richness of his style
turgidity and bombast, and pointed to his elaborately periodic structure
and rhythmical amplitude as proving that he was really an Asianist in
disguise. Besides Brutus and Calvus, mentioned above (cp. Quint, xii.
1, 22), there were the Asinii, father and son (etiam inimice,
ibid.), and Caelius. Asinius Gallus wrote a work de comparatione
patris et Ciceronis, which was controverted by the emperor Claudius:
Plin. Epist. vii. 4 §6 libros Galli ... quibus ille parenti ausus
de Cicerone dare est palmamque decusque: Sueton. Claud. 41. Cicero, on
the other hand, thought that his Atticising critics were too apt to
forget (what he asks Atticus to remember) that the ‘thunders of
Demosthenes show that the Attic style is quite consistent with the
highest degree of grandeur’—si recordabere Δημοσθένους fulmina, tum intelliges posse
et ἀττικώτατα
gravissime dici, ad Att. xv. 1, ad fin. Quintilian denounces them in
strong language, xii. 10, §§12-14 A. At L. M. Tullium non
illum habemus Euphranorem circa plures artium species praestantem, sed
in omnibus quae in quoque laudantur eminentissimum. Quem tamen et suorum
homines temporum incessere audebant ut tumidiorem et Asianum et
redundantem et in repetitionibus nimium et in salibus aliquando frigidum
et in compositione fractum, exultantem ac paene, quod procul absit, viro
molliorem: postea vero quam triumvirati proscriptione consumptus est,
passim qui oderant, qui invidebant, qui aemulabantur, adulatores etiam
praesentis potentiae non responsurum invaserunt. Ille tamen, qui ieiunus
a quibusdam et aridus habetur, non aliter ab ipsis inimicis male audire
quam nimiis floribus et ingenii adfluentia potuit. Falsum utrumque, sed
tamen illa mentiendi propior occasio. Praecipue vero presserunt eum qui
videri Atticorum imitatores concupierant. Haec manus quasi quibusdam
sacris initiata ut alienigenam et parum superstitiosum devinctumque
illis legibus insequebatur, unde nunc quoque aridi et exsuci et
exsangues. Hi sunt enim qui suae imbecillitati sanitatis appellationem,
quae est maxime contraria, obtendant: qui quia clariorem vim eloquentiae
velut solem ferre non possunt, umbra magni nominis (i.e. Athens)
delitescunt. In Quintilian’s own day (cp. nunc quoque above) a certain
105
Largius Licinus wrote a work which he called Ciceromastix,
repeating the criticisms of Asinius Gallus: cp. Aul. Gell. xvii. 1, 1
nonnulli tam prodigiosi tamque vaecordes exstiterunt in quibus sunt
Gallus Asinius et Largius Licinus, cuius liber etiam fertur infando
titulo ‘Ciceromastix,’ ut scribere ausi sint M. Ciceronem parum
integre atque improprie atque inconsiderate locutum. These rigid
Atticists appear to have ignored, as Sandys has pointed out (Introd. to
Orator, p. lxii), the ‘difference between the two languages,
between the power and breadth and compass of Greek as compared with the
more limited resources of Latin.’ Mr. Sandys appends an apt quotation
from J. H. Newman (in H. Thompson’s Rom. Lit.—Encyc.
Metrop. p. 307, ed. 1852):—‘Greek is celebrated for
copiousness in its vocabulary and perspicuity in its phrases; and the
consequent facility of expressing the most novel or abstruse ideas with
precision and elegance. Hence the Attic style of eloquence was plain and
simple, because simplicity and plainness were not incompatible with
clearness, energy, and harmony. But it was a singular want of judgment,
an ignorance of the very principles of composition, which induced
Brutus, Calvus, Sallust, and others to imitate this terse and severe
beauty in their own defective language, and even to pronounce the
opposite kind of diction deficient in taste and purity. In Greek,
indeed, the words fall, as it were, naturally, into a distinct and
harmonious order; and from the exuberant richness of the materials, less
is left to the ingenuity of the artist. But the Latin language is
comparatively weak, scanty, and unmusical; and requires considerable
skill and management to render it expressive and graceful. Simplicity in
Latin is scarcely separable from baldness; and justly as Terence is
celebrated for chaste and unadorned diction, yet even he, compared with
Attic writers, is flat and heavy (Quint. x. 1, §100).’ Cp. for a similar
contrast Quint. xii. 10, §§27-39.
cum praesertim: Krüger (3rd ed.) gives the sense as follows,
‘especially since I do not intend to prove my statement by a detailed
comparison’: following Becher (but see Crit. Notes), who thinks that Quint.
means to say that the pugna will be all the more violent because
he does not intend to go into a detailed comparison. Such a comparison
would be out of place (neque enim attinet), as he is not denying the
supreme excellence of Demosthenes. Cum praesertim means that
there is all the less reason for controversy as he does not intend to
compare the two: it gives an additional ground for what is really, if
not formally, the main idea in the writer’s mind, viz. the needlessness
of a pugna at this point. Hence it comes to have the force of
quamvis, or idque cum tamen: tr. ‘and that though,’
‘though indeed,’ ‘which is all the less necessary because,’ etc. Cp.
Cic. de Fin. ii. 8, 25 cum praesertim in eo omne studium
poneret,—where see Madvig’s note: in Verr. ii. 113 ut ex oppido
Thermis nihil ex sacro, nihil de publico attingeres, cum praesertim
essent multa praeclara, &c., i.e. ‘which is all the more wonderful
because’—very much as in our text: Philipp. viii. 2, 5
C. quidem Caesar non expectavit vestra decreta, praesertim cum
illud aetatis erat—i.e. as he might well have done at his age:
ibid. ii. 64 inventus est nemo praeter Antonium, praesertim cum tot
essent, &c.: i.e. which was all the more remarkable as, &c.:
Brutus, §267 M. Bibulus qui et scriptitavit adcurate, cum
praesertim non esset orator, et, &c., i.e. ‘and that too though’: de
Off. ii. 56: Orator §32 nec vero si historiam non scripsisset
(Thucydides) nomen eius exstaret, cum praesertim fuisset honoratus et
nobilis. Roby §1732: Nägelsbach8, pp. 695-6.
propositi: for the gen. cp. iv. 2, 21 quid acti sit: quid tui
consilii sit (Cic. ad Att. xii. 29, 2: Caes. B. G. i. 21, 2):
quid offici sui sit Cic. Acad. Pr. ii. §25, with Dr. Reid’s note.
hoc tempore: Demosthenes and Cicero are eulogised together,
xii. 1, §§14-22.
neque enim attinet, i.e. nor would there be any point in such
a controversy. They have no need to draw the sword against me, for I too
give Demosthenes the highest place. In exalting Cicero I do not mean to
depreciate Demosthenes. Cp. Tac. Dial. 25 quo modo inter Atticos primae
Demostheni tribuuntur ... sic apud nos Cicero quidem ceteros eorundem
temporum disertos antecessit.
106
I:106
Quorum ego virtutes
106
plerasque arbitror similes, consilium, ordinem, dividendi, praeparandi,
probandi rationem, [omnia] denique quae sunt inventionis.
107
In eloquendo est aliqua diversitas: densior ille hic copiosior, ille
concludit adstrictius hic latius, pugnat ille acumine semper hic
frequenter et pondere, illi nihil detrahi potest huic nihil adici, curae
plus in illo in hoc naturae.
§ 106.
consilium: vi. 5 §3 consilium vero ratio est quaedam alte petita
et plerumque plura perpendens et comparans habensque in se et
inventionem et iudicationem: §11 illud dicere satis habeo, nihil esse
non modo in orando, sed in omni vita prius consilio, and the whole
passage from §9 to end: ii. 13, 2 res in oratore praecipua consilium
est, quia varie et ad rerum momenta convertitur. This ‘tact’ or
‘judgment’ would be specially shown in inventio and in
dispositio, here made a part of inventio: elocutio is a
higher gift. Cp. viii, Pr. §14 M. Tullius inventionem quidem ac
dispositionem prudentis hominis putat, eloquentiam oratoris: Cicero, de
Orat. ii. 120 cum haec duo nobis quaerenda sint in causis, primum quid
[inventio], deinde quomodo [elocutio] dicamus, alterum ...
prudentiae est paene mediocris [quid dicendum sit videre]: alterum est,
in quo oratoris vis illa divina virtusque cernitur, ea quae dicenda sunt
ornate copiose varieque dicere; Orator §44 nam et invenire et iudicare
quid dicas magna illa quidem sunt et tamquam animi instar in corpore,
sed propria magis prudentiae quam eloquentiae.
ordinem (τάξιν):
ordo corresponds to dispositio iii. 3, 8. In vii. 1,
1 the two are separately defined: ordo recta quaedam collocatio
prioribus sequentia adnectens: dispositio utilis rerum ac partium
in locos distributio.
dividendi. Divisio is defined, along with
partitio, in vii. 1, 1: divisio rerum plurium in singulas,
partitio singularum in partes discretio. Here dividendi
ratio is used in a more general sense, as equivalent to
partitio in iv. 5: i.e. nostrarum aut adversarii propositionum
aut utrarumque ordine collocata enumeratio. Of this useful process
Quintilian says (iv. 5, 22): neque enim solum id efficit ut
clariora fiant quae dicuntur, rebus velut ex turba extractis et in
conspectu iudicum positis, sed reficit quoque audientem certo singularum
partium fine, non aliter quam facientibus iter multum detrahunt
fatigationis notata inscriptis lapidibus spatia.—Kiderlin (Hermes
23, p. 176) thinks it remarkable that divisio should here be
ranked alongside of praeparandi, probandi rationem,
whereas in iii. 3, 1 it stands independently alongside of
inventio itself. He sees no difference between ordinem and
dividendi rationem (iii. 3, 8), and suggests that in the
MSS. readings (videndi and indicendi) there may be concealed some noun
to correspond with ordinem: e.g. viam dicendi (‘der Gang
der Reden’): cp. iv. 5, 3: x.
7, 5. But in x. 7,
9 we have both ordo and dispositio, in spite of iii.
3, 8, and so it is here.
praeparandi: iii. 9, 7 expositio enim probationum est
praeparatio, nec esse utilis potest nisi prius constiterit, quid debeat
de probatione promittere. A less formal use occurs x. 1 §21: cp. iv. 2 §55.
probandi rationem = confirmationem, the establishment
of the case. Understanding the passage to contain an enumeration of the
five parts of an oration (exordium, narratio, probatio, refutatio, and
peroratio), Kiderlin takes probandi here as covering the third
and fourth, which were often considered one part. Praeparandi =
exordium, and the peroratio is omitted, because here Demosthenes
and Cicero were unlike, for the reason given below (§107). In order to include narratio, he
proposes to insert narrandi after praeparandi: it may
easily, he thinks, have fallen out after -arandi. It is always
included in similar enumerations: ii. 5, 7-8: ii. 13, 1: iv. pr. 6: x. 2, 27.
[omnia] denique quae sunt inventionis: see Crit. Notes. ‘Inventio,’ the orator’s
first requisite, may of course be shown in all the various parts of a
speech, e.g. narratio, divisio, confirmatio, as here. But in the
antithesis between inventionis and in eloquendo Quintilian
is thinking of that fundamental distinction between substance and form
on which he based his treatment of his subject. Applying a rough
division to his work, we may say that Books iii. to vii. deal with
inventio including dispositio, i.e. εὕρεσις and τάξις: while Books viii-xi. treat of elocutio
(λέξις), including
actio or pronuntiatio, ‘delivery’ (ὑπόκρισις). So Cicero in the Orator §43
introduces a description of the ideal orator in the three relations of
(1) inventio—quid dicat (εὕρεσις): (2) collocatio or dispositio—quo
quidque loco (τάξις), and
(3) actio or pronuntiatio (ὑπόκρισις): and elocutio (λέξις)—quo modo. Quintilian in iii. 3 gives
in more detail the traditional parts of rhetoric: inventio, dispositio,
elocutio, memoria, pronuntiatio (or actio). See §§1-9. For the division
here cp. also xii. 10, 27 Latina mihi facundia, ut inventione,
dispositione, consilio, ceteris huius generis artibus similis Graecae ac
prorsus discipula eius videtur, ita circa
107
rationem eloquendi vix habere imitationis locum.
aliqua diversitas: Morawski (Quaest. p. 33) thinks that
this passage may be founded on a tractate by Caecilius (contemporary
with Dion. Hal.), which is mentioned by Plutarch, Dem. 3 σύγκρισις τοῦ
Δημοσθένους καὶ Κικέρωνος. A parallel passage is found in
the περὶ ὕψους (Sp.
i. p. 261), the author of which may also have borrowed from
Caecilius:—ὁ μὲν γὰρ (Δημοσθένης) ἐν ὕψει τὸ πλέον ἀποτόμῳ, ὁ
δὲ Κικέρων ἐν χύσει, καὶ ὁ μὲν ἡμέτερος διὰ τὸ μετὰ βίας ἕκαστα, ἔτι δὲ
τάχους, ῥώμης, δεινότητος οἷον καίειν τε ἅμα καὶ διαρπάζειν, σκηπτῷ τινι
παρεικάζοιτ᾽ ἂν ἢ κεραυνῷ, ὁ δὲ Κικέρων ὡς ἀμφιλαφής τις ἐμπρησμὸς οἶμαι
πάντη νέμεται καὶ ἀνειλεῖται.... Cp. Introd. p. xxxviii.
densior: §76 tam densa omnia: so
of Thucydides §73 densus et brevis.
concludit, not, as Bonnell = ratiocinatur (xii. 2, 25),
but of the ‘rounding off’ of a period: ix. 4, 22, περίοδον quae est vel ambitus vel circumductum
vel continuatio vel conclusio. Cp. Cic. Brutus §33 verborum ... quaedam
ad numerum conclusio: cp. §34 below, concluditque sententiam: Orator §20
conclusa oratio: §177 concluse apteque dicere: §§200, 220, 230, 231: de
Orat. ii. §34 quod carmen artificiosa verborum conclusione (‘artistic
period’) aptius? Hor. Sat. i. 4, 40 concludere versum. The opposite is
membratim caesimque dicere, Quint. ix. 4, 126: cp. Cic. Orat. §212
incise membratimve: de Orat. iii. 49, 190 carpere membris minutioribus
orationem. For a contrast cp. Brutus §120 ut Stoicorum adstrictior est
oratio aliquantoque contractior quam aures populi requirunt, sic illorum
(Peripateticorum Academicorumque) liberior et latior quam patitur
consuetudo iudiciorum et fori: §162 quin etiam comprehensio et ambitus
ille verborum, si sic περίοδον appellari placet, erat apud illum (i.e.
Crassum) contractus et brevis, et in membra quaedam, quae κῶλα Graeci vocant, dispertiebat orationem
libentius.
astrictius ... latius: there is more compactness about the
periodic structure in Demosthenes, greater breadth in that of Cicero.
This could hardly be said of Demosthenes’s periods as a whole: it rather
refers to the care which Cicero and Roman orators generally bestowed on
the closing syllables of a period (Blass, Att. Ber. iii. 117). It was
this liking for a sonorous and copious diction that seemed to Cicero’s
critics to justify the epithets (inflatus, tumens, &c.) applied to
him in Dial. de Orat. 18 (quoted above, §105); he himself tells us in the Orator, §104, that
his ears craved for something more full and sonorous even than
Demosthenes: ‘non semper implet aures meas: ita sunt avidae et capaces
et semper aliquid immensum infinitumque desiderant.’
pugnat: used figuratively for dicit: cp. §4.
acumine: the word is used in §§81
and 83 of ‘power of thought,’ ‘intellectual penetration’: viii. 2, 21:
x. 1, §81 and §83. See on acutus §77.
So Cic. de Orat. i. §128 acumen dialecticorum. Here it includes the idea
of ‘point’ in expression: following up the metaphor contained in
‘pugnat,’ we might render, ‘Demosthenes always thrusts with the rapier,
Cicero often uses the bludgeon too.’ (Landor, speaking of Shaftesbury
and Bolingbroke, as compared with Lord Brougham, said that they had
‘more of the rapier than the bludgeon.’) Cp. de Orat. ii. §158 ipsi se
compungunt suis acuminibus. The contrast is something like that implied
in xii. 10, 36 subtilitate vincimur (a Graecis): valeamus pondere:
cp. ibid. §11 gravitatem Bruti acumen Sulpici.
nihil detrahi: cp. §76 is dicendi
modus ut nec quod desit in eo nec quod redundet invenias.
curae ... naturae: v. Jebb’s Attic Orators, i. Introd.
p. cvi, where it is remarked that this paradox is true in this
sense alone, ‘that Cicero is an inferior artist, and indulges more
freely the taste of the natural man for ornament.’ Quintilian may also
refer to the laborious training which Demosthenes imposed on himself,
and in consequence of which, says Plutarch, δόξαν εἶχεν ὡς οὐκ εὐφυὴς ὤν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ πόνου
συγκειμένῃ δεινότητι καὶ δυνάμει χρώμενος (Vit. Demosth. viii.).
Cp. the taunt of Pytheas, that his work ‘smelled of the lamp’: ἐλλυχνίων ὄζειν,
ibid.; also
108
Parallel. ch. i. It was the rule with Demosthenes never to speak without
preparation: Cicero may have relied at times on the faculty of
extemporising at need.
I:107
Salibus certe et
108
commiseratione, quae duo plurimum in adfectibus valent, vincimus. Et
fortasse epilogos illi mos civitatis abstulerit, sed et nobis illa, quae
Attici mirantur, diversa Latini sermonis ratio
109
minus permiserit. In epistulis quidem, quamquam sunt utriusque,
dialogisve, quibus nihil ille, nulla contentio est.
§ 107.
salibus: cp. vi. 3, 2 plerique Demostheni facultatem defuisse
huic rei credunt, Ciceroni modum, nec videri potest noluisse
Demosthenes, cuius pauca admodum dicta nec sane ceteris eius virtutibus
respondentia palam ostendunt non displicuisse illi iocos sed non
contigisse ... mihi quidem ... mira quaedam in eo (Cicerone) videtur
fuisse urbanitas. So §21 Demosthenem urbanum fuisse dicunt, dicacem
negant: Cic. Orat. §90 non tam dicax quam facetus: Dion. Hal. Dem. c. 54
πάσας ἔχουσα τὰς ἀρετὰς ἡ Δημοσθένους
λέξις ... λείπεται εὐτραπελίας. Cp. περὶ ὕψους, 34, where the judgment is unduly
severe, ἔνθα μέντοι
γελοῖος εἶναι βιάζεται καὶ ἀστεῖος οὐ γέλωτα κινεῖ μᾶλλον ἢ
καταγελᾶται. Cp. Sandys’ note on Orat. §90, “Though not
obtrusively witty, Demosthenes nevertheless is not wanting in humour, as
is proved by the speech on the Chersonesus §§5, 11 ff. and esp. 23
(characterized by Brougham as ‘full of refined and almost playful wit’):
Plut. iii. §66: de Cor. §§198, 234 (Blass, Att. Ber. iii. 163-6).” For a
criticism of Cicero’s wit, on the other hand, v. Plut. Parallel. §1
Κικέρων δὲ πολλαχοῦ τῷ σκωπτικῷ πρὸς τὸ βωμολόχον ἐκφερόμενος
καὶ πράγματα σπουδῆς ἄξια γέλωτι καὶ παιδιᾷ κατειρωνευόμενος ἐν ταῖς
δίκαις εἰς τὸ χρειῶδες ἠφείδει τοῦ πρέποντος, and below, Cato’s
ὡς γελοῖον, ὦ ἄνδρες, ἔχομεν ὕπατον. Δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ γέλωτος
οἰκεῖος ὁ Κικέρων γεγονέναι καὶ φιλοσκώπτης κ.τ.λ.
commiseratione, ‘pathos.’ See Orator §130 in quo ut viderer
excellere non ingenio, sed dolore adsequebar; i.e. it was real sympathy
more than any special talent that enabled him to excel in this
respect.
in adfectibus, ‘where the feelings are concerned.’ Under
adfectus (vi. 2) is included everything that makes an
impression on the judges: §1 opus ... movendi iudicum animos: among
other things laughter itself, virtus quae risum iudicis movendo et illos
tristes solvit adfectus et animum ab intentione rerum frequenter avertit
et aliquando etiam reficit et a satietate vel a fatigatione renovat.
vincimus: for the present cp. §§93, 101, 105.
epilogos, ‘perorations.’ The peroration was looked on as
giving a great opportunity for moving the feelings: Arist. Rhet. iii. 19
says one of its parts is εἰς τὰ πάθη τὸν ἀκροατὴν καταστῆσαι. So
Quint. iv. 1, 28 quod in ingressu parcius et modestius praetemptanda sit
iudicis misericordia: in epilogo vero liceat totos effundere adfectus.
The word is common in this sense in Quintilian: vi. 1, 37, sq. esp. §52
at hic, si usquam, totos eloquentiae aperire fontes licet. Nam et, si
bene diximus reliqua, possidebimus iam iudicum animos, et e confragosis
atque asperis evecti tota pandere possumus vela, et, cum sit maxima pars
epilogi amplificatio, verbis atque sententiis uti licet magnificis et
ornatis. Tunc est commovendum theatrum cum ventum est ad ipsum illud,
quo veteres tragoediae comoediaeque cluduntur, plodite: cp. also Cicero,
Brutus §33 exstat eius peroratio, qui epilogus dicitur: de Orat. ii.
§278: ad Att. iv. 15, 4.
mos civitatis: ii. 16 §4 Athenis ubi actor movere
adfectus vetabatur velut recisam orandi potestatem: vi. 1, 7, where he
says that with the Attic orators the epilogus generally took the
form of recapitulation (ἀνακεφαλαίωσις = enumeratio) ‘quia Athenis
adfectus movere etiam per praeconem prohibebatur orator.’ Cp. xii. 10,
26. This would be especially the case in trials before the Areopagus.
But it was the Hellenic instinct for moderation that imposed its own
law. Lord Brougham, in his Dissertation on the Eloquence of the Ancients
(p. 25), remarks on the calmness of the Greek peroration: cp. his Essay
on Demosthenes (p. 184): ‘It seems to have been a rule enjoined by the
severe taste of those times, that after being wrought up to a great
pitch of emotion, the speaker should, in quitting his audience, leave an
impression of dignity, which cannot be maintained without composure.’
Cp. Jebb, i. ciii-civ: ‘Cicero has now and then an Attic peroration, as
in the Second Philippic and the Pro Milone; more often he breaks off in
a burst of eloquence—as in the First Catilinarian, the Pro Flacco,
and the Pro Cluentio.’
illa quae Attici mirantur: cp. §65, §100 illam solis
concessam Atticis venerem: xii. 10 §35 illam gratiam sermonis
Attici.
109
epistulis. If it were not for the ineptitude of the comparison
which follows (in quibus nihil ille) we might be inclined to
imagine that Quintilian knew of more letters of Demosthenes than the six
which are still extant, and which are generally considered
apocryphal.
dialogis: comprising most of Cicero’s philosophical works, and
the Brutus and De Oratore among his rhetorical.
nihil ille, sc. effecit, consecutus est: cp. §§56, 123: 2 §§6, 24: 3 §25: 7 §§7, 23.
I:108
Cedendum vero in hoc, quod et prior fuit et ex magna parte Ciceronem
quantus est fecit. Nam mihi videtur M. Tullius, cum se totum ad
imitationem Graecorum contulisset, effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam
Platonis, iucunditatem Isocratis.
§ 108.
effinxisse, ‘artistically reproduced.’
iucunditatem. ‘The idea which Cicero got from Isocrates was
that of number. See esp. de Orat. iii. 44 §173.’ Jebb. So
‘suavitatem Isocrates ... vim Demosthenes habuit’ de Orat. iii. §28.
I:109
Nec vero quod in quoque optimum fuit studio consecutus est tantum, sed
plurimas vel potius omnes ex se ipso virtutes extulit immortalis ingenii
beatissima ubertate. Non enim ‘pluvias,’ ut ait Pindarus, ‘aquas
colligit, sed vivo gurgite exundat,’ dono quodam providentiae genitus,
in quo totas vires suas eloquentia experiretur.
§ 109.
ex se ipso ... extulit: cp. Cic. Acad. ii. 8, 23 artem vivendi
quae ipsa ex sese habeat constantiam, where Dr. Reid cites this passage,
along with many others, e.g. Sen. Ep. 52, 3 hos quibus ex se impetus
fuit: Cic. N. D. iii. 88 a se sumere.
beatissima: cp. §61 beatissima
rerum verborumque copia: 3,
§22 beatiorem spiritum. Cp. the eulogy by Caesar, in his Analogia
(written as he was crossing the Alps, and dedicated to Cicero himself):
ac si ut cogitata praeclare eloqui possent non nulli studio et usu
elaboraverunt, cuius te paene principem copiae atque inventorem bene de
nomine ac dignitate populi Romani meritum esse existimare debemus,
&c.—quoted in Brutus §253. Hild adds Pliny H. N. vii. 30
Facundiae Latiarumque litterarum parens atque ... omnium triumphorum
gloria maior, quanto plus est ingenii Romani terminos in tantum
promovisse quam imperii,—where the language has a close
resemblance to that of Cicero himself in Brutus §255.
ut ait Pindarus. We get the pluvias aquas in the οὐρανίων ὑδάτων
ὀμβρίων of Olymp. xi, but there is nothing in Pindar’s extant
works that corresponds to the quotation.
exundat: cp. Tac. Dial. 30 ex multa eruditione et plurimis
artibus et omnium rerum scientia exundat et exuberat illa admirabilis
eloquentia.
providentia is used very frequently by itself in Quintilian,
e.g. i. 10, 7 oratio qua nihil praestantius homini dedit providentia (v.
Bonn. Lex.); also in xi. i, 23 with deorum immortalium.
eloquentia: cp. Sen. Ep. 40, 11 Cicero quoque noster, a quo
Romana eloquentia exsiluit.
I:110
Nam quis docere diligentius, movere vehementius potest? Cui tanta umquam
iucunditas adfuit? ut ipsa illa quae extorquet
110
impetrare eum credas, et cum transversum vi sua iudicem ferat, tamen
ille non rapi videatur, sed sequi.
§ 110.
docere ... movere. Cp. iii. 5 §2 tria sunt item quae
praestare debeat orator, ut doceat, moveat, delectet (quoted on §80). Iucunditas here expresses the third.
So Cicero, Brutus §185 tria sunt enim, ut quidem ego sentio, quae sint
efficienda dicendo: ut doceatur is apud quem dicetur, ut delectetur, ut
moveatur vehementius.
extorquet: cp. v. 7, 17 at in eo qui invitus dicturus est
prima felicitas interrogantis extorquere quod is noluerit: ib. §27. Cic.
de Or. ii. §74 qui nunquam sententias de manibus iudicum vi quadam
orationis extorsimus ac potius placatis eorum animis tantum quantum ipsi
patiebantur accepimus.
110
transversus = ‘turned across,’ i.e. at right angles to the
original line. So transversis itineribus Sall. Iug. 45, 2. For the
figure contained in transversum ferat cp. ibid. 6, 3 opportunitas
quae etiam mediocres viros ... transversos agit: 14, 20. The
iudex is ‘turned athwart’—away from the path of his own
judgment. So Sen. Ep. 8, 3 cum coepit transversos agere felicitas: Cic.
Brutus 331 cuius in adulescentiam ... transversa incurrit misera fortuna
rei publicae.
I:111
Iam in omnibus quae dicit tanta auctoritas inest ut dissentire pudeat,
nec advocati studium sed testis aut iudicis adferat fidem; cum interim
haec omnia, quae vix singula quisquam intentissima cura consequi posset,
fluunt inlaborata et illa, qua nihil pulchrius auditum est, oratio prae
se fert tamen felicissimam facilitatem.
§ 111.
advocati, ‘pleader,’ as generally in Quintilian, syn. with ‘actor
causae,’ ‘causidicus,’ ‘patronus.’ In Cicero the word is reserved for
those who lent their countenance and personal support to a friend,
especially in legal matters: e.g. Brutus §289: pro Clu. §110 quis eum
unquam non modo in patroni, sed in laudatoris aut advocati loco viderat?
See Fausset’s note on advocabat pro Clu. §54.
fidem: ‘trustworthiness,’ ‘credibility.’ So quantam afferat
fidem iv. 2, 125.
cum interim: Roby §1732. Cp. note on §18.
posset: the use of the imperf. subj. points to a suppressed
protasis, sc. si vellet. Cp. i. 1, 22 cur improbetur si quis ea quae
domi suae recte faceret in publicum promit? So too below, 2 §25 qui noceret, where see
note.
tamen is a reminiscence of tamen ille non rapi videatur, in
the previous sentence, and must be taken with cum interim: = ‘for
all that.’
facilitatem: cp. §1.
I:112
Quare non immerito ab hominibus aetatis suae regnare in iudiciis dictus
est, apud posteros vero id consecutus, ut Cicero iam non hominis nomen
sed eloquentiae habeatur. Hunc igitur spectemus, hoc propositum nobis
sit exemplum, ille se profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valde placebit.
§ 112.
regnare: cp. Cic. ad Fam. vii. 24, 1 olim quum regnare
existimabamur: ad Att. i. 1 illud suum regnum iudiciale,—his
‘sovereignty of the bar’: in Verr. i. 12, 35 (of Hortensius) omnis
dominatio regnumque iudiciorum: ad Fam. ix. 18, 1 amisso regno forensi:
cp. pro Sulla §7.
non hominis ... sed eloquentiae. There is no thought here of
holding the balance with Demosthenes, §105. Cp. what Brutus says after Caesar’s eulogy
quoted above (§109 note): quo enim uno
vincebamur a victa Graecia, id aut ereptum illis est aut certe nobis cum
illis communicatum: Brut. §254. Hild quotes from Plutarch (Cicero, §4)
the story of Molo, one of Cicero’s teachers, who, on hearing him
declaim, said that he had to pity the hard fate of Greece, from whom the
palm of eloquence, her sole surviving glory, was now to pass away.
exemplum, predicative, hoc being neuter by a common form of
attraction: cp. 3 §17.
profecisse: Hild quotes Boileau, Art. Poet. iii. 308, speaking
of Homer: c’est avoir profité que de savoir s’y plaire.
I:113
Multa in Asinio Pollione inventio, summa
111
diligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur, et consilii et animi
satis: a nitore et iucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest ut videri
possit saeculo prior. At Messalla nitidus et candidus et quodam
modo praeferens in dicendo nobilitatem suam, viribus minor.
§ 113.
Quintilian makes no mention of orators previous to Cicero: for them see
Brutus §53 sqq. Velleius disposes of them in the following sentence (i.
17, 3): At oratio ac vis forensis perfectumque prosae eloquentiae
decus, ut idem separetur Cato, pace P. Crassi Scipionisque et Laeli
et Gracchorum et Fanni et Servi Galbae dixerim, ita universa sub
principe operis sui erupit Tullio, ut delectari ante eum paucissimis,
mirari vero neminem possis, nisi aut ab illo visum aut qui illum
viderit. Cp. Tac. Dial. 25. Hild cites also Seneca, Controv. i. praef.:
quidquid Romana facundia habet, quod insolenti Graeciae aut opponat aut
praeferat, circa Ciceronem effloruit; omnia ingenia quae lucem studiis
nostris attulerunt, tunc nata sunt.
111
Asinio Pollione. C. Asinius Pollio (75 B.C.–4 A.D.)
was consul in 40, when he helped Maecenas to arrange the Peace of
Brundisium: afterwards becoming estranged from Antony he retired into
private life and devoted himself to letters. Vergil dedicates the Fourth
Eclogue to him, and in the first Ode of Book ii Horace recounts his
various titles to distinction. He was a poet as well as an orator: Verg.
Ecl. viii. 10 Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno: iii. 86 Pollio
et ipse facit nova carmina: Hor. S. i. 10, 42. He was also distinguished
as a historian, having written a history of the Civil Wars from the
first triumvirate (Motum ex Metello consule Hor. Car. ii. 1, 1). In
the same Ode (II. 13, 14) Horace alludes to his fame as an orator, both
at the bar and in the senate. Quintilian’s judgment on him in this
capacity may be compared with that of Seneca, Ep. 100, 7 Lege Ciceronem:
compositio eius una est, pedem servat lenta et sine infamia mollis. At
contra Pollionis Asinii salebrosa et exsiliens et ubi minime expectes
relictura. Denique omnia apud Ciceronem desinunt, apud Pollionem cadunt
exceptis paucissimis, quae ad certum modum et ad unum exemplar adstricta
sunt. Cp. 2 §17 below
tristes ac ieiuni Pollionem aemulantur.
diligentia: 2 §25 vim Caesaris, asperitatem
Caelii, diligentiam Pollionis. The word does not refer to the
historian’s painstaking care (which could hardly ever be ‘nimia’), but
to the ‘precision’ or ‘exactitude’ of his language: v. the fragment
quoted in ix. 4, 132.
consilii, ‘judgment,’ §106.
animi, ‘spirit,’ ‘vivacity.’
nitore: v. on §97.
saeculo prior. ‘As an orator and writer he affected antique
severity in opposition to Ciceronian smoothness,’—Teuffel. Cp.
Tac. Dial. 21 Asinius quoque quamquam propioribus temporibus natus sit,
videtur mihi inter Menenios et Appios studuisse; Pacuvium certe et
Accium non solum tragoediis sed etiam orationibus suis expressit: adeo
durus et siccus est: Sen. Controv. iv. praef. 3 illud strictum eius et
aspersum et nimis iratum in censendo iudicium adeo cessabat ut in multis
illi venia opus esset quae ab ipso vix impetrabatur. See Schmalz ‘Ueber
den Sprachgebrauch des Asinius Pollio,’ p. 289; München, 1890.
Pollio’s antipathy to Cicero and his dislike of Cicero’s style may be
seen from the story in Seneca, Suas. vi. extr., quoted by Bernhardy
(q.v.), R. L. p. 268 (note 182).
Messalla, M. Valerius Corvinus (64 B.C.-8 A.D.), the
friend of Tibullus, who dedicates to him i. 7: cp. the panegyric
iv. 1. Cp. Tac. Dial. 18 Cicerone mitior Corvinus et dulcior et in
verbis magis elaboratus,—with the latter part of which cp. Sen.
Controv. ii. 12, 8 Latini utique sermonis observator diligentissimus.
Cicero’s own opinion of him may be seen in Epist. ad Brutum i. 15, 1
cave putes probitate, constantia, cura, studio reipublicae quidquam illi
esse simile; ut eloquentia, qua mirabiliter excellit, vix in eo locum ad
laudandum habere videatur: quamquam in hac ipsa sapientia plus apparet:
ita gravi iudicio multaque arte se exercuit in verissimo genere dicendi,
tanta autem industria est tantumque evigilat in studio ut non maxima
ingenio (quod in eo summum est) gratia habenda videatur. By
verissimum genus dicendi Cicero seems to indicate that Messalla
was neither an Asianist like Hortensius, nor an extreme Atticist like
Calvus. See also Brutus §246, where the judgment is less favourable:
nullo modo inops, sed non nimis ornatus genere verborum.
nitidus: cp. i. 7, 35 ideo minus Messalla nitidus quia,
&c.
candidus: v. on §73.
quodam modo: cp. Cic. Brut. §30 (where Kellogg wrongly renders
‘with a certain style’): ib. §149: de Orat. iii. §37: §184.
praeferens = prae se ferens: cp. vi. 3, 17: 2, 14.
viribus minor: cp. §103.
I:114
C. vero Caesar si foro tantum vacasset, non alius ex
112
nostris contra Ciceronem nominaretur. Tanta in eo vis est, id acumen, ea
concitatio, ut illum eodem animo dixisse quo bellavit appareat; exornat
tamen haec omnia mira sermonis, cuius proprie studiosus fuit,
elegantia.
§ 114.
Caesar. The purity and correctness of Caesar’s style are
eulogised in the Brutus §§251-262: see esp. §261 non video cui debeat
cedere. Cp. Phil. ii. 45 Fuit in illo ingenium, ratio, memoria,
112
litterae, cura, cogitatio, diligentia: and with special reference to his
oratorical talent, Suet. Caes. 55, where is cited a fragment from a
letter of Cicero: ‘Quid? oratorum quem huic antepones eorum qui nihil
aliud egerunt? Quis sententiis aut acutior aut crebrior? Quis verbis aut
ornatior aut elegantior?’ Tac. Ann, xiii. 3 dictator Caesar summis
oratoribus aemulus.
si foro tantum vacasset. So of Pompeius (Brut. 239), vir ad
omnia summa natus, maiorem dicendi gloriam habuisset, nisi eum maioris
gloriae cupiditas ad bellicas laudes abstraxisset: Tac. Dial. 21
concedamus sane C. Caesari, ut propter magnitudinem cogitationum et
occupationes rerum in eloquentia non effecerit quae divinum eius
ingenium postulabat.
contra, ‘by the side of,’ with the notion of being ‘pitted
against’: cp. proximumque Ciceroni Caesarem, Vell. Pat. ii.
36, 2.
vis: xii. 10, 11 vim Caesaris.
acumen. See on §106: here
probably of a pointed incisive style.
eodem animo: Livy xxxviii. 50 dicebantur enim ab eodem animo
ingenioque a quo gesta erant.
proprie studiosus: cp. i. 7, 34 aut vim C. Caesaris
fregerunt editi de analogia libri? Suet. Caes. 56: Gell. xix. 8, 3.
See too Brutus §253, where we learn that the work was dedicated to
Cicero: ‘qui etiam in maximis occupationibus ad te ipsum,’ inquit in me
intuens, ‘de ratione Latine loquendi adcuratissime scripserit primoque
in libro dixerit verborum delectum originem esse eloquentiae.’—Cp.
Gell. xvi. 8 C. Caesar gravis auctor linguae
latinae,—Proprie in this sense is post-Augustan: cp. Vell.
Pat. ii. 9, 1.
elegantia: Brutus §252 ita iudico ... illum omnium fere
oratorum Latine loqui elegantissime. In the Preface to B. G. viii.
Hirtius says Erat autem in Caesare quum facultas atque elegantia summa
scribendi tum, etc.
I:115
Multum ingenii in Caelio et praecipue in accusando multa
urbanitas, dignusque vir, cui et mens melior et vita longior
contigisset. Inveni qui Calvum
113
praeferrent omnibus, inveni qui Ciceroni crederent eum nimia contra se
calumnia verum sanguinem perdidisse; sed est et sancta et gravis oratio
et castigata et frequenter vehemens
114
quoque. Imitator autem est Atticorum, fecitque illi properata mors
iniuriam, si quid adiecturus sibi non si quid detracturus fuit.
§ 115.
Caelius, M. Rufus (82-48 B.C.),
a man of loose morals and luxurious life, whom Cicero defended from some
charges of sedition and attempted poisoning, 56 B.C. He had not much strength of character: during
Cicero’s absence in Cilicia he was in friendly correspondence with him,
but afterwards he joined Caesar, while urging Cicero to remain neutral.
Becoming discontented, he intrigued with Milo to raise an insurrection
against Caesar, and was put to death near Thurii by some foreign
cavalry, 48 B.C. Cp. Brutus §273
splendida et grandis et eadem in primis faceta et perurbana oratio.
Graves eius contiones aliquot fuerunt, acres accusationes tres (one
against C. Antonius) ... defensiones ... sane tolerabiles. There
was something bitter about him: 2 §25 asperitatem Caelii: cp.
Tac. Dial. 25 amarior Caelius: Sen. de Ira iii. 8, 6 oratorem ...
iracundissimum. A description of one of his speeches is given iv.
2, 123 sq.: for witticisms on Clodia v. viii. 6, 53. Cp. Tac. Dial.
21 and 25.
praecipue in accusando: vi. 3, 69 idem (Cicero) per allegoriam
M. Caelium, melius obicientem crimina quam defendentem, bonam
dextram malam sinistram habere dicebat.
urbanitas is defined vi. 3, 17 as sermonem praeferentem in
verbis et sono et usu proprium quendam gustum urbis et sumptam ex
conversatione doctorum tacitam eruditionem, denique cui contraria sit
rusticitas. Here the idea of wit is uppermost, as in ii. 11, 2
and vi. 3, 105. Cp. vi. 3 §41 Caelius cum omnia venustissime finxit
tum illud ultimum: i. 6, 29.
mens melior: Brut. §273 quaecunque eius in exitu vel fortuna
vel mens fuit: Vell. Pat. ii. 68 vir eloquio animoque Curioni
simillimus, sed in utroque perfectior nec minus ingeniose nequam.
Calvus, Gaius Licinius (B.C.
82-48), was the leading spirit among the stricter Atticists in Cicero’s
day, and is censured by him in the Brutus (§§284-291) for taking so
narrow a view of the full meaning of Attic oratory as to have introduced
the attempt to imitate certain particular models among the Attic
orators. A poet himself, he was the friend of Catullus, and, like
Catullus, an opponent of Caesar. He prosecuted Vatinius on three
separate
113
occasions, and once showed such vehemence and energy that the defendant
rose in court, saying ‘rogo vos, iudices, num si iste disertus est ideo
me damnari oportet’ (Sen. Controv. vii. 6): Tac. Dial. 34 Vatinium
eis orationibus insecutus est, quas hodieque cum admiratione legimus:
cp. ib. 21. Cp. Catullus 53, where we get a lively idea of his energetic
eloquence at the trial. The passage of Cicero referred to (Brutus §283
quoted below) was written after the death of Calvus: but already in Dec.
47 Cicero, in writing to his friend Trebonius, had stated his opinion
that Calvus had made an error of judgment in the choice of his style,
and that he was wanting in force: ad Fam. xv. 21 §4 genus quoddam
sequebatur, in quo iudicio lapsus, quo valebat, tamen assequebatur quod
probaret. Multae erant et reconditae litterae, vis non erat (Quint. x.
2, 25 ‘iudicium Calvi’). In the Dial. de Or. ch. 18 Tacitus refers to
certain letters, now lost, from Calvus and Brutus to Cicero, showing
that the latter regarded Calvus as exsanguis and attritus
(v.l. aridus), while Calvus stigmatised Cicero as solutus and
enervis. His position as leader of a school (which took Lysias
mainly for its model and cultivated ‘plainness’ at the expense of other
good qualities) is indicated by Cicero’s remark that he ‘not only went
wrong himself, but also led others astray’ (Brut. §284).
Ciceroni crederent, &c. “In writing of his oratorical
style in the Brutus, two years after his death, Cicero observes
that, while he was more accomplished in literature than the younger
Curio, he had also a more accurate and exquisite style; and although he
handled it with skill and elegance, he was too minute and nice in his
self-criticism; losing the very life-blood of style for fear of tainting
its purity, and cultivating too scrupulous a taste to win the approval
of the general public” (Sandys, Orator, Introd. xlvi.). The passage from
the Brutus (283) is as follows:—adcuratius quoddam dicendi et
exquisitius adferebat genus; quod quanquam scienter eleganterque
tractabat, nimium tamen inquirens in se atque ipse sese observans
metuensque ne vitiosum colligeret, etiam verum sanguinem deperdebat ...
Atticum ... se dici oratorem volebat; inde erat ista exilitas, quam ille
de industria consequebatur.
nimia ... calumnia, ‘by over-rigorous self-censure,’—a
morbid habit of introspective criticism: the word being used to express
nimium inquirens ... observans ... metuensque in the passage just
quoted. Perhaps the nearest parallel to this use is to be found in Caec.
ap. Cic. ad Fam. vi. 7, 4 in hac igitur calumnia, timoris et caecae
suspicionis tormento,—of exaggerated fears inspired by the spirit
of carping self-criticism, for which cp. 4 §3: 7 §14. The verb is found in the
same sense in 3 §10
infelicem calumniandi se poenam: viii. prooem. 31 nullus est finis
calumniandi se et cum singulis paene syllabis commoriendi. Cp. Plin.
xxxiv. 8, 19 §92 calumniator sui, of one who is over-anxious in
regard to his work. Cicero uses the verb absolutely: ad Fam. ix. 2, 3
mihi quidem venit in mentem bellum esse aliquo exire ... sed calumniabar
ipse: putabam qui obviam mihi venisset ... suspicaturum aut dicturum,
&c., where the meaning is ‘I indulged groundless fears’ (Nägelsbach,
p. 54). The word calumnia is derived from the root
calv found in calvor, to trick, quibble, through a
participial form *calvomenos, calumnus (cp. autumnus, aerumna, columna).
Its first meaning is a malicious charge or ‘cavil’: ad Fam. i. 1, 1,
religionis calumniam, the ‘trumped-up plea of a religious difficulty.’
Hence it was applied in Roman law (Gaius 4, 178) to the vexatious abuse
of legal forms, chicanery, legal quirks and quibbles, and generally to
the pettifogging tendency which exalts the letter above the spirit.
verum sanguinem perdidisse: cp. 4 §3 exsanguia.
sancta et gravis: his style is ‘solemn and weighty,’ xii. 10,
11 ‘sanctitatem Calvi.’
castigata, ‘chastened,’ ‘severely finished’: cp. Hor.
A. P. 292 carmen reprehendite quod non Multa dies et multa litura
coercuit atque Praesectum decies non castigavit ad unguem, i.e. by
pruning away everything that is useless and inappropriate: Tac. Dial. 25
adstrictior Calvus, numerosior Asinius.
frequenter: see on §17.
vehemens: cp. Sen. Controv. viii. 7
114
solebat praeterea excedere subsellia sua et impetu latus usque ad
adversariorum partem transcurrere. Seneca adds that he resembled
Demosthenes inasmuch as he was all struggle and excitement, though he
sometimes employed a gentler style, ib. §8 nihil in illa (compositione)
placidum, nihil lene est, omnia excitata et fluctuantia.
properata mors: cp. immatura mors. He died at the early age of
34. Cp. Brutus §279 facienda mentio est ... duorum adulescentium (Curio
and Calvus) qui si diutius vixissent magnam essent eloquentiae laudem
consecuti.
adiecturus, i.e. if it was likely that he would have added to
the purity of his diction other and richer qualities. The cold dry
manner of the strictest Atticists failed to hold the ear of Roman
audiences: Brut. §289 subsellia grandiorem et pleniorem vocem
desiderant, a larger and fuller utterance than that of the Atticists who
spoke ‘anguste et exiliter.’ See Crit. Notes.
detracturus: sc. nimia contra se calumnia. He is exilis
enough as it is.
I:116
Et Servius Sulpicius insignem non immerito famam tribus
orationibus meruit. Multa, si cum iudicio legatur, dabit imitatione
digna Cassius Severus, qui si ceteris virtutibus colorem et
gravitatem orationis adiecisset, ponendus inter praecipuos foret.
§ 116.
Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the most distinguished jurist of
Cicero’s day, consul B.C. 51. See
reff. in Brutus §150: §152: §153 (adiunxit etiam et litterarum scientiam
et loquendi elegantiam). His letter of sympathy to Cicero on the death
of Tullia is well known: ad Fam. iv. 5. Cp. 5 §4: 7 §30 and above §22.
meruit = consecutus est, as §94. See on §72.
Cassius Severus flourished under Augustus, and was banished on
account of his libellous attacks (procacibus scriptis), first to
Crete and then to Seriphos, where he is said to have died A.D. 34, in the twenty-fifth year of his exile; Tac.
Ann. iv. 21: i. 72. He is spoken of as the introducer of the new school
of declamatory eloquence, Tac. Dial. 19 Antiquorum admiratores ...
Cassium Severum ... primum affirmant flexisse ab illa vetere atque
directa dicendi via, &c.: ibid. 26 equidem non negaverim Cassium
Severum ... si iis comparetur qui postea fuerunt, posse oratorem vocari,
quamquam in magna parte librorum suorum plus bilis habeat quam
sanguinis: primus enim contempto ordine rerum, omissa modestia ac pudore
verborum, ipsis etiam quibus utitur armis incompositus et studio
feriendi plerumque detectus, non pugnat sed rixatur; ceterum ... et
varietate eruditionis et lepore urbanitatis et ipsaram virium robore
multum ceteros superat.
colorem: cp. on §59. The word is
not here used in the technical sense which it bears in rhetoric, i.e.
the particular aspect given to a case by a skilful representation of the
facts,—the ‘gloss’ or ‘varnish’ put on them by either the accused
or the accuser. For this sense see iv. 2, 88: Inv. vi. 279 Dic aliquem,
sodes, dic Quintiliane colorem: vii. 155 with Mayor’s note. Here it has
a more general sense. Quintilian is charging Cassius with a want of
proper ‘tone’: cp. omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, above: Cic. de
Or. iii. 96 ornatur oratio genere primum et quasi colore quodam et suco
suo.
gravitatem: Cassius was wanting in dignity, and his wit was
apt to carry him too far. Quintilian gives an instance of this xi. 1,
57; Seneca, Controv. iii. praef. 2 says however ‘gravitas, quae deerat
vitae, actioni supererat.’
I:117
Nam et ingenii plurimum est in eo et acerbitas mira et urbanitas et
fervor, sed plus stomacho quam consilio dedit. Praeterea
115
ut amari sales, ita frequenter amaritudo ipsa ridicula est.
§ 117.
ingenii plurimum: Tacitus (Ann. iv. 21) allows that he was
‘orandi validus’: and Seneca (l.c.) says oratio eius erat valens culta
ingentibus plena sententiis ... non est quod illum ex his quae edidit
aestimetis ... eloquentia eius longe maior erat quam lectio.
acerbitas mira: cp. Tac. Ann. i. 72 commotus Cassii Severi
libidine qua viros feminasque inlustres procacibus scriptis
diffamaverat.
urbanitas, v. on §115. For
examples see vi. 1, 43: viii. 3, 89: xi. 3, 133.
et fervor: see Crit. Notes, and cp.
115
Seneca l.c. habebat ... genus dicendi ... ardens et concitatum.
stomacho: he was full of passionate impulse: cp. the passage
quoted from Dial. 26 above.
praeterea ... ridicula est. Spalding’s interpretation of this
passage is followed by Krüger (2nd ed.) and Hild: the other editors do
not seem to have felt any difficulty. The sentence is taken in
continuation of the praise of Cassius, attaching closely to
‘urbanitas’: the words from sed plus to dedit being then
interjected as the only note of disparagement. The literal translation
would then be ‘while his wit is bitter, the bitterness itself is often
enough to make you laugh.’ ‘He has a caustic wit, but his causticity by
itself will often make you laugh.’ For this sense of ridicula
(Sp. ‘risum movet auditorum’) cp. vi. 3, 22 ridiculum ... haec
tota disputatio a Graecis περὶ γελοίου inscribitur: 3 §6 ridiculum (‘funny,’
‘droll’) dictum plerumque falsum est (ad hoc semper humile). Frieze
compares vi. 3, 7: and adds ‘success in exciting the mirth of the court
and the audience is not always a proof of the orator’s wit; but is often
due to mere bitterness of invective, and coarse and rough or droll terms
of abuse.’
One objection to this interpretation is the arrangement of the
sentences: praeterea ... ridicula est connects even more
naturally with sed plus ... dedit than with the eulogy contained
in urbanitas et fervor. And it may be doubted if Quintilian or
any other writer who had just been censuring Cassius for
stomachus would immediately go on (using ridiculus in a
good sense) to say that ‘often when he is merely bitter without being
witty (this is the force of amaritudo ipsa, cp. note on §45) he makes you laugh.’ Drollery can hardly be
claimed for unrelieved acrimoniousness.
A better sense can be obtained by taking amaritudo ipsa ridicula
est as part not of the praise but of the censure of Cassius, and
interpreting ridicula as ‘silly,’ ‘absurd,’ ‘ridiculous.’ Cicero uses
the word in this sense, and there is abundant authority in Quintilian
himself: cp. sint grandia et tumida, non stulta etiam et acrioribus
oculis intuenti ridicula ii. 10, 6; ridiculum est v. 13, 7; fecit enim
risum sed ridiculus fuit vi. 1, 48; quibus nos ... ridiculi videmur vii.
1, 43: ix. 3, 100; x. 3,
21; xi. 3, 128. The meaning then is ‘while his wit is bitter, yet
bitterness by itself is silly,’ i.e. his wit has a bitter turn, but
where he is (as often) bitter without being witty, the result is poor.
There is undoubtedly something unsatisfactory about ut amari
sales (sc. sunt), which might well have a general reference. See Crit. Notes.
I:118
Sunt alii multi diserti, quos persequi longum est. Eorum quos viderim
Domitius Afer et Iulius Africanus longe
praestantissimi.
116
Verborum arte ille et toto genere dicendi praeferendus et quem in numero
veterum habere non timeas: hic concitatior, sed in cura verborum nimius
et compositione nonnumquam longior et translationibus parum modicus.
Erant clara et nuper ingenia.
§ 118.
diserti here, as in §68 and 3 §13, almost synonymous with
eloquentes. In viii. pr. §13, however, Quintilian quotes a saying
of M. Antonius, which was meant to establish a difference: nam et
M. Antonius ... cum a se disertos visos esse multos ait, eloquentem
neminem, diserto satis putat dicere quae oporteat, ornate autem dicere
proprium esse eloquentis. Cp. i. 10, 8 ‘Fuit aliquis sine his disertus’:
‘at ego oratorem volo.’ Cicero gives the same quotation: Orat. §18: de
Orat. i. §94, where the reason for the distinction between the
‘accomplished speaker’ and ‘the eloquent orator’ is given by Antonius
himself,—quod ego eum statuebam disertum, qui posset satis acute
atque dilucide apud mediocres homines ex communi quadam opinione hominum
dicere, eloquentem vero, qui mirabilius et magnificentius augere posset
atque ornare quae vellet, omnesque omnium rerum, quae ad dicendum
pertinerent, fontes animo ac memoria contineret. Cp. Plin. Ep. v.
20 §5. For the derivation of disertus v. Sandys on Orat.
§18.
longum est: the action is spoken of as still possible. Roby
1735. So Cic. pro Sest. 5: Longum est ea dicere: sed hoc breve dicam.
Cp. 2 §§4, 7: 5 §7: 6 §2.
quos viderim: see on §98. In xii.
10, 11 he has ‘in iis etiam quos ipsi vidimus,’ mentioning both Afer and
Africanus. Quintilian’s fondness for the perfect subjunctive is marked:
cp. xii. 5, 5.
Domitius Afer: see on §86: cp. v.
7, 7 quem adolescentulus senem colui.
Iulius Africanus: a native of Gaul, who flourished under Nero.
In xii. 10, 11 he is again named alongside of Afer,—vires
Africani, maturitatem Afri. He is quoted as speaking to Nero in the name
of Gaul viii. 5, 15 Insigniter Africanus apud Neronem de morte matris:
rogant
116
te, Caesar, Galliae tuae, ut felicitatem tuam fortiter feras. He divided
the palm of eloquence with Afer: Tac. Dial. 15, He was a son of the
Iulius Africanus of whom Tacitus speaks (Ann. vi. 7) as e Santonis
Gallica civitate (Saintonge, to the N. of the lower Garonne): a grandson
of his, also an orator, is mentioned by Pliny vii. 6, 11.
in numero veterum: cp. Tac. Dial. 15, ad fin.
compositione: v. on §79. If it
has the same meaning here, it must = the euphonious collocation of
words: see Cicero Orat. §147 de verbis enim componendis, &c., and
§149 sq. Quintilian treats of compositio ix. 4, 1: Tr. ‘tedious
in his phraseology’: viii. 3, 52: ix. 4, 144 neque longioribus quam
oportet hyperbolis compositioni serviamus.
longior: i.e. he used ‘padding’ in the effort to round off his
periods.
translationibus: viii. 6, 4 sq.: esp. 16 sed copia quoque
modum egressa vitiosa est, praecipue in eadem specie.
I:119
Nam et Trachalus plerumque sublimis et satis apertus fuit et
quem velle optima crederes, auditus tamen maior; nam et vocis, quantam
in nullo cognovi, felicitas et pronuntiatio vel scaenis suffectura et
decor, omnia denique ei, quae sunt extra, superfuerunt: et Vibius
Crispus compositus et iucundus et delectationi
117
natus, privatis tamen causis quam publicis melior.
§ 119.
Trachalus, M. Galerius: consul A.D. 68 along with Silius Italicus. Tacitus (Hist.
i. 90) tells us he was supposed to have written the speech delivered by
Otho to an assembly of the people: in rebus urbanis Galerii Trachali
ingenio Othonem uti credebatur. Et erant qui genus ipsum orandi
noscerent, crebro fori usu celebre et ad inplendas populi aures latum et
sonans. After Otho’s death he was fortunate in securing the protection
of Galeria, wife of Vitellius (ibid. ii. 60), who may have been a
relation of his. From viii. 5, 19 we learn that he had published an
oration Contra Spatalem, in a case where Vibius Crispus appeared
for the accused. Cp. vi. 3, 78.
velle optima, not ‘well-meaning,’ in a moral sense, but with
reference to qualities of style: cp. below §122 ad optima tendentium: §131 meliora vellet.
auditus maior. In the passage often quoted already (xii. 10,
11) Quintilian singles out his sonus for special
mention,—‘sonum Trachali.’—Gertz suggested melior for
maior.
vocis ... felicitas: cp. xii. 5, 5, where, after enumerating
vox, latus, and decor as the ‘naturalia
instrumenta’ of the orator, he refers specially to the ‘external
advantages’ (cp. omnia ... quae sunt extra, below) of Trachalus: Habuit
oratores aetas nostra copiosiores, sed cum diceret eminere inter
aequales Trachalus videbatur, Ea corporis sublimitas erat, is ardor
oculorum, frontis auctoritas, gestus praestantia, vox quidem non, ut
Cicero desiderat, paene tragoedorum sed super omnes, quos ego quidem
audierim, tragoedos. Certe cum in basilica Iulia diceret primo
tribunali, quattuor autem iudicia, ut moris est, cogerentur, atque omnia
clamoribus fremerent, et auditum eum et intellectum et, quod agentibus
ceteris contumeliosissimum fuit, laudatum quoque ex quattuor
tribunalibus memini. Sed hoc votum est et rara felicitas.
suffectura, conditional, for quae suffectura fuisset,
without the protasis si voluisset. Cp. note on habitura §99. So taciturus xi. 2, 16. Hor.
Car. iv. 3, 20 donatura, si libeat: and ii. 6, 1 (where there is no
protasis), Septimi Gades aditure mecum—For pronuntiatio see
on §17.
superfuerunt, he had an abundant share of such advantages.
Vibius Crispus, a delator of the age of Nero, who
amassed great wealth by the practice of his profession down to about
A.D. 90. Tac. Hist. ii. 10 Vibius
Crispus, pecunia potentia ingenio inter claros magis quam inter bonos
... Crispum easdem accusationes cum praemio exercuisse meminerant: ibid.
iv. 41, 43. In the Dialogue Tacitus speaks of the fame of his eloquence,
ch. 8 ausim contendere Marcellum Eprium et Crispum Vibium
117
non minores esse in extremis partibus terrarum quam Capuae aut
Vercellis, ubi nati dicuntur; hoc ... illis praestat ... ipsa
eloquentia...; per multos iam annos potentissimi sunt civitatis ac,
donec libuit, principes fori, nunc principes in Caesaris (i.e.
Vespasiani) amicitia agunt feruntque cuncta, &c. And yet (ibid. 13)
Adligati canum adulatione nec imperantibus unquam satis servi videntur
nec nobis satis liberi. That he was still in favour with Domitian
appears from Suet. 3 inter initia principatus quotidie secretum sibi
horarium sumere solebat; nec quidquam amplius quam muscas captare ac
stylo praeacuto configere: ut cuidam interroganti esset ne quis intus
cum Caesare non absurde responsum sit a Vibio Crispo ‘Ne musca quidem.’
His wealth was proverbial: divitior Crispo Mart. iv. 54, 7: he was worth
200,000,000 sesterces, or even 300,000,000 according to Dial. 8. By
its means he was enabled to shelter his brother Vibius Secundus, when
accused of ‘repetundae’ in Mauretania: Tac. Ann. xiv. 28. Juvenal gives
a sketch of his character iv. 81-93 Venit et Crispi iucunda senectus
Cuius erant mores qualis facundia mite Ingenium ... nec civis erat qui
libera posset Verba animi proferre et vitam impendere vero ... Sic
multas hiemes atque octogesima vidit Solstitia his armis illa (of
Domitian) quoque tutus in aula.
compositus: generally applied to style, ‘well-balanced,’ e.g.
§44 lenis et nitidi et compositi generis:
cp. Cicero Orat. §208 composita oratio. Here the epithet is transferred
to the orator in the sense of ‘orderly,’ ‘finished’ in the choice and
combination of words. Cp. Orat. §232 compositi oratoris bene structam
collocationem dissolvere permutatione verborum: 2 §16 below fiunt ... pro ...
compositis exultantes: §66
incompositus.
iucundus, ‘lively, agreeable, entertaining’: cp. Crispi
iucunda senectus, Iuv., quoted above. In xii. 10, §11 Quintilian places
iucunditatem Crispi alongside of the distinguishing
characteristics of other orators: cp. v. 13, 48 Vibius Crispus vir
ingenii iucundi et elegantis.
I:120
Iulio Secundo, si longior contigisset aetas, clarissimum
profecto nomen oratoris apud posteros foret; adiecisset enim atque
adiciebat ceteris virtutibus suis quod desiderari potest, id est autem
ut esset multo magis pugnax et saepius ad curam rerum ab elocutione
respiceret.
§ 120.
Iulius Secundus is highly spoken of 3 §12 below: aequalem meum
atque a me, ut notum est, familiariter amatum, mirae facundiae virum,
infinitae tamen curae: and in xii. 10, 11 he is named as conspicuous for
‘elegantia.’ He is one of the interlocutors in the Dialogue of Tacitus,
where he is made to pose as umpire between the representatives of
Imperial and Republican eloquence: cp. esp. ch. 2 Aper et Iulius
Secundus, celeberrima tum (under Vespasian) ingenia fori nostri ...
Secundo purus et pressus et in quantum satis erat profluens sermo non
defuit: chs. 4 and 14.
adiciebat: he had begun the improvement when death overtook
him. He died about 88 A.D., not long
before Quintilian began his Institutio.
curam rerum: he is to care for substance as well as form.
Fabianus in Seneca (Epist. 100) had the opposite fault: visne illum
assidere pusillae rei, verbis?
I:121
Ceterum interceptus quoque magnum sibi vindicat locum: ea est facundia,
tanta in explicando quod velit gratia, tam candidum et lene et speciosum
dicendi genus, tanta verborum etiam quae adsumpta sunt proprietas, tanta
in
118
quibusdam ex periculo petitis significantia.
§ 121.
interceptus: so vi. pr. 1 si me ... fata intercepissent.
candidum: ‘lucid,’ v. on §73
(Herodotus), and cp. §113 Messalla ...
candidus: §101 clarissimi candoris, of
Livy.
lene opp. to forte et vehemens dicendi genus: §44. See Crit. Notes.
adsumpta = translata, ‘used figuratively.’ Cp. viii. 3,
43 adsumere ea, quibus inlustrem fieri orationem putat, delecta,
translata, superlata, ad nomen adiuncta, duplicata et idem significantia
atque ab ipsa actione atque imitatione rerum non abhorrentia. When the
process is carried too far the verba adsumpta, become
arcessita viii. 3. 56.
proprietas, v. on §46.
118
ex periculo: ii. 12, 5 quod est in elocutione ipsa periculum:
viii. 6, 11 (verba) quae audaci et proxime periculum translatione
tolluntur ... qualis est: pontem indignatus Araxes. Cp. paene
periclitantia xi. 1, 32. For the phrase ex periculo petere cp. ii.
11, 3 sententiis grandibus, quarum optima quaeque a periculo petarur.
Gr. παρακεκινδυνευμένα.
significantia: §49.
I:122
Habebunt qui post nos de oratoribus scribent magnam eos qui nunc vigent
materiam vere laudandi; sunt enim summa hodie, quibus inlustratur forum,
ingenia. Namque et consummati iam patroni veteribus aemulantur et eos
iuvenum ad optima tendentium imitatur ac sequitur industria.
§ 122.
eos qui nunc vigent. Who these were we can infer from the
Dialogue of Tacitus and from Pliny’s Letters, e.g. Aper, Marcellus,
Maternus, Aquilius Regulus, and others. Quintilian must of course have
meant to include Tacitus and Pliny themselves.
consummati: often equivalent to perfectus in
Quintilian: 5 §14. Cp.
above §89. It is combined with
perfectus v. 10, 119 ne se ... perfectos protinus atque
consummates putent.
veteribus. Aemulari occurs elsewhere with the
accusative, §62; 2 §17. So of envious emulation
Cic. Tusc. i. §44: cp. iv. §17 with the dative of the person.
iuvenum ad optima tendentium. Hild refers to the speeches of
Messalla and Maternus in the Dial. (28-30, 34-36) as indicating the
oratorical aspirations of the youth of Rome when Quintilian wrote.
I:123
Supersunt qui de philosophia scripserint, quo in genere paucissimos
adhuc eloquentes litterae Romanae tulerunt. Idem igitur
M. Tullius, qui ubique, etiam in hoc opere Platonis
aemulus
119
extitit. Egregius vero multoque quam in orationibus praestantior
Brutus suffecit ponderi rerum: scias eum sentire quae
dicit.
§ 123.
philosophia. For the attitude of the Romans to philosophy see
Teuffel, §40 sq. Abstract speculation, leading to no practical end, was
not held in honour by them: like Neoptolemus, in the play of Ennius,
they said ‘philosophari est mihi necesse, at paucis (i.e. ‘only a
little’: Roby, §1237) nam omnino haud placet,’—Cicero de Orat. ii.
§156: de Repub. i. 18, 30: Pacuvius too (in Gell. xiii. 8) had made
one of his characters exclaim: ego odi homines ignava opera et
philosopha sententia. The Romans disliked the unsettling tendencies
which seemed to accompany the study of philosophy: hence e.g. their
treatment of the Athenian ambassadors in the middle of the second
century B.C. The prejudice against
such studies had by no means entirely disappeared even in the time of
Cicero, who constantly apologises for and seeks to justify his leanings
to philosophy: de Off. ii. 1, 2 sqq.: de Fin. i. 1, 1. Tacitus,
Agricola 4, tells us that Agricola used to say ‘se prima in iuventa
studium philosophiae acrius, ultra quam concessum Romano ac senatori,
hausisse, ni prudentia matris incensum ac flagrantem animum
coercuisset.’ About the time when Quintilian was writing, Domitian
banished the philosophers from Rome: ibid. ch. 2. For the help
which philosophy can give to oratory see xii. 11, which contains (§7) an
expression of the Roman ideal: atqui ego illum quem instituo Romanum
quendam velim esse sapientem, qui non secretis disputationibus, sed
rerum experimentis atque operibus vere civilem virum exhibeat. Cp.
Cicero’s boast in regard to himself and Cato of Utica: nos philosophiam
veram illam et antiquam, quae quibusdam otii esse ac desidiae videtur,
in forum atque in rempublicam atque in ipsam aciem paene deduximus. See
on §84.
paucissimos ... eloquentes. The addition of an adj. to another
adj. used as a subst. is rare in Quintilian. Hirt (Subst. des Adj.
p. 17) cites only five exx. besides this one: e.g. iii. 8, 31
antiquis nobilibus ortos.
qui ubique. The sense is clear: it is a repetition of the
claim made in §108 mihi videtur
M. Tullius ... effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam Platonis,
iucunditatem Isocratis. But it was not ubique that Cicero
rivalled Plato: it was only in Plato’s own domain (sc. in hoc opere).
The expression
119
was adopted for brevity’s sake: Spalding says it is equivalent to ‘ut
ubique Graecorum praestantissimi cuiusque, ita in hoc opere Platonis.’
For Cicero’s philosophical writings cp. Teuffel, §173 sq.
Brutus: cp. §23. He is not
included in Quintilian’s list of orators; and though Cicero uses towards
him the language of extravagant eulogy (v. esp. Brut. §22) in many of
his works, yet we know from a passage in the Dialogue already quoted
that he sometimes found him ‘otiosum atque disiunctum’ ch. 18. Cp.
ch. 21 Brutum philosophiae suae relinquamus. Nam in orationibus minorem
esse, fama sua etiam admiratores eius fatentur. A reference follows
to his speech ‘Pro rege Deiotaro,’ which the speaker (Aper) considers
‘dull and tedious’—lentitudo and tepor being the
words used. A fragment of a declamation by him is quoted ix. 3
§95–. On his philosophical works see Cic. Acad. i. 3, 12 (with
Reid’s note). He was an adherent of the Stoico-academic school, whose
tenets he had studied under Aristus and Antiochus: cp. Tusc. v. 21:
Brut. 120, 149, 332: de Fin. v. 8. There was a treatise de
Virtute addressed to Cicero, one περὶ καθήκοντος, and one de Patientia:
Teuffel, 209 §§2 and 3.
suffecit ponderi rerum: Quint. xii. 10, 11 names
gravitas as his distinguishing quality: cp. gravior Brutus, Tac.
Dial. ch. 25.
sentire quae dicit. The intensity and sincerity of his nature
can be inferred from ad Att. xiv. 1, 2, where Caesar is quoted as saying
of him magni refert hic quid velit, sed quicquid vult valde vult.
For his devotion to study see 7 §27 below.
I:124
Scripsit non parum multa Cornelius Celsus, Sextios secutus, non
sine cultu ac nitore. Plautus in Stoicis rerum cognitioni
utilis. In Epicureis levis quidem, sed non iniucundus tamen
120
auctor est Catius.
§ 124.
non parum multa: litotes, as at vi. 2, 3 semper fuerunt non parum
multi.—Becher compares also non parum multi Cic. in Verr. iii. 9,
22: Phil. vii. 6, 18: pro Quinctio 3, 11: in Verr. iv. 12, 29: parum
saepe de Fin. ii. 4, 12. The opposite of non parum is non
nimis: cp. Liv. xxii. 26, 4 haud parum callide with Cic. de Nat.
Deor. i. 25, 70 nihil horum nimis callide.
Cornelius Celsus: a celebrated encyclopaedist under Augustus
and Tiberius, who wrote on rhetoric, jurisprudence, farming, medicine,
military art, and practical philosophy. Only eight books on medicine
have come down to us. He survived into the reign of Nero. Cp. §23 above. Of his philosophy Augustine writes as
follows (de Haeres. Prol.): opiniones omnium philosophorum qui sectas
varias condiderunt usque ad tempora sua ... sex non parvis voluminibus
... absolvit; nec redarguit aliquem, sed tantum quid sentirent aperuit,
ea brevitate sermonis ut tantum adhiberet eloquii quantum ... aperiendae
iudicandaeque sententiae sufficeret. In xii. 11, 24 Quintilian refers to
the universality of his knowledge, though he speaks of him as mediocri
vir ingenio. “In other passages also Quintilian often expresses his
disagreement from this predecessor of his, e.g. ii. 15, 22, 32: iii. 6,
13 sq.: viii. 3, 47: ix. 1, 18 ... Even when he agrees with him he does
so with reserve, e.g. vii. 1, 10.—It may be that Quintilian
was vexed that a subject to which he had devoted an entire life was
merely cursorily treated by Celsus, and besides an encyclopaedia might
easily be open to technical objections. At all events, Celsus’
rhetorical manual was obscured by that of Quintilian. It is mentioned
only by Fortunat. iii. 2 (p. 121, 10 H)”—Teuffel, 275.
Sextios. The Sextii, father and son, were contemporary with
Caesar and Augustus, and belonged to the Pythagorean school, though not
without a leaning to the Stoics (Seneca, Ep. 64 §2–). Seneca
speaks frequently of the elder Sextius in his letters: e.g.
59 §7– ‘virum acrem, Graecis verbis, Romanis moribus
philosophantem.’ In the Nat. Quaest. vii. 32, 2 we are told how their
following—‘Sextiorum nova et Romani roboris secta’—soon fell
away: ‘inter initia sua extincta est,’ v. Teuffel 261.
cultu ac nitore: v. §79 and §83, with notes.
Plautus. The text is not certain (see Crit. Notes), but as Quintilian
elsewhere (ii. 14, 2 and iii. 6, 23) refers to a philosopher
120
of this name as employing the unusual words queentia and
essentia, it may as well be retained. (In ii. 14, 2 however
Meister reads Flavi: cp. Teuffel, 261, §9.)
levis: ‘of no weight.’
Catius, an Insubrian by birth, contemporary with Cicero, who
speaks of his recent death ad Fam. xv. 16, 1; cp. 19, 2 Epicurus, a quo
omnes Catii et Amafinii, mali verborum interpretes (referring to their
faithful transcripts of Greek terminology) proficiscuntur. The scholiast
on Hor. Sat. ii. 4 tells us that he wrote ‘quattuor libros de rerum
natura et de summo bono.’
I:125
Ex industria Senecam in omni genere eloquentiae distuli propter
vulgatam falso de me opinionem, qua damnare eum et invisum quoque habere
sum creditus. Quod accidit mihi dum corruptum et omnibus vitiis fractum
dicendi genus revocare ad severiora iudicia contendo; tum autem solus
hic fere in manibus adulescentium fuit.
§ 125.
Seneca: A.D. 2-65. For his life
and works see Teuffel 282 sqq., Bernhardy p. 871 sq. Martha gives
an estimate of the moral teaching of his well-known Letters in
‘Moralistes sous l’Empire Romain.’ Quintilian’s criticism of Seneca is
subjected to a searching examination by M. Samuel Rocheblave in a
pamphlet De M. Fabio Quintiliano L. Annaei Senecae Judice
(Paris, 1890): see esp. chs. iii. and iv. Introduction, pp. xxiv.
sqq.
opinionem. Quintilian worked hard to recall the Romans to a
more temperate and classical style. He aimed too at a partial ‘return to
Cicero,’ and considered Seneca a dangerous model for the youth of the
day. See Introduction, pp. xxxix. sqq. Fronto and others used
stronger language: e.g. p. 155 N eloquentiam ... Senecae mollibus
et febriculosis prunuleis insitam subvertendam censeo radicitus ...
neque ignoro copiosum sententiis et redundantem hominem esse, verum
sententias eius tolutares video, quatere campum quadripedo concita
cursu, tenere nusquam, pugnare nusquam ... dicteria potius eum quam
dicta continere. Cp. Aul. Gell. xii. 2, 1 de Annaeo Seneca partim
existimant ut de scriptore minime utili, cuius libros attingere nullum
pretium operae sit, quod oratio eius vulgaris videatur et protrita, res
atque sententiae aut inepto inanique impetu sint aut levi et quasi
dicaci argutia, eruditio autem vernacula et plebeia nihilque ex veterum
scriptis habens neque gratiae neque dignitatis. Alii vero elegantiae in
verbis parum esse non infitias eunt, sed et rerum quas dicat scientiam
doctrinamque ei non deesse dicunt et in vitiis morum obiurgandis
severitatem gravitatemque non invenustam. So too Caligula (Suet. 53) had
called Seneca’s productions arena sine calce, commissiones merae.
damnare ... invisum habere. There is nothing in this of a
moral judgment, though some of Quintilian’s contemporaries, notably
Tacitus, disliked Seneca, probably because they could not acquit him
from blame in regard to his pupil Nero’s excesses, and other matters.
The only parallel to et invisum quoque in classical Latin is said
by Becher to be Cic. pro Domo §47 quoniam iam dialecticus es et haec
quoque liguris. It does not occur in Caesar, seldom in Livy, but
frequently in Quintilian. Cp. on §20.
corruption ... genus. He is not speaking of the false taste of
Seneca’s style exclusively, but of the general deterioration that
prevailed: cp. §43 recens haec
lascivia.
dum contendo: ‘through the efforts I made’: the tum
which follows shows that it refers to past time.
solus hic fere in manibus. Tac. Ann. xiii. 3 fuit illi viro
ingenium amoenum et temporis eius auribus adcommodatum. In his
endeavours to introduce a purer taste Quintilian naturally made so
popular an author as Seneca the peg on which to hang his discourse.
I:126
Quem non equidem omnino conabar excutere, sed potioribus praeferri non
sinebam, quos ille non destiterat incessere, cum diversi sibi conscius
121
generis placere se in dicendo posse iis quibus illi placerent
diffideret. Amabant autem eum magis quam imitabantur, tantumque ab illo
defluebant quantum ille ab antiquis descenderat.
§ 126.
excutere: sc. e manibus adulescentium.
incessere. At the close of the passage quoted above, Gellius
goes on to quote, with much indignation, Seneca’s disparaging criticism
of Ennius, Cicero, and Vergil, from Book xxii of the Letters to Lucilius
(no longer extant). In Ep. 114 we find
121
him censoring Sallust and those who imitated him. Sueton. Ner. 52 a
cognitione veterum oratorum Seneca praeceptor, quo diutius in
admiratione sui detineret (Neronem avertit). For iis, see Crit. Notes.
defluebant = degenerabant, i. 8, 9 quando nos in omnia
deliciarum vitia dicendi quoque ratione defluximus.
I:127
Foret enim optandum pares ac saltem proximos illi viro fieri. Sed
placebat propter sola vitia et ad ea se quisque dirigebat effingenda,
quae poterat; deinde cum se iactaret eodem modo dicere, Senecam
infamabat.
§ 127.
Foret ... optandum, of a wish that is considered
impossible,—which shows how high was Quintilian’s opinion of
Seneca: cp. ac saltem proximus. So velles §130. For the infin. see Introd. p. lvi.
ad ea ... effingenda: cp. Cic. Orat. §9 ad illius
similitudinem artem et manum dirigebat. For effingenda cp. §108.
quae poterat, sc. effingere: cp. Caesar, B.C. 37 quam
celerrime potuit (comparare).
infamabat, ‘brought reproach on.’
I:128
Cuius et multae alioqui et magnae virtutes fuerunt, ingenium facile et
copiosum, plurimum studii, multa rerum cognitio, in qua tamen aliquando
ab his quibus inquirenda quaedam mandabat deceptus est.
§ 128.
alioqui: see Introd. p. li.
quibus ... mandabat. Especially for physical science he must
have been greatly indebted to external aid. His VII Books ‘Naturalium
Quaestionum,’ with the addition of moral meditations, were used as a
text-book in the Middle Ages.
I:129
Tractavit etiam omnem fere studiorum materiam; nam et orationes eius et
poemata et epistulae et dialogi feruntur. In philosophia parum diligens,
egregius tamen vitiorum insectator
122
fuit. Multae in eo claraeque sententiae, multa etiam morum gratia
legenda, sed in eloquendo corrupta pleraque atque eo perniciosissima,
quod abundant dulcibus vitiis.
§ 129.
orationes. None survive. Quintilian refers (viii. 5, 18) to
the speech he made for Nero on the occasion of his mother’s funeral:
Tac. Ann. xiii. 3, cp. 11. It is probable also that Seneca wrote the
speeches mentioned by Suet. Ner. 7, the ‘gratiarum actio’ in the Senate,
‘pro Bononiensibus latine, pro Rhodiis atque Iliensibus graece.’ He also
pleaded with success in the law-courts (Dion Cass. 59, 19, 7.).
poemata. That Seneca wrote poetry is evident from Tacitus Ann.
xiv. 52, where his accusers, in order to prejudice him in the eyes of
Nero (who was jealous of his reputation as a poet and an
orator),—obiiciebant etiam eloquentiae laudem uni sibi adsciscere
et carmina crebrius factitare postquam Neroni amor eorum venisset: cp.
Suet. Ner. 52. He is said also to have written epigrams, and other forms
of verse.—His tragedies are not referred to here, though
Quintilian quotes from the Medea ix. 2, 8: see for them Teuffel 285;
Bernhardy, note 322.
epistulae. The Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, as we have them
now (see 3rd vol. of Teubner edition), are 124 in number, arranged in
twenty books. There were more however originally, and Priscian speaks of
Book x of the letters to Novatus (in decimo epistularum ad Novatum),
while Martial (vii. 45, 3) refers to letters to Caesonius Maximus,
of which we know nothing more.
dialogi, i.e. the works called by this name in the Milan MS.,
not his tragedies, though these were written to be read rather than to
be acted. There are twelve of them (v. Teuffel 284 §4–), and
each is dedicated to some particular individual. There is besides the De
Clementia ad Neronem, and a Dialogus de Superstitione (no longer extant
except in the fragment given in Augustine’s C.D. vi. 10) directed
against the anthropomorphism of popular superstition.
feruntur: §23.
parum diligens: ‘not very critical.’ He was a student of life
rather than a student of thought.
vitiorum insectator: cp. Lactantius,
122
Inst. Div. v. 9 morum vitiorumqne publicorum et descriptor verissimus et
accusator acerrimus.
eo for ideo: cp. Hor. Sat. i. 6, 89 eoque non ... Quod non
ingenuos habeat ... parentes.
I:130
Velles eum suo ingenio dixisse, alieno iudicio; nam si obliqua
contempsisset, si parum recta non concupisset, si non omnia sua
amasset, si rerum pondera minutissimis sententiis non fregisset,
consensu potius eruditorum quam puerorum amore comprobaretur.
§ 130.
iudicio, ‘taste,’ as §127 above:
cp. M. Seneca (of Capito) ‘habebat in sua potestate ingenium, in
aliena modum.’
obliqua. For this apt conjecture (in place of the traditional
aliqua), see Crit. Notes.
si parum recta. On the assumption that a word has fallen out
of the MSS. after parum, recta is preferable to Halm and
Meister’s sana. For rectum as abstr. cp. ii. 13, 11: xii.
1, 12. See Crit.
Notes.
omnia sua amasset, §88 of Ovid,
nimium amator ingenii sui. Cp. below 3 §12 utros peccare validius
putem, quibus omnia sua placent...
rerum pondera ... fregisset: contrast §123 suffecit ponderi rerum. Seneca ‘weakened the
force of his matter by striving after epigrammatic brevity.’
amore, of an ill-considered attachment (§94: 2 §19), whereas studio
would have indicated mature taste, vi. 2, 12 amor πάθος, caritas ἦθος.
I:131
Verum sic quoque iam robustis et severiore genere satis firmatis
legendus vel ideo quod exercere potest utrimque iudicium. Multa enim, ut
dixi, probanda in eo, multa etiam admiranda sunt; eligere modo curae
sit, quod utinam ipse fecisset. Digna enim fuit illa natura, quae
meliora vellet: quod voluit effecit.
§ 131.
sic quoque = καὶ
οὕτως.
robustis, opp. to pueris: cp. 5 §1 below. Cp. Tac. Dial. 35
‘controversiae robustioribus adsignantur,’ while ‘suasoriae pueris
delegantur.’
firmatis. So occupatos 3 §27: exercitatos 5 §17. Introd.
pp. xlviii-ix.
vel ideo quod: §86: 5 §16.
utrimque, i.e. laudantium et vituperantium, ‘for and against
him.’ So 5, 20: 6, 7: and cp. 1, 22. Introd. p. lii.
Multa enim ... digna enim, another instance of the want of
care that has been already noted, 2 §23.
natura: cp. §86.
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