Chapter I · How to acquire a command of Diction. (continued 2)

§ 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, 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 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. 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 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, 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. 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 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 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 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.

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 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 §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 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 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 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, 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

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 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 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 ab usu cotidiano recedant, sana et vere Attica putant; quosdam 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,’ 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 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.

§ 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 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.

ANALYSIS OF THE ARGUMENT (46-84)

§§ 46-84. GREEK LITERATURE.

§§ 46-72. Greek Poetry.

§§46-61. Epic, didactic, pastoral, elegiac, iambic, and lyric poetry proper.

The praise of Homer, §§46-51: ‘it is much to understand, impossible to rival, his greatness.’ Hesiod is rich in moral maxims, and a master of the ‘middle style’: Antimachus, Panyasis, Apollonius, Aratus, Theocritus, and others, §§52-57. A word in passing about the elegiac poets, represented by Callimachus and Philetas, §58. Of iambographi the typical writer is Archilochus, §§59-60. The chief lyric poets are Pindar (§61), Stesichorus (§62), Alcaeus (§63), and Simonides (§64).

§§65-72. Dramatic poetry.

The Old Comedy (§§65-66) with its pure Attic diction and freedom of political criticism is more akin to oratory and more fitted to form the orator than any other class of poetry,—always excepting Homer.

Tragedy (§§67-68) is represented by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides: of the latter two Euripides is more useful for the orator. He was imitated by Menander (§§69-72), the ‘mirror of life,’ who might alone suffice to form the orator. Menander’s superiority to all other comic dramatists.

§§73-75. Greek Historians.

The pregnant brevity of Thucydides, the charm and transparency of Herodotus. Theopompus: Philistus (‘the little Thucydides’): Ephorus, and others.

§§76-80. Greek Orators.

Demosthenes the standard of eloquence, in whom there is nothing either too much or too little. Aeschines more diffuse: ‘more flesh, less muscle.’ Hyperides is pleasing, but more at home in less important causes. Lysias resembles a clear spring rather than a full river. Isocrates belongs to the gymnasium rather than to the field of battle: in arrangement punctilious to a fault. Demetrius of Phalerum the last Athenian worthy of the name of orator.

§§81-84. Greek Philosophers.

Both in respect of reasoning power and for beauty of style, Plato holds the first place. Of Xenophon’s artless charm it might be said that ‘Persuasion herself perched upon his lips.’ Aristotle is famous alike for knowledge, productiveness, grace of style, invention, and versatility. Theophrastus owed even his name to the divine splendour of his language. The Stoics were the champions of virtue, and showed their strength in defending their tenets: the grand style they did not affect.

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. 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.

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, 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.

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 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 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 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 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 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.

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 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 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 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 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 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 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? 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. 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 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 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.