Chapter I · How to acquire a command of Diction. (continued 4)

quandam, i.e. something which may be called persuadendi dea: cp. quodam below, and quibusdam §76: xii. 10, ii quadam eloquentiae frugalitate. See Crit. Notes.

I:83 Quid reliquorum Socraticorum elegantiam? Quid Aristotelen? Quem dubito scientia rerum an scriptorum copia an eloquendi suavitate an inventionum acumine an varietate operum clariorem putem. Nam in Theophrasto tam est loquendi nitor ille divinus ut ex eo nomen quoque traxisse dicatur.

§ 83. Socratici §35.

elegantiam: §114: 2 §19: ‘chaste simplicity,’ Frieze.

Aristotelen. It is to be noticed that in both Dionysius and Quintilian, Aristotle comes after Plato and Xenophon: Ἀρχ. κρ. 4, (Us. p. 27) παραληπτέον δὲ καὶ Ἀριστοτέλη εἰς μίμησιν τῆς τε περὶ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν δεινότητος καὶ τῆς σαφηνείας καὶ τοῦ ἡδέος καὶ πολυμαθοῦς: Brut. §121 quis Aristotele nervosior? Orat. §172 quis omnium doctior, quis acutior, quis in rebus vel inveniendis vel iudicandis acrior Aristotele fuit?

scientia ... copia ... suavitate: Orat. §5 admirabili quadam scientia et copia: Topica 1 §3 dicendi incredibili quadam quum copia tum etiam suavitate: cp. de Inv. ii. §6.

acumine: see on §77.

nam has come to serve as a transition-formula: so §§9, 12, 50: 4, 4. It generally involves an ellipse: cp. Sall, Iug. ch. 19, 2: 31, 2: 82, 2: Cicero, Tusc. Disp. iv. §52.

Theophrasto. Brut. §121 quis Theophrasto dulcior? Theophrastus succeeded Aristotle in the conduct of his school B.C. 322, and died 287.

tam est loquendi nitor ille divinus ut. Becher takes tam closely with divinus, making tam divinus est the pred. and loquendi nitor ille the subj.: and so Krüger (3rd ed.). For the order of words he compares §122 habebunt magnam eos qui nunc vigent materiam vere laudandi, and adds (Quaest. p. 18) ‘omnino autem tenendum est perplexam et arcessitam verborum turbam magis quam ordinem (Bonn. Proleg. lxxviii.) aetatis argenteae scriptoribus in deliciis fuisse, quae intellectum legentium non tam adiuvet quam impediat.’ We might also cp. §76 tam nihil otiosum, and 7 §27. Even in Cicero a similar separation occurs: pro Cael. §16 nunquam enim tam Caelius amens fuisset: in Verr. v. §121 quis tam fuit illo tempore durus et ferreus. Kiderlin, however (Hermes 23, p. 109), challenges this explanation, contending that the words loquendi nitor ille divinus are obviously meant to be taken together, and that ille makes it impossible to join tam and divinus. He rejects as inappropriate the analogies cited from Brutus §58 (cp. §§174, 41): ad Q. Fr. i. 2, 3 §9 (atque ego haec tam esse quam audio non puto—where it has been proposed to insert a word): ad Fam. vi. 7, 1. But more weight should be attached to the following passages to which K. himself refers: Quint. ii. 16, 15 (sed ipsa ratio neque tam nos iuvaret neque tam esset in nobis manifesta, nisi, &c.) and viii. 3, 5 (et fulmina ipsa non tam nos confunderent si, &c.). Kiderlin however holds that all those passages differ from this, inasmuch as either there is a negative with tam, or it is joined with an adverb, or it follows quam immediately. He rejects Spalding’s tantus est, and proposes to read tam manifestus est: manifestus goes well with the preceding sentence, where Quintilian does not know which of Aristotle’s great points to praise most, while with Theophrastus there is no such doubt, since his loquendi nitor is so striking that he is said, &c. K. thinks that manifestus (which is a favourite word of Quintilian: see Bonn. Lex.) might easily have fallen out, as tam est and manifest are pretty much alike.—In support of the reading loquendi (for which Meister gives, by a misprint, eloquendi), Kiderlin points out that Quintilian probablv wished to translate φράζειν.

nitor: cp. §§33, 9, 79 (where see note on nitidus): Cicero, de Fin. iv. 3, 5 primum enim ipsa illa, quae subtiliter disserenda erant, polite apteque dixerunt, tum definientes, tum partientes, ut vestri etiam; sed vos (Stoici) squalidius; illorum (sc. Peripateticorum et Academicorum) vides quam niteat oratio. Of the Peripatetics generally he says (Brutus §120) in doctrina atque praeceptis disserendi ratio coniungitur cum suavitate dicendi et copia.

nomen traxisse: Orat. §62 siquidem et Theophrastus divinitate loquendi nomen invenit: Diog. Laert. v. 38 τοῦτον, Τύρταμον λεγόμενον, Θεόφραστον διὰ τὸ τῆς φράσεως θεσπέσιον Ἀριστοτέλης μετωνόμασεν.

I:84 Minus indulsere eloquentiae Stoici veteres, sed cum honesta suaserunt tum in colligendo probandoque quae instituerant plurimum valuerunt, rebus tamen acuti magis quam (id quod sane non adfectaverunt) oratione magnifici.

§ 84. Stoici veteres. See xii. 1, 24 sq. for a discussion of the various philosophical systems in regard to their fitness for oratorical purposes. For the comparative unfitness of the Stoic writers see esp. Cic. de Orat. iii. 18, 66: de Fin. iv. 28, 78 sq.: de Orat. ii. 38, 159. So too Brutus §114 (Stoicorum) peracutum et artis plenum orationis genus scio tamen esse exile nec satis populari adsensioni adcommodatum: §118 ut omnes fere Stoici prudentissimi in disserendo sint et id arte faciant sintque architecti paene verborum, eidem traducti a disputando ad dicendum inopes reperiantur.

quae instituerant: ‘their principles.’ De Off. i. 1, 1 praecepta institutaque philosophiae: de Am. §13: de Fin. v. 3, 7 scripta et instituta: Brut. §31 and esp. §119.

colligendo: ‘arguing,’ not necessarily here of the formal process of syllogistic reasoning. Cp. xii. 2, 10 ambigua aperire et perplexa discernere et de falsis iudicare et colligere et resolvere quae velis oratorum est.

rebus acuti: ‘shrewd thinkers,’ rather than masters of the grand style. For the constr. (where in Greek the pr. part. would have been used) cp. §80 vel ob hoc memoria dignum.

quod sane non adfect. Cp. Sen. Ep. 108, 35 illud admoneo, auditionem philosophorum lectionemque ad propositum beatae vitae trahendam, non ut verba prisca aut ficta captemus et translationes improbas figurasque dicendi, sed ut profutura praecepta et magnificas voces et animosas, quae mox in rem transferantur: sic ista ediscamus ut quae fuerint verba sint opera.

ANALYSIS OF THE ARGUMENT (85-131)

§§ 85-131. ROMAN LITERATURE.

§§ 85-100. Roman Poetry.

§§85-92. Epic Poets.

Vergil must head the list, ranking nearer to Homer than any third poet does to him. For consistent and uniform excellence he may surpass even Homer, however little he may rival Homer’s best passages. Macer and Lucretius are worth reading, but not for style. Varro Atacinus has some merit as a translator, but will not add to an orator’s resources. Ennius is like some venerable grove, whose trees have more sanctity than beauty: there are others nearer our own day, and more useful for our special purpose. Ovid is uncontrolled even in his hexameters, and lets his fancy run away with him: yet admirable in parts. Cornelius Severus fell away from the standard of his first book. The youthful works of Serranus display great talent and a correct taste in style. We lately lost much in Valerius Flaccus. The inspiration of Saleius Bassus also failed to take on the mellowness of age. Rabirius and Pedo are worth reading in spare moments. Lucan has fire and point, and is a model for orators rather than for poets. Domitian I would name had not the care of the world prevented him from becoming our greatest poet. Even the compositions of his earlier days, after he had handed over the empire, are lofty, learned, and of surpassing excellence: ‘the poet’s ivy is entwined with the conquering bay.’

§§93-96. Elegy, Satire, iambic and lyric poetry.

In Elegy we can challenge the Greeks. The most polished and refined is, in my opinion, Tibullus; some prefer Propertius. Ovid is more uncontrolled than either, Gallus harsher. Satire is all our own. Lucilius is by some still preferred to all poets whatsoever. I deprecate such extravagant eulogy, as I disagree with the censure of Horace. Lucilius has learning, boldness, causticity, wit. Horace is the prince of satirists. Persius earned renown by a single book. Others still alive will have a name hereafter. Terentius Varro wrote saturae of the earlier kind. A profound scholar, antiquarian, and historian, he has made greater contributions to knowledge than to oratory. As a separate form of composition, iambic poetry is not much in vogue. Horace is our great lyric poet,—everywhere pleasing and graceful, and very happy in his language. Caesius Bassus too may be added: but there are living authors of greater merit.

§§97-100. Dramatic Poetry.

Of Tragedians, Attius and Pacuvius are most renowned for weight of thought and style, and for the dignity of their characters; but they lack finish. Attius has more strength, Pacuvius more learning. Varius’s Thyestes may be set beside any Greek play. Ovid’s Medea shows what he might have done if he could have kept within bounds. Pomponius Secundus is by far the greatest of all whom I have myself seen. Comedy is not our strong point. Notwithstanding Plautus, Caecilius, and Terence, we scarcely reproduce a faint shadow of our originals: perhaps our language is incapable of the grace and charm which, even in Greek, is peculiar to the Attic. Afranius is the best writer of togatae, but his is not a pure art.

§§101-104. Roman Historians.

In history we hold our own. Sallust may be pitted against Thucydides, Livy against Herodotus. Livy is remarkable for the charm and transparency of his narrative style, as well as for the eloquence and appropriateness of his speeches; and in the presentation of passion, especially on its softer side, he is unsurpassed. Sallust is different but not inferior. Servilius Nonianus wants conciseness. Aufidius Bassus did more to maintain the dignity of history. There is also the glory of our own age, the historian who is still with us, and whom I do not mention by name. Cremutius Cordus is appreciated for his independent spirit, which still survives in his works in spite of the revision and expurgation they have been subjected to. There are others, but I am only giving samples of classes, not ransacking libraries.

§§105-122. Roman Orators.

Cicero can stand against Demosthenes. I do not propose, however, to make a detailed comparison between them, and I admit that Demosthenes is worthy of being learnt by heart. In invention they resemble each other: in style they differ, Demosthenes being more concise, Cicero more diffuse; the one always pierces with the point of his weapon, the other often lets you feel the weight of it; the one has more art, the other a greater natural gift. In wit and pathos Cicero excels. Demosthenes was perhaps debarred from glowing perorations; but on the other hand the genius of the Latin language denies to us a full measure of the peculiar ‘Attic charm.’ Still Demosthenes came first, and Cicero owes much to him. He is however no mere imitator,—‘no cistern of rain-water, but a living source.’ Instructive, affecting, pleasing, he carries his audience away with him. He wins conviction not by the zeal of a partisan, but by the impartiality of a judge: everything he does is natural and easy. He was king of the bar in his own day, and with us his name is a synonym for eloquence: it is a mark of progress to have a high appreciation of Cicero. Pollio, with all his good points, is so far behind Cicero in charm and polish that it might be thought he lived a century earlier. Messalla is lucid and distinguished, but wants force. Caesar might have disputed the palm with Cicero; his speeches breathe his warlike ardour, and yet he is above all things ‘elegans.’ Caelius has genius and wit: he deserved a longer life. Calvus is by some preferred to all others; but Cicero thought that by too rigorous self-criticism he lost the very life-blood of style. He is moral, weighty, chastened, and often vigorous withal. He was a strict Atticist; and it is a pity that he died so young, if there was a likelihood of his enriching his style. Servius Sulpicius made a name by three speeches. Cassius Severus wants tone and dignity: he has genius, causticity, and wit; but his anger outruns his judgment. Of those whom I have seen, Afer and Africanus rank highest: the former might be classed with the orators of former days, the latter is more vigorous, but careless, wordy, and over-bold in metaphor. Trachalus has elevation; he had great personal advantages as well. Vibius Crispus is delightful, but more fitted for private than for public cases. Iulius Secundus did not live long enough to secure his due share of fame. He is too much of an artist and too little of a fighting-man: yet he has fluency, lucidity, and other good qualities. Our own era will furnish the future historian with many subjects of eulogy.

§§123-131. Roman Philosophers.

Though we are not strong in philosophy, yet here the universal Tully is a match for Plato. Brutus, too, is greater here than in oratory: he speaks from the heart. Celsus has written a considerable number of works. Among the Stoics, Plautus will be of service to the inquirer. Catius the Epicurean has no great weight, but is pleasant withal. I might have mentioned Seneca before, and in every department, but have purposely kept him waiting: I am accused of disliking him. The fact is that at a time when he alone was studied I strove to introduce a purer taste. He disparaged the ‘ancients,’ and his imitators aggravated his defects. He possessed wide learning, though on special subjects he was sometimes misled by others. His versatility is shown in oratory, poetry, letters, and dialogues. A stern moralist, but a vicious, yet seductive, stylist. His defects endear him to the young, but rob him of the praise of those of riper years. Yet these too may find profit in him, if they use their judgment. Would that he had had nobler aims! Yet he realised the aims he had.

§§85-100. Roman Poets.—Quintilian’s criticisms of Latin literature, though naturally more independent than his judgments of Greek authors, are hampered, as Professor Nettleship has shown (Journ. Phil. 18 p. 262 sq.) by ‘the idea of making canons of classical Latin authors to correspond as closely as possible with the Greek canons. Vergil leads the van among the poets as the Latin Homer; Macer and Lucretius follow as representing Hesiod and the didactic poets. The elegiac poets, Propertius and Tibullus, follow next, answering to Tyrtaeus; then the satirists who of course have no Greek counterparts; then the writers of lampoon, Catullus, Bibaculus, and Horace, to match Archilochus; the lyric poets, Horace corresponding to Pindar; the dramatists, comic and tragic, among whom Varius is singled out as equal to any Of the Greeks: the historians, Sallust being matched with Thucydides, and Livy with Herodotus; the orators, Cicero being of course compared in detail with Demosthenes; and the philosophers, among whom we are told that Cicero is aemulus Platonis.’

I:85 Idem nobis per Romanos quoque auctores ordo ducendus est. Itaque ut apud illos Homerus, sic apud nos Vergilius auspicatissimum dederit exordium, omnium eius generis poetarum Graecorum nostrorumque haud dubie proximus.

§ 85. Idem ... ordo ducendus. Cp. 5 §1 robustorum studiis ordinem dedimus: xii. 2, 10 ut ordinem retro agamus. There is a suggestion of military associations in the use of the phrase: tr. ‘in the same way we must marshal.’ Cp. Brut. §15 explicatis ordinibus temporum; and i. 4, 3 with Spalding’s note.—For ordinem ducere in the sense of ‘to be the leader of a company’ (sc. as centurion) cp. Cic. Phil. i. 8, 20: Caes. B. C. i. 13, 4: iii. 104, 3: Livy ii. 23, 4.

Vergilius: his claim to rank along with Homer is indicated in i. 8, 5 optime institutum est ut ab Homero atque Vergilio lectio inciperet.

auspicatissimum. Cp. Tac. Germ. 11 agendis rebus hoc anspicatissimum initium credunt: Plin. ad Traian, xvii. 3 cum mihi contigerit, quod erat auspicatissimum, natalem tuum in provincia celebrare. Cp. the opening words of Pliny’s Panegyricus: Bene ac sapienter, patres conscripti, maiores instituerunt ut rerum agendarum ita dicendi initium a precationibus capere, quod nihil rite, nihil providenter homines sine deorum immortalium ope consilio honore auspicarentur. Cicero, de Div. i. 16, 28 Nihil fere quondam maioris rei nisi auspicato ne privatim quidem gerebatur.

dederit: v. on §37.

haud dubie: see Crit. Notes.

I:86 Utar enim verbis isdem quae ex Afro Domitio iuvenis excepi: qui mihi interroganti quem Homero crederet maxime accedere, ‘secundus,’ inquit, ‘est Vergilius, propior tamen primo quam tertio.’ Et hercule ut illi naturae caelesti atque immortali cesserimus, ita curae et diligentiae vel ideo in hoc plus est, quod ei fuit magis laborandum; et quantum eminentibus vincimur fortasse aequalitate pensamus.

§ 86. Afro Domitio. The order is characteristic of the silver age, though examples are found also in Cicero’s letters (Introd. p. lv.): cp. Atacinus Varro, below, and §103. Domitius Afer (cp. §24) was a distinguished orator who flourished under Tiberius and his successors, and died in the reign of Nero, A.D. 59 (Tac. Ann. xiv. 19). He was a native of Nemausus (Nismes), and first rose to fame by the prosecution of Agrippina’s cousin Claudia Pulchra: Tiberius avowed that he was a ‘born orator’ (suo iure disertum, Tac. Ann. iv. 52). Being of an unscrupulous character (quoquo facinore properus clarescere, ibid.) he placed his rhetorical powers at the disposal of the government: mox capessendis accusationibus aut reos tutando prosperiore eloquentiae quam morum fama fuit, ibid. Quintilian’s connection with him (cp. v. 7, 7 quem adolescentulus senem colui) comes out in the story he told to Pliny about Afer: ‘adsectabar Domitium,’ Plin. Epist. ii. 14. Below (§118) he speaks of him, along with Iulius Africanus, (to whom he prefers him) as the best orator he had ever heard: though he tells us elsewhere that Afer lost much of his reputation by continuing to speak in public after he should have retired: vidi ego longe omnium quos mihi cognoscere contigit summum oratorem, Domitium Afrum, valde senem, cotidie aliquid ex ea quam meruerat auctoritate perdentem, cum agente illo quem principem fuisse quondam fori non erat dubium alii, quod indignum videatur, riderent, alii erubescerent; quae occasio fuit dicendi, malle eum deficere quam desinere. Cp. Tac. Ann. iv. 52 ad fin. aetas extrema multum etiam eloquentiae dempsit dum fessa mente retinet silentii impatientiam.

excepi. As distinguished from accipere, which, when used in this sense, means to get some information at second-hand, excipere always refers to what is said in one’s presence, whether one is meant to hear, as in this passage, or not; as Livy ii. 4 sermonem eorum ex servis unus excepit.

Homero. The same dative with accedere occurs §68 magis accedit oratorio generi (Euripides). With the name of a person Cicero also uses the dative,—e.g. Crasso et Antonio L. Philippus proximus accedebat, Brut. §173, and so ad Fam. xi. 21, 4 me huic tuae virtuti proxime accedere: otherwise more commonly ad c. acc. Cp. de Orat. 1 §262 (dubitare) utrius oratio propius ad veritatem videretur accedere with Quint. xii. 10, 9 ad veritatem Lysippum ac Praxitelem optime accessisse. So xii. 2, 2: 1, 20: 2, 25.

propior tamen primo. See note on §53 ut plane manifesto appareat quanto sit aliud proximum esse, aliud secundum. Here the interval between first and second is less than that between second and third: Vergil is a ‘good second.’

ut illi: see Crit. Notes.

naturae = ingenio, as §119 erant clara et nuper ingenia: cp. §122. Cic. in Verr. ii. 1 §40 non enim potest ea natura quae tantum facinus commiserit hoc uno scelere esse contenta.

caelesti: for the hyperbole cp. caelestis huius in dicendo viri (Ciceronis) 2 §18. So Cic. Phil. v. §28 caelestes divinasque legiones: Ps. Cic. ad Brutum ii. 7, 2 res a te gesta memorabilis et paene caelestis.

ut ... cesserimus ita. For ut ... ita (μὲν ... δέ) cp. 3, §§1 and 31. Ut is not concessive and does not affect the verb, which is in the subjunctive of modified assertion (for cedendum est): cp. dederit above §85: Cic. Brut. §25 sine ulla dubitatione confirmaverim. Quintilian is speaking throughout of the Romans in the person of their great poet: cp. vincimur, pensamus, below; also §93 provocamus, §99 consequimur, §107 vincimus. Kiderlin’s objection that, as fully admitting the superiority of Homer, he would not have been likely to choose, on patriotic grounds, a form that seems to modify the force of the concession, is met by the instance of the potential subj. quoted above alongside of sine ulla dubitatione.

eminentibus: neut. of adj. used substantively,—common enough in Quintilian even with adjj. of the third declension: cp. 3 §5 nec protinus offerentibus se gaudeamus. See Introduction, p. xlix (5). Such ‘outstanding’ passages as those alluded to Horace terms the ‘speciosa miracula’ (‘striking,’ ‘picturesque marvels’) of the Homeric poems, A. P. 144.

aequalitate, ‘uniform excellence’: cp. aequali quadam mediocritate §54. In §24 Quintilian has already referred to the quandoque dormitat, and his words are probably an echo of the Horatian criticism. For the use of aequalitas cp. xi. 3, §§43-44. In regard to style, Cicero has Orat. §198 omnis nec claudicans nec quasi fluctuans sed aequaliter constanterque ingrediens numerosa habetur oratio: and using aequabilitas ibid. §53 elaborant alii in lenitate et aequabilitate et puro quasi quodam et candido genere dicendi.

I:87 Ceteri omnes longe sequentur. Nam Macer et Lucretius legendi quidem, sed non ut φράσιν, id est corpus eloquentiae faciant, elegantes in sua quisque materia, sed alter humilis, alter difficilis. Atacinus Varro in iis per quae nomen est adsecutus interpres operis alieni, non spernendus quidem, verum ad augendam facultatem dicendi parum locuples.

§ 87. Macer: v. on §56.

Lucretius. The references made to Lucretius in Latin literature are collected by Teuffel, R. L. §201. The two are named together again xii. 11 §27.

φράσιν = elocutionem, v, §42. So ad augendam facultatem dicendi, below. For ‘corpus eloquentiae’ cp. Petronius, Satyr. ii. (of the imitators of Seneca) ‘effecistis ut corpus orationis enervaretur et caderet.’

humilis: ‘common-place,’

difficilis: cp. multis luminibus ingenii multae tamen artis,—Cicero’s criticism, dealt with by Munro, ii. p. 315 (3rd ed.).

Varro, P. Terentius (B.C. 82-37), called Atacinus from the river Atax in Gallia Narbonensis, his native province. Quintilian’s criticism here refers to the work by which he was best known—his translation of the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius (‘interpres operis alieni’). He also wrote what is described as a metrical system of astronomy and geography under the title Chorographia or Cosmographia: a heroic poem Bellum Sequanicum, in the style of Ennius and Naevias: and Saturae which, if we may trust Horace, were a failure: Satires i. 10, 46 Hoc erat experto frustra Varrone Atacino ... Melius quod scribere possem.

per quae: common in Quintilian to designate ‘means by which’: cp. v. 10, 32. So also per quod, per hoc: see on §10.

nomen: cp. §72, §120, 5, §18: xii. 6, 7: ii. 11, 1: Tac. Dial. 10 nomen inserere famae: ib. 36 plus notitiae ac nominis apud plebem parabat.

I:88 Ennium sicut sacros vetustate lucos adoremus, in quibus grandia et antiqua robora iam non tantam habent speciem quantam religionem. Propiores alii, atque ad hoc de quo loquimur magis utiles. Lascivus quidem in herois quoque Ovidius et nimium amator ingenii sui, laudandus tamen in partibus.

§ 88. Ennius, the Chaucer of Latin literature (239-169 B.C.),—qui primus amoeno detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam (Lucr. i. 119). Lucretius in this passage calls him ‘Ennius noster,’ as does also Cicero, pro Archia §18, §22.

‘It will be observed,’ says Professor Nettleship, ‘that Quintilian is a Ciceronian, and that both as against the younger school of his own day and as against the pre-Ciceronian literature. Ennius he sets aside with a few respectful words: Pacuvius and Accius, one must almost suppose, he had never read (97): if he had read them, then, he did not think it worth while to pass an independent judgment upon them (but see note ad loc.) The comedians, Plautus, Caecilius, and Terence, he will hardly notice; so far, he thinks, do they fall below their Greek originals. Lucretius he totally misconceives, even granting his point of view, for can it be said that there are no fine passages of rhetoric in the De Rerum Natura? The criticisms on the post-Ciceronian orators are for the most part (remembering that Quintilian is thinking of the needs of an orator) sound and well expressed, notably that upon Ovid (88). But they are mostly too short, and leave the impression that the writer is anxious to get to the end of them. In speaking of Cicero, however, Quintilian rises to the height of real enthusiasm.’ Journ. of Phil. l.c.

sacros vetustate lucos. For the reverence attaching to groves cp. Seneca, Epist. Mor. IV, xii. (41) Si tibi occurrerit vetustis arboribus et solitam altitudinem egressis frequens lucus et conspectum caeli ramorum aliorum alios protegentium umbra submovens: illa proceritas silvae et secretum loci et admiratio umbrae in aperto tam densae atque continuae fidem tibi numinis facit.

speciem. So Ovid, Trist. ii. 424 Ennius ingenio maximus, arte rudis: Am. i. 15, 19 Ennius arte carens. Cp. Quint, i. 8, 8 plerique plus ingenio quam arte valuerunt (veteres Latini).

Propiores, not Vergilio, as Bonnell and Krüger (the latter, in 2nd ed., contrasting §86 ceteri omnes longe sequentur): but rather, by inference from ‘vetustate’ and ‘antiqua’ in the previous sentence = propiores nostrae aetati. But see Claussen, Quaest. Quintil. pp. 358-9.

ad hoc de quo loquimur = ad augendam facultatem dicendi: φράσιν.

lascivus: so below §93 Ovidius utroque (Tibullo et Propertio) lascivior, sicut durior Gallus. The word and its cognates are used by Quintilian of ‘running riot,’ whether in thought, language, or manner. The verb lascivire is used in regard to a certain mannerism of Ovid, iv. 1, 77 ut Ovidius lascivire in metamorphosesi solet,—wrongly classed in Bonnell’s lexicon under mores: cp. ix. 4, 28. So ii. 4, 3 neque ... arcessitis descriptionibus, in quas plerique imitatione poeticae licentiae ducuntur, lasciviat: xii. 10, 73 genus dicendi quod puerilibus sententiolis lascivit: ix. 4, 6: iv. 2, 39: xi. 1, 56. See above, recens haec lascivia §43: cp. ii. 5, 10 and 22: Tac. Dial. §26 lascivia verborum et levitate sententiarum et licentia compositionis. The adjective occurs along with hilare v. 3, 27, and with dicaces vi. 3, 41: cp. Tac. Dial. §29 parvulos assuefaciunt ... lasciviae et dicacitati. It means ‘exuberance’ of any kind, as against severe restraint: ix. 4, 142 duram potius atque asperam compositionem malim esse quam effeminatam et enervem, qualis apud multos, et cotidie magis, lascivissimis syntonorum modis saltat: Horace, A. P. 106 ludentem lasciva (verba decent) severum seria dictu: i.e. ‘sportive’ as opp. to ‘serious’: Ep. ii. 2, 216 lasciva decentius aetas, ‘that may more becomingly make merry.’ Wilkins says the word occurs ten times in Horace, and never in a distinctly bad sense: lascivi pueri Sat. i. 3, 134: lasciva puella Verg. Ecl. iii. 64.

in herois quoque: sc. versibus. Cp. ix. 4, 88 and 89. This characteristic of his elegiac compositions reappears even in his heroic verse, i.e. the Metamorphoses. At ix. 4, 88 (pes) herous = μέτρον ἡρῷον. So Martial iii. 20, 6 lascivus elegis an severus herois?

nimium amator ingenii sui: cp. §98 below, si ingenio suo imperare quam indulgere maluisset. M. Seneca, Controv. iv. 28, 17 (p. 281) Ovidius nescit quod bene cessit relinquere: ii. 10, 12 (of a declamatio by Ovid) verbis minime licenter usus est nisi in carminibus, in quibus non ignoravit vitia sua, sed amavit ... adparet summi ingenii viro non indicium defuisse ad compescendam licentiam carminum suorum, sed animum. Cp. Sen. Nat. Quaest. iii. 27, 13 poetarum ingeniosissimus ... nisi tantum impetum ingenii et materiae ad pueriles ineptias reduxisset. Of Seneca the philosopher Quintilian uses similar language below §130 si non omnia sua amasset. For the use of an adv. with verb-noun in -tor (as if it were a participle) cp. Hor. Sat. i. 10, 12 Quis tam Lucili fautor inepte est. See Introd. p. xlv.

in partibus, opp. to totum (‘in einzeln Partien’—Nägelsbach §76 p. 296). Cp. in parte 7 §25: also 2 §26 in partibus: vii. 2, 22 si quando in partibus laborabimus, universitate pugnandum est. The frequency with which in parte occurs in Quintilian (as well as ex parte, which is used by Cicero and Livy) makes the reading probable, though the MSS. omit in, while many give parcius for partibus. Cp. ii. 8, 6 quod ... mihi in parte verum videtur: iv. 5, 13: v. 7, 22: xi. 2, 34.

I:89 Cornelius autem Severus, etiamsi sit versificator quam poeta melior, si tamen, ut est dictum, ad exemplar primi libri bellum Siculum perscripsisset, vindicaret sibi iure secundum locum. Serranum consummari mors immatura non passa est, puerilia tamen eius opera et maximam indolem ostendunt et admirabilem praecipue in aetate illa recti generis voluntatem.

§ 89. Cornelius Severus, contemporary and friend of Ovid, who addresses to him Epist. ex Ponto iv. 2 (1 O vates magnorum maxime regum: 11 sq. fertile pectus habes interque Helicona colentes Uberius nulli provenit ista seges): cp. carmen regale iv. 16, 9. In spite of the apology in iv. 2 (eius adhuc nomen nostros tacuisse libellos), it is probable that Epist. i. 8 is also addressed to him: v. 2 pars animae magna, Severe, meae: 25, o iucunde sodalis. M. Seneca (Suas. vi. 26) quotes twenty-five hexameters of his, with the introductory remark, which seems well deserved, ‘nemo ex tot disertissimis viris melius Ciceronis mortem deflevit quam Severus Cornelius.’

etiamsi sit. The use of the subj. would seem to indicate that Quintilian leaves the truth of the criticism an open question (Roby §1560). Osann is wrong in taking it as indicating Quintilian’s own opinion. See Crit. Notes.

versificator. This word occurs also in Justin. vi. 9, 4: versificatores meliores quam duces: Vopisc. Saturn. i. 7, 4: Terent. Maur. 1012: Bede 2354 P. If taken in a depreciatory sense it seems rather inconsistent with the high praise given him in what follows: but we gather from notices in the grammarians and from the extant fragments that Severus was ‘inclined to artificiality of expression and to the affectation of elegance, even where the thought is quite simple,’ as in the quotation in Charisius, p. 83 Huc ades Aonia crinem circumdata serta. For the antithesis versificator ... poeta cp. Hor. Sat. i. 4, 39 neque enim concludere versum dixeris esse satis ... (ut) putes hunc esse poetam.

si tamen. Tamen really goes with vindicaret, but the inversion tamen si (Hild) is quite unnecessary; elsewhere in Quintilian tamen is found attached to the subordinate and not to the principal sentence: xi. 3, 56 etiam si non utique vocis sunt vitia, quia tamen propter vocem accidunt, potissimum huic loco subiciantur: ii. 17, 24-25: cp. cum tamen xi. 3, 91. (In ix. 2, 55 si tamen = si modo, si quidem: in quo est et illa si tamen inter schemata numerari debet ... digressio: cp. ii. 15, 4.)

ut est dictum. Becher agrees with Halm in considering this to be a gloss on etiam si (sit) melior, and it is omitted in Krüger’s 3rd ed. But it is obvious that (unless he is quoting from himself) Quintilian is here giving a criticism at secondhand (dictum sc. ab aliis), and conveying the opinion of contemporary critics: cp. §60 adeo ut videatur quibusdam, of Archilochus. No great difficulty need be occasioned by the position of the words, though they would have been at least as well placed in the main sentence. Kiderlin (in Hermes) proposes to read ‘etiamsi versificator quam poeta melior sit, tamen, ut est dictum, si ad exemplar,’ &c.

bellum Siculum: i.e. the war with Sext. Pompeius B.C. 38-36 (Siculae classica bella fugae Propert. ii. 1, 28). Scaliger suggested bellum civile, with which Severus’s poems seem to have dealt, either in whole or in part. The primus liber is unknown. Bernhardy refers to the extract in Seneca, Suas. vii. (Burm. A. L. ii. 155) as justifying Quintilian’s criticism, and seems inclined to hazard the conjecture (based on a quotation from Valerius Probus in the Wiener Analecta Gramm. p. 216—Cornelius Severus rerum Romanarum l. 1) that the title of the whole work was Res Romanae, the Bellum Siculum being only a section.—(Can bellum Siculum have crept into the text as a gloss on ‘primi libri,’ the more general title bellum civile dropping out? The whole poem cannot have dealt with the bellum Siculum).

perscripsisset: common enough in the sense of ‘write a full account of’: here ‘from beginning to end’: cp. perlegere, pervenire.

secundum locum—among epic poets, after Vergil.

Serranum is the conjectural emendation generally adopted in place of the readings of the MSS. It rests on the passage in Juvenal vii. 79 Contentus fama iaceat Lucanus in hortis Marmoreis; at Serrano tenuique Saleio Gloria quantalibet quid erit, si gloria tantum est? Some have ascribed to him the Eclogues which have come down to us under the name of Calpurnius Siculus. Martial (iv. 37, 2) speaks of a Serranus who was deep in debt. Most old edd. read Sed eum, still referring to Severus.

consummari: cp. §122: 2 §28: 5 §14 and frequently in Quintilian (v. Bonnell’s Lex.). Seneca, Ep. 88, 28, una re consummatur animus, scientia bonorum ac malorum immutabili, quae soli philosophiae competit.

in aetate illa: ‘for one so young.’

recti generis: cp. §44 rectum dicendi genus: ix. 3, §3: ii. 5, §11. The objective genitive after ‘voluntas’ is noteworthy: cp. libertatis novae gaudium Flor. i. 9, 3.

I:90 Multum in Valerio Flacco nuper amisimus. Vehemens et poeticum ingenium Salei Bassi fuit, nec ipsum senectute maturuit. Rabirius ac Pedo non in digni cognitione, si vacet. Lucanus ardens et concitatus et sententiis clarissimus, et, ut dicam quod sentio, magis oratoribus quam poetis imitandus.

§ 90. Valerio Flacco. Martial addresses him in i. 77, exhorting him, with some irony, to give up verse-writing as unprofitable and turn lawyer. From another epigram (i. 61) we gather that he was a native of Padua (‘Apona tellus’). He flourished in the reign of Vespasian, to whom he dedicated his Argonautica, c. A.D. 70, and died about 88. Juvenal may be referring to this poem i. 8-10: where see Mayor’s notes. There is a touch of personal sorrow about the use of amisimus. For the expression cp. Florus iv. 7, 14 Brutus cum in Cassio suum animum perdidisset.

nuper: Flaccus died about 88 A.D. Quintilian wrote his work between 93 and 95.

Salei Bassi. Cp. tenuique Saleio, Iuv. vii. 80, quoted above. His name occurs several times in the Dial. de Orat.: Saleium Bassum, cum optimum virum tum absolutissimum poetam §5: egregium poetam vel si hoc honorificentius est praeclarissimum vatem §9, where it is stated that he got a gift of 500 sestertia from Vespasian: cp. also §10. The Bassus ridiculed by Martial (iii. 47, 58: v. 23: viii. 10: vii. 96) is a different person, though he also wrote tragedies: v. 53, 1-2 Colchida quid scribis, quid scribis, amice, Thyesten? Quo tibi vel Nioben, Basse, vel Andromachen?

nec ipsum senectute maturuit: ‘but it was not mellowed by age’: nec ipsum = his genius no more than that of Serranus, above. On the other reading (senectus maturavit) ipsum would be accus. masc.: but the construction is harsh, and maturo in this transitive use is only found in Pliny, of the processes of nature.

Rabirius, a contemporary of Ovid, Ep. ex Ponto iv. 16, 5 magnique Rabirius oris. Velleius Paterculus mentions him along with Vergil, omitting Horace: inter quae (ingenia) maxime nostri aevi eminent princeps carminum Vergilius Rabiriusque ii. 36, 3: Seneca de Benef. vi. 3, 1 egregie mihi videtur M. Antonius apud Rabirium poetam ... exclamare, hoc habeo quodcunque dedi. He is generally supposed to be the author of a fragment on the battle of Actium and the death of Cleopatra, discovered in the rolls of Herculaneum.

Pedo, C. Albinovanus, friend of Ovid, who styles him sidereus ex Pont. iv. 16, 6, carissime iv. 10, 3. Martial refers to him as a scholarly poet (doctique Pedonis ii. 77) and epigrammatist (i. praef.)—in both places along with Domitius Marsus: Paley and Stone are wrong in identifying him with the Celsus Albinovanus of Horace, Epist. i. 3, 15 and 8, 1. Seneca tells a story he had heard from him in Ep. 122, 13, and compliments him as being ‘fabulator elegantissimus.’ M. Seneca (Suas. i. 14) gives us 23 hexameters of his which formed part of a poem celebrating the famous voyage of Germanicus (cp. Tac. Ann. ii. 23). The ‘Consolatio ad Liviam Augustam de morte Drusi Neronis,’ first attributed to him by Scaliger, is now believed to be a production of the fifteenth century (Bernhardy, pp. 486-7). He also wrote a Theseis (Ovid, ex Pont. iv. 10, 71 sq.).

Lucanus, M. Annaeus, the author of the ‘Pharsalia,’ A.D. 38-65. The criticism of Quintilian puts before us Lucan’s merits and defects,—the predominance of the declamatory element being prominent among the latter. In the Dial. de Orat. §20 he is classed along with Vergil and Horace, exigitur ... ab oratore etiam poeticus decor ... ex Horatii et Vergilii et Lucani sacrario prolatus. On the other hand Serv. ad Aen. i. 382 Lucanus ideo in numero poetarum esse non meruit quia videtur historiam composuisse non poema: cp. Petron. Sat. 118. So, too, Martial xiv. 194 Lucanus, Sunt quidam qui me dicant non esse poetam, Sed qui me vendit bibliopola putat. The ut dicam quod sentio seems to indicate that Quintilian is combating the prevailing sentiment about Lucan.—Cp. Heitland’s Introd. to Lucan’s Pharsalia (Haskins), p. lxx.

sententiis—γνώμαις, v. §§50, 61, ‘such general utterances as have a bearing upon human life and action,’ Heitland, pp. lxv-lxvii.

I:91 Hos nominavimus, quia Germanicum Augustum ab institutis studiis deflexit cura terrarum, parumque dis visum est esse eum maximum poetarum. Quid tamen his ipsis eius operibus, in quae donato imperio iuvenis secesserat, sublimius, doctius, omnibus denique numeris praestantius? Quis enim caneret bella melius quam qui sic gerit? Quem praesidentes studiis deae propius audirent? Cui magis suas artes aperiret familiare numen Minervae?

§ 91. Hos, sub. tantum: as 5 §7 uno genere. See Nägelsbach §84 on the omission of adverbs: p. 331 sq.

Germanicum. Domitian took this title after his expedition against the Chatti, A.D. 84: Frontinus, Strateg. ii. 11, 7 Imperator Caesar Augustus Germanicus eo bello quo victis hostibus cognomen Germanici meruit. Of this triumph Tacitus says (Agric. 39) that Domitian was conscious ‘derisui fuisse falsum e Germania triumphum.’ For the tone of adulation cp. Proem. Book IV, 2 sq., where Domitian is spoken of as ‘sanctissimus censor,’ and ‘principem ut in omnibus ita in eloquentia eminentissimum,’ and is even invoked as a divinity,—nunc omnes in auxilium deos ipsumque in primis quo neque praesentius aliud nec studiis magis propitium numen est, invocem. Hild compares the following passages as showing the spirit of the age:—Statius, Silvae i. 1 and 4: iii. 3: iv. 1 and 2: Silius Italicus iii. 618 sq.: Valerius Flaccus i. 12: and Martial, Epist. Ded. of vii.: cp. 65, 82 et passim. See Introd. p. xi.

ab institutes studiis: Suet. Dom. 2 simulavit et ipse mire modestiam imprimisque poeticae studium, tam insuetum antea sibi quam postea spretum et abiectum, recitavitque etiam publice. From Val. Flacc. i. 12 it would appear that he contemplated an epic poem on the war with the Jews. Tac. Hist. iv. 86 Domitianus sperni a senioribus iuventam suam cernens, modice quoque et usurpata antea munia imperii omittebat, simplicitatis ac modestiae imagine, in altitudinem conditus studiumque litterarum et amorem carminum simulans, quo velaret animum et fratris aemulationi subduceretur, cuius disparem mitioremque naturam contra interpretabatur. Cp. Pliny, Introd. to Nat. Hist. But Suetonius §20 gives the reverse side: nunquam ... aut historiae carminibusve noscendis operam ullam, aut stilo vel necessario dedit. Praeter commentarios et acta Tiberii Caesaris nihil lectitabat; epistolas orationesque et edicta alieno formabat ingenio.

cura terrarum: cp. Mart. viii. 82 Posse deum rebus pariter Musisque vacare Scimus, et haec etiam serta placere tibi.

donato imperio, i.e. to his father Vespasian, as he pretended, and his brother Titus: cp. Suet. Dom. §13 principatum adeptus neque in senatu iactare dubitavit ‘et patri se et fratri imperium dedisse.’

numeris: §70.

qui sic gerit: cp. §114 of Julius Caesar, ‘eodem animo dixisse quo bellavit.’ Statius has a similar compliment to Domitian, Achil. i. 15, 16 cui geminae florent vatumque ducumque certatim laurus: olim dolet altera vinci.

praesidentes deae: §48 invocatione dearum quas praesidere vatibus creditum est.

propius audirent: cp. Aen. i. 526 parce pio generi et propius res aspice nostras. The phrase is used of interest as well as nearness, and refers either to the presence and sympathy of the Muses when the poet reads his compositions (recitavitque etiam publice Suet. Dom. 2), or (less probably) to their gracious answer to his prayer for inspiration. Becher cites also Ovid, Trist. i. 2, 7 oderat Aenean propior Saturnia Turno.—See Crit. Notes.

familiare numen Minervae: Domitian was desirous of passing for a son of Minerva (Philostratus, Vit. Apoll. vii. 24), and punished with death a priest of Tarentum who had failed to address him by this title in offering sacrifice. He also instituted the Quinquatria Minervae (Suet. 4), with contests in poetry and rhetoric. At the quinquennial festival of Jupiter Capitolinus he himself presided, ‘capite gestans coronam auream cum effigie Iovis ac Iunonis Minervaeque.’ Merivale vii. 391-394.—Krüger cites Aen. i. 447 (templum) donis opulentum et numine divae.

I:92 Dicent haec plenius futura saecula, nunc enim ceterarum fulgore virtutum laus ista praestringitur. Nos tamen sacra litterarum colentes feres, Caesar, si non tacitum hoc praeterimus et Vergiliano certe versu testamur:

§ 92. praestringitur: §30.

feres, see Crit. Notes. The subj. (feras) is given in many edd. as more appropriate to the subservient tone of the whole passage.

Vergiliano: Ecl. viii, 13, addressed to Pollio. Cp. Mart. viii. 82, 7 Non quercus te sola decet, nec laurea Phoebi: fiat et ex hedera civica nostra tibi.

I:93 Elegea quoque Graecos provocamus, cuius mihi tersus atque elegans maxime videtur auctor Tibullus: sunt qui Propertium malint. Ovidius utroque lascivior, sicut durior Gallus. Satura quidem tota nostra est, in qua primus insignem laudem adeptus Lucilius quosdam ita deditos sibi adhuc habet amatores ut eum non eiusdem modo operis auctoribus sed omnibus poetis praeferre non dubitent.

§ 93. Elegea. The form elegea is received into the text by Halm in i. 8, 6, but not by Meister. Ovid has elegeïa,—flebilis indignos elegeia solve capillos, Am. iii. 9, 3: cp. cultis aut elegia comis Martial v. 30, 4. Elegi is more common: Hor. Car. i. 33, 2 miserabiles, A. P. 77 exiguos: Tib. ii. 4, 13: Prop. v. 1, 135: Iuv. i. 4.—The same names are enumerated in chronological order by Ovid: Successor fuit hic (Tibullus) tibi, Galle, Propertius illi. Quartus ab his serie temporis ipse fui, Trist. iv. 10, 63: Teuffel §29.

provocamus: post-Aug. in this figurative sense: Plin. Ep. ii. 7, 4 senes illos provocare virtute: (cp. ea pictura naturam ipsam provocavit Plin. N. H. xxxv. 10, 36 §94.) So of things immensum Iatus circi templorom pulchritudinem provocat, Panegyr. §51.—Hild quotes Diomed. iii. 60, p. 484 Quod genus carminis praecipue scripserunt apud Romanos Propertius et Tibullus et Gallus, imitati graecos Callimachum et Euphoriona. Catullus also had used the elegiac metre, though, as Mr. Munro says (Catullus, p. 231), his elegies are by no means up to the level of his lyrics. In his hands the elegy retained the ease and freedom of its original form, though often wanting in technical finish: Tibullus and his successors Latinized it, and adapted it to new conditions.

tersus, ‘smooth and finished’: xii. 10, 50 quod libris dedicatur ... tersum ac limatum ... esse oportere. So below §94.

Tibullus, c. 54-18 B.C. Hor. Epist. i. 4: Ovid, Am. iii. 9. As distinguished from Propertius (c. 50-15 B.C.), he is the poet of warm, tender, natural feeling, which he expresses in neat and finished verse. He confines himself to such themes and such scenes as suited the limitations of his genius. Propertius has more force and strength; but he is more involved, often in fact obscure; and his indirectness and artificiality have greatly interfered with the adequate recognition of his undoubted powers. Cp. Muretus, Schol. in Propert.: illum (Tibullum) iudices simplicius scripsisse quae cogitaret: hunc (Propertium) diligentius cogitasse quae scriberet. In illo plus naturae, in hoc plus curae atque industriae perspicias. For a modern estimate cp. Postgate’s Select Elegies lvii. sqq., esp. lxvii: “No real judge of poetry will hesitate for a moment to place Propertius high above them both (Tibullus and Ovid). It is true that in some respects they may both claim the advantage over him; Tibullus for refined simplicity, for natural grace and exquisiteness of touch; Ovid for the technical merits of execution, for transparency of construction, for smoothness and polish of expression. But in all the higher qualities of a poet he is as much their superior.”

lascivior: v. on §88. The antithesis is here given in durior (‘more masculine’), which seems to show that the reference is primarily to Ovid’s style: (cp. ix. 4, 142, quoted at §88). Ovid’s exuberant vivacity and sportive imagination, as well as his indifference to deep conviction and high ideals, might however well be included in the criticism. Tac. Dial. 10 elegorum lascivias et iamborum amaritudinem. Martial has of Propertius ‘Cynthia te vatem fecit, lascive Properti’ viii. 73, 5: which, like Ovid’s tener (A. A. iii. 333), Postgate thinks refers rather to his subject than to his treatment of it. “With Tibullus and Propertius love was at any rate a passion. With Ovid it was une affaire de cœur.”

Gallus, Cornelius, of Forum Iulii (69-26), was the first praefectus Aegypti under Augustus, but on a report of some rash speeches was banished, and committed suicide in his forty-third year. Vergil is said to have originally finished the Georgics with a tribute to Gallus, and on being ordered to erase it, substituted the Aristaeus episode which now occupies the latter half of Book IV. Vergil’s regard for him, however, comes out in Eclogue vi. 64 sqq., and in the dedication of Eclogue x. (sollicitos Galli dicamus amores), in which he seeks to console him for the loss of his love Lycoris (Cytheris). On it Servius observes: et Euphorionem ... transtulit in latinum sermonem (l. 50) et amorum suorum de Cytheride scripsit libros quatuor. Cp. Ovid, Trist. ii. 445 Nec fuit opprobrio celebrasse Lycorida Gallo, Amor. i. 15, 30: Trist. iv. 10, 53: Remed. 765 Quis potuit lecto durus discedere Gallo?

Satura. As to the derivation, v. Diomed. iii. p. 485 (Palmer, Introd. to Hor. Sat. p. vii) Satira autem dicta sive a Satyris, quod similiter in hoc carmine ridiculae res pudendaeque dicuntur, quae velut a Satyris proferuntur et fiunt; sive satura a lance, quae referta variis multisque primitiis in sacro apud priscos dis inferebatur...; sive a quodam genere farciminis, quod multis rebus refertum saturam dicit Varro vocitatum. The second derivation (lanx satura—the platter filled with first fruits of various sorts which was an annual thank-offering to Ceres and Bacchus: and so a ‘medley’ or ‘hodge-podge’) was long preferred; but Mommsen holds (cp. Ribbeck, Röm. Trag. 21) that the word means the ‘masque of the full men’ (σάτυροι),—the song enacted at a popular carnival, when repletion in the performers leads to a certain ‘fulness’ about the performance. Cp. Tibullus ii. 1, 23 saturi ... coloni: 53 satur arenti primum est modulatus avena carmen (agricola).

tota nostra. This claim must be understood of satire in its Roman form. The spirit of personal invective had already found expression in the lampoons of Greek satire, e.g. in the iambics of Archilochus and Hipponax, to say nothing of the Old Comedy at Athens; but Satire at Rome grew to be a distinct art, a serious practical aim being imposed on the literary form that was developed out of the original Satura (for which see below, §95). “It followed the Old Comedy of Athens in its plain-speaking, and the method of Archilochus in its bitter hostility to those who provoked attack. But it differed from the former in its non-political bias, as well as its non-dramatic form; and from the latter in its motive, which is not personal enmity, but public spirit. Thus the assertion of Horace (S. i. 4, 1-6) that Lucilius is indebted to the old comedians, must be taken in a general sense only, and not be held to invalidate the generally received opinion that, in its final and perfective form, Satire was a genuine product of Rome” (Cruttwell, R. L. p. 76). Contrast the ‘hinc omnis pendet Lucilius hosce secutus’ (est) of the passage referred to with ‘Lucilius ausus (est) primus in hunc operis componere carmina morem’ (ii. 1, 62), and the recognition of Ennius as ‘Graecis intacti carminis auctor’ (i. 10, 66). The claim made by Quintilian springs from the consciousness that Satire was pre-eminently the national organ of public opinion at Rome. Whatever the topic treated might be,—politics, literature, philosophy, or social life and manners,—the tone was always genuinely national and popular. Moreover, it was the only form of literature that enjoyed a continuous development at Rome, extending as it did from the most flourishing era of the Commonwealth into the second century of the Empire. See for the whole subject Professor Nettleship’s Essay on the Roman Satura—its original form in connection with its literary development, Clarendon Press, 1878: Palmer’s Satires of Horace, Intr. p. ix.

Lucilius, C. (B.C. 168(?)-103), was a member of an equestrian family of Suessa, and belonged to the circle of the younger Scipio, under whom he had served during the Numantine War. He left behind him thirty books of Satires, of which the first twenty and the thirtieth were in hexameter verse, the others being in different metres; and of these only some 1100 lines are now extant. He gave Satire its true popular tone at Rome, speaking out openly and with a courageous frankness against the iniquity and incompetence of the nobles, the sordid, avaricious and pleasure-seeking aims of the middle-class, and the venality of the mob. Horace passes a rather mixed judgment on him, censuring his discursiveness, roughness, careless rapidity, and verbosity; but commending him for his original force and frank outspokenness. See Sat. i. 4, 6-12, 57: 10, 1-5, 20-24, 48-71: ii. 1, 17, 29-34, 62-75. In the time of Tacitus some preferred Lucilius to Horace: Dial. 23 vobis utique versantur ante oculos qui Lucilium pro Horatio et Lucretium pro Vergilio legunt.

I:94 Ego quantum ab illis, tantum ab Horatio dissentio, qui Lucilium fluere lutulentum et esse aliquid quod tollere possis, putat. Nam eruditio in eo mira et libertas atque inde acerbitas et abunde salis. Multum est tersior ac purus magis Horatius et, non labor eius amore, praecipuus. Multum et verae gloriae quamvis uno libro Persius meruit. Sunt clari hodieque et qui olim nominabuntur.

§ 94. fluere lutulentum, a quotation from memory of Sat. i. 4, 11 cum flueret lutulentus erat quod tollere velles. Cp. i. 10, 50-1 ferentem plura quidem tollenda relinquendis.

eruditio mira: i. 6, 8 hominis eruditissimi (Lucili).

libertas: Hor. Sat. i. 4, 5 multa cum libertate notabant. Trebonius in Cic. Fam. xii. 16, §3 deinde qui magis hoc Lucilio licuerit assumere libertatis quam nobis? quum, etiamsi odio pari fuerit in eos quos laesit, tamen certe non magis dignos habuerit, in quos tanta libertate verborum incurreret: Macr. iii. 16, §17 Lucilius acer et violentus poeta.

inde: it was his personal independence (libertas) that gave so keen an edge to his satire (acerbitas): Hor. Sat. ii. 1, 62. inde is in fact causal here. Becher notes pro Mur. §26 as the only parallel instance in Cicero, and there it occurs in a law formula: inde ibi ego te ex iure manu consertum voco.

abunde salis: Verg. Aen. vii. 552 terrorum et fraudis abunde est: Suet. Caes. 86 potentiae gloriaeque abunde, but not in earlier prose. According to Hand. Turs. i. 71 abunde was originally neut. of abundis, used substantially (cp. pote and necesse) and so becoming an adverb, from which was formed in time, by a false analogy, an adj. abundus. Other uses are (1) like ‘satis esse,’ as in Tac. Hist. ii. 95, §5 ipse abunde ratus si praesentibus frueretur: (2) as simple adv. qualifying verbs adjectives and other adverbs (cp. on §25): Cic. Div. ii. 1, 3 erit abunde satisfactum toti huic quaestioni. Sall. Iug. 14, 18 abunde magna praesidia. Wharton takes it from *habundus, ‘possessing,’ the gerundive of habeo.—See Crit. Notes.

multum: for multum before a comparative, like πολὺ μεῖζον etc., see Introd. p. li.: cp. Stat. Theb. ix. 559, Iuv. x. 197. In spite of ‘multum maius’ (de Or. iii. §92), Cicero very rarely has multum for multo. For the reading, see Crit. Notes.

purus magis gives the antithesis to lutulentus.

non labor: cp. vi. 3, 3 sive amore immodico praecipui in eloquentia viri (Ciceronis) labor: Cic. Brut. 244 ambitione labi. In spite of the stricture passed in i. 8, 6 (Horatium nolim in quibusdam interpretari), Quint. had a high admiration for Horace: see below §96. Many codd. give nisi for non: see Crit. Notes. For praecipuus used absolutely cp. §§68, 81, 116.

Multum et verae = multum gloriae et quidem verae gloriae. Cp. Cic. ad Fam. iv. 6, 1 filium consularem, claram virum et magnis rebus gestis, amisit. So the Greek καὶ ταῦτα. For acc. w. mereo cp. §116.

quamvis: cp. §74. Even in classical Latin quamvis is used with adjectives and adverbs, and without any verb: but this is a more remarkable instance than e.g. Cic. Nat. Deor. ii. 1, 1 rhetorem quamvis eloquentem: Tusc. iii. §73 stultitiam accusare quamvis copiose licet.

Persius (34-62 A.D.) The best account of his satires is that prefixed to Conington’s edition. Cp. Mart. iv. 29, 7 Saepius in libro numeratur Persius uno Quam levis in tota Marsus Amazonide.

Sunt clari hodieque et: ‘there are brilliant satirists at the present day,—men whose names will hereafter be on the roll of fame.’ Cp. for the general sense iii. 1, 21 sunt et hodie clari eiusdem operis auctores, qui si omnia complexi forent, consuluissent labori meo, sed parco nominibus viventium: veniet eorum laudi suum tempus: ad posteros enim virtus durabit, non perveniet invidia. So too §104 below qui olim nominabitur nunc intellegitur.—This use of hodieque (‘noch heutzutage’) is quite different from such simple instances as e.g. Cic. de Orat. i. 103 hoc facere coeperunt hodieque faciunt, where -que is merely copulative. The Dictt. quote several instances in post-Augustan prose, though the word occurs in Quint. only here: Vell. Paterc. i. 4, 3 quae hodieque appellate Ionia: ii. 8, 3 porticus quae hodieque celebres sunt: 27, 3 Utcunque cecidit, hodieque tanta patris imagine non obscuratur eius memoria: Seneca, Epist. 90, 16 non hodieque magna Scytharum pars tergis vulpium induitur? Plin. ii. 58, 59 §150 in Abydi gymnasio colitur hodieque: viii. 45, 70 §176 et hodieque reliquiae durant: Tac. Germ. iii. quod in ripa Rheni situm hodieque incolitur: Dial. 34 ad fin., quas hodieque cum admiratione legimus: Suet. Claud. 17: Tit. 2. Krüger (3rd. ed.) thinks that que is thrown in to correspond with et in what follows (τε ... καί, ‘sowohl als auch’): ‘posthumous renown is introduced, as the more precious, not simply by et olim but in a special relative clause.’ Certainly it is the same writers who are clari now and who will hereafter receive proper recognition (nominabuntur cp. §104 below), though at present he refrains from giving names. The position of et, and indeed its presence at all in the sentence, seem to be motived by the choice of the form hodieque. But see Crit. Notes.

Juvenal can hardly be referred to here, as his first Satire is later than the reign of Domitian, under whom Quint. composed his work. The reference is more probably to some minor Satirists, like the authors of the ‘scripta famosa, vulgoque edita, quibus primores viri ac feminae notabantur,’—mentioned by Suet. (Dom. 8) as current in Domitian’s reign. Cp. Nero 42: Tac. Ann. i. 72.—For olim see on §104.

I:95 Alterum illud etiam prius saturae genus, sed non sola carminum varietate mixtum condidit Terentius Varro, vir Romanorum eruditissimus. Plurimos hic libros et doctissimos composuit, peritissimus linguae Latinae et omnis antiquitatis et rerum Graecarum nostrarumque, plus tamen scientiae collaturus quam eloquentiae.

§ 95. Alterum illud, &c. This takes us back to the earliest forms of the Roman Satura. Alongside of the Fescennine verses (Hor. Epist. ii. 139, sq.), which had originated in the rustic raillery and coarse mirth of vintage and harvest homes, there grew up a sort of dramatic medley or farce, probably containing an element of dialogue, to give opportunity for the sportive exchange of repartees, and soon coming to have a regular musical accompaniment and corresponding gestures. These ‘Saturae’ differed from the Fescennine verses in having more of a set form and not being extemporised; while, again, they were distinct from the developed drama in having no connected plot. They seem from the first to have contained a dramatic element, consisting as they did of comic songs or stories recited with gesticulation and flute accompaniment. In addition to the censorious freedom which they derived from the Fescennine verses, the Saturae received an impulse from the mimetic dances that had been imported from Etruria. They had been acted on the stage for more than a century before Livius Andronicus gave his first dramatic representation (B.C. 240), and after the development of the regular drama they passed into a distinct form of literature, which retained to some extent its dramatic cast, but was not intended now for public representation. In the hands of Ennius the Satura became a medley of metrical pieces—a metrical miscellany—in which the poet gave utterance, not without the element of dialogue, to his views on things in general, in a tone that began to be more serious than would have suited the stage and the theatre-going public, who were now to look to Latin Comedy for undiluted amusement. With Lucilius, Satire passed from miscellaneous metrical composition to that aggressive and censorious criticism of persons, manners, literature, and politics, which the word has ever since been employed to denote. It was a form of literary activity that would seem to have been called for by the social and political conditions of Roman life in the latter part of the second century.—The transition is indicated in the following passage from Diomedes, Art. Gram. iii. p. 485 K Satira dicitur carmen apud Romanos nunc quidem maledicum et ad carpenda hominum vitia archaeae comoediae charactere compositum, quale scripserunt Lucilius et Horatius et Persius; at olim carmen quod ex variis poematibus constabat satira vocabatur, quale scripserunt Pacuvius et Ennius.

etiam prius, i.e. even before the satura of Lucilius: cp. olim carmen quod, &c. in the passage just quoted. The satura of Varro (like that of Menippus, whom he imitated), besides being composed in all sorts of metres, admitted prose also: hence ‘non sola carminum varietate mixtum’ (for the implied antithesis cp. 7 §19 in prosa ... in carmine). It was also, in respect of material, a sort of pot-pourri or ‘hodge-podge’: cp. multis rebus refertum, Diomedes, l.c. See Crit. Notes.

condidit: see §56. There is no need for Jahn’s conj. condivit. The word means ‘wrote,’ ‘composed’ (not ‘founded,’ as Mayor in his analysis): cp. iii. 1, 19 primus condidit aliqua (in arte rhetorica) M. Cato: xii. II, 23 Cato ... idem historiae conditor.

Terentius Varro, M. (B.C. 116-27). Of his many works (said to number about 600) we have only three books of the De Re Rustica, parts of the De Lingua Latina (in 25 books), and fragments of the Menippean Satires. For the last v. esp. Mommsen, iv. pt. 2, p. 594. A good account of Varro’s life and writings is given in Cruttwell’s Rom. Lit. pp. 141-156. In regard to the Saturae, v. esp. pp. 144-145: ‘There was one class of semi-poetical composition which Varro made peculiarly his own, the Satura Menippea, a medley of prose and verse, treating of all kinds of subjects just as they came to hand in the plebeian style, often with much grossness, but with sparkling point. Of these Saturae he wrote no less than 150 books, of which fragments have been preserved amounting to near 600 lines. Menippus of Gadara, the originator of this style of composition, lived about 280 B.C.; he interspersed jocular and commonplace topics with moral maxims and philosophical doctrines, and may have added contemporary pictures, though this is uncertain. Varro followed him; we find him in the Academicae Quaestiones of Cicero (i. 2, 8) saying that he adopted this method in the hope of enticing the unlearned to read something that might profit them. In these saturae topics were handled with the greatest freedom. They were not satires in the modern sense. They are rather to be considered as lineal descendants of the old saturae which existed before (cp. etiam prius) any regular literature.’

Romanorum eruditissimus: cp. Cicero ad Att. xiii. 18 where, with some pique, he writes homo πολυγραφώτατος nunquam me lacessivit (by dedicating a work to him): August. C. D. vi. 2 homo omnium facile acutissimus et sine ulla dubitatione doctissimus. Dion. Hal. ii. 21 ἀνὴρ ... πολυπειρότατος: and Plut. Rom. 12 ἄνδρα Ῥωμαίων ἐν ἱστορίᾳ βιβλιακώτατον.

omnis antiquitatis. He wrote Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum, in forty-one books. Cp. Cic. Brut. 15, 60 diligentissimus investigator antiquitatis. For his general activity v. Acad. Post. i. 3, 9 nos in nostra urbe peregrinantes ... tui libri quasi domum reduxerunt ... tu aetatem patriae, tu descriptiones temporum, tu sacrorum iura, tu sacerdotum, tu domesticam, tu bellicam disciplinam, tu sedem regionum, locorum, tu omnium divinarum humanarumque rerum nomina, genera, officia, causas aperuisti plurimumque idem poetis nostris omninoque latinis et litteris luminis et verbis attulisti, atque ipse varium et elegans omni fere numero poema fecisti philosophiamque multis locis inchoasti, ad inpellendum satis, ad edocendum parum. Cp. Phil. ii. 41, 105, where distinct reference is made (as Halm points out) to treatises de Iure Civili, in fifteen books: de Vita Populi Romani, in four books: Annales in three books: Antiquitates in forty-one books: de Fama Philosophiae: and nine books Disciplinarum: Quint. xii. 11, 24, Quam multa, paene omnia, tradidit Varro.—For this use of antiquitas cp. Tac. Ann. ii. 59 cognoscendae antiquitatis: and other exx. in Nettleship’s Lat. Lex. s.v. 3.

scientiae ... eloquentiae: cp. August. C. D. vi. 2 M. Varro ... tametsi minus est suavis eloquio, doctrina tamen atque sententiis ita refertus est ut in omni eruditione ... studiosum rerum tantum iste doceat quantum studiosum verborum Cicero delectat. For the datives cp. §27, §63, §71: conferre with in c. acc. occurs 7 §26, q.v.

I:96 Iambus non sane a Romanis celebratus est ut proprium opus, sed aliis quibusdam interpositus; cuius acerbitas in Catullo, Bibaculo, Horatio, quamquam illi epodos intervenit, reperietur. At lyricorum idem Horatius fere solus legi dignus; nam et insurgit aliquando et plenus est iucunditatis et gratiae et varius figuris et verbis felicissime audax. Si quem adicere velis, is erit Caesius Bassus, quem nuper vidimus; sed eum longe praecedunt ingenia viventium.

§ 96. Iambus = carmina iambica: cp. §9, §59.

celebratus est: cp. ix. 2, 92 celebrata apud Graecos schemata: i. 9, 6 narratiunculas a poetis celebratas. Cp. frequentare.

ut proprium opus, i.e. as a separate form of composition, such as it was in the hands of Archilochus, Hipponax, and Simonides.

aliis quibusdam (sc. carminibus) interpositus. Hild takes this as referring both to the alternation of the iambic with other metres and the substitution of other feet for the iambus itself (as commonly in Horace). It is probable that it only includes the former, being repeated, as regards Horace, in the words quamquam illi epodos intervenit.’ See Crit. Notes.

Catullo. Cp. Fragm. i. At non effugies meos iambos. The most famous examples of his acerbitas are the lampoons on Julius Caesar, especially that contained in the twenty-ninth poem (where see Munro for an appreciation of the meaning of ancient defamation and invective). Here Catullus appears as the genuine successor of the early Greek iambic writers. (Cp. the more offensive hendecasyllabics of lvii.) These are the two poems which Suetonius (Caesar 73) regarded as having attached an ‘everlasting stigma’ to the name of Caesar: cp. liii. ad fin. Irascere iterum meis iambis Immerentibus unice imperator. Sellar’s Roman Poets, p. 431 sq.

Bibaculo. M. Furius Bibaculus (b. at Cremona B.C. 99), like Catullus, the author of lampoons directed especially against the monarchists: Tac. Ann. iv. 34 carmina Bibaculi et Catulli referta contumeliis Caesarum leguntur: sed ipse divus Iulius, ipse divus Augustus et tulere ista et reliquere. Some apply to him the words of Horace, Satires ii. 5, 40, sq. seu pingui tentus omaso Furius hibernas cana nive conspuet Alpes (where the scholiast credits him with having written an account of the Gallic War): also i. 10, 36 Turgidus Alpinus iugulat dum Memnona,—the nickname Alpinus having been given to him on account of this ludicrous description of Jupiter sputtering snow over the Alps: v. Quint. viii. 6, 17, where the original line is quoted as an instance of a forced metaphor. The reference in i. 10, 36 is however doubtful; and Bernhardy (R. L. p. 566) supposes that in both passages some unknown poet is meant, whose name may have been Furius Alpinus. See Teuffel, R. L. i. 313.

illi, sc. iambo = iambicis versibus.

epodos: ὁ ἐπῳδός, sc. στίχος = a shorter (iambic) verse, alternating with a longer. Epodi dicuntur versus quolibet modo scripti et sequentes clausulas habentes particularum quales sunt epodi Horatii: in quibus singulis versibus singulae clausulae adiciuntur.... Dicti autem epodi συνεκδοχικῶς a partibus versuum, quae legitimis et integris versibus ἐπᾴδονται, i.e. accinuntur: Diomedes. Though the term epode includes all kinds of metre (except elegiac) in which a long and a short line are combined, it is used especially of the alternation of the iambic trimeter and dimeter (Hor. Epod. 1-10). Horace himself (who has only one poem—Epod. 17—in iambic trimeter by itself) includes all his Epodes under the head of iambi: Epod. 14, 7: Ep. i. 19, 23-25 Parios ego primus iambos ostendi Latio numeros animosque secutus Archilochi: cp. Car. i. 16, 3, and esp. 23-25 me quoque pectoris Tentavit in dulci iuventa Fervor et in celeres iambos Misit furentem. In Ep. ii. 2, 59 he divides his poetry into carmina—Odes: iambi—Epodes: and ‘Bionei sermones’—Satires. Of course it was not Horace who introduced the epode into the Archilochean iambics: the form was invented and used by Archilochus himself. See Bernhardy, p. 601.

legi dignus: a poetical constr., which passed into the prose of the Silver Age: cp. Plin. Paneg. vii. 4 dignus alter eligi alter eligere. See Crit. Notes.

varius figuris: cp. §68 sententiis densus.

verbis felicissime audax: cp. Hor. A. P. 46 sq.: In verbis etiam tenuis cautusque serendis, hoc amet, hoc spernat promissi carminis auctor. Dixeris egregie notum si callida verbum Reddiderit iunctura novum,—where Orelli gives, as instances of callida iunctura in Horace himself, the well-known phrases ‘splendide mendax,’ ‘insanientis sapientiae consultus,’ ‘animae magnae prodigus.’ Cp. Petron. Sat. 118 Horatii curiosa felicitas. Ovid pronounces his eulogy in Trist. iv. 10, 49 Tenuit nostras numerosus Horatius aures, Dum ferit Ausonia carmina culta lyra.

Caesius Bassus: mentioned by Ovid in the lines immediately preceding the passage just quoted, ll. 47-8: Ponticus Heroo, Bassus quoque clarus Iambo, Dulcia convictus membra fuere mei. He was the friend of Persius, who addresses his sixth Satire to him: and at the request of Cornutus he edited the whole six, after they had been prepared for publication by the latter. He is said to have perished in the eruption of Vesuvius (A.D. 79), which was fatal also to the elder Pliny. He is probably the Bassus who wrote a treatise on metres, which still exists in an interpolated epitome: Keil. Gram. Lat. vi. 305 sq.—For vidimus, ‘amisimus’ and ‘perdidimus’ have been needlessly suggested.

ingenia viventium: cp. sunt clari hodieque §94 above. It is only in favour of Domitian §91 that Quint. breaks his rule not to mention living writers. Hild suspects Quint. of a little ‘log-rolling’ in these compliments.

I:97 Tragoediae scriptores veterum Attius atque Pacuvius clarissimi gravitate sententiarum, verborum pondere, auctoritate personarum. Ceterum nitor et summa in excolendis operibus manus magis videri potest temporibus quam ipsis defuisse; virium tamen Attio plus tribuitur, Pacuvium videri doctiorem qui esse docti adfectant volunt.

§ 97. Tragoediae scriptores. Quint. did not consider it necessary for his purpose to take any account of the first beginnings of tragedy, otherwise he would have mentioned Livius Andronicus (284-204), Naevius (235), and Ennius himself, who was probably almost as great in tragedy as in narrative poetry. It was Ennius who first impressed on Roman tragedy the deeply moral and highly didactic character which it bore down to the age of Cicero. He made it his endeavour to hold up patterns of heroic virtue to his audience and to inspire them with right ideas of life. Even his adaptations from the Greek (nearly half of the extant names of his tragedies suggest subjects taken from the Trojan cycle) are fired with the truly national spirit which he succeeded in handing on to his successors, Attius and Pacuvius. Ennius also wrote some praetextatae (i.e. national tragedies on historic subjects of poetic interest, e.g. the Rape of the Sabine Women); and in view of this fact it may appear strange that his example was not more widely followed, so that these national dramas should have outlived the hackneyed subjects drawn from Greek legend. The reason probably is that there was too much party life in Rome to make the dramatic treatment of the national history equally acceptable to all. Few incidents could have been dramatised that would not have excited various feelings in the hearts of an audience, say, in the times of the Gracchi. Under the Empire the free treatment of the national history for dramatic purposes was positively discouraged, and under the Republic the Senate had exercised almost as severe a political censorship as the Emperor did in later times.

From many points of view it might have been expected that tragedy would have found a congenial home at Rome. There was much in the national character, history, and institutions that was favourable to its growth. The speculative element and the deep spiritual interest which pervades Greek tragedy must no doubt have been absent; though Schlegel thought that the place of Nemesis could naturally have been taken by the idea of Religio, in so far as it comprehended the subordination of the individual to the State, and his supreme self-surrender. But tragedy flourished at Rome only during a comparatively short period: the populace probably failed to rise to the demands made on them by its lofty and serious purpose. Their tastes became more and more estranged from it, as gladiatorial and spectacular shows grew in favour; and appreciation of the drama came to be the proof of the culture of a small and exclusive class. But the popularity which it enjoyed for a time must have been due to the fact that, though the subjects were generally adapted from the Greek, Roman tragedy came to have a character of its own. It appealed to the ethical and political sympathies of the audience, and satisfied that taste for rhetoric which led afterwards to the development of Latin oratory. There may have been about it no subtle analysis of character, no lofty delineation of the action and passion of men entangled in the meshes of a destiny which they could neither understand nor unravel; but it seems to have embodied all the manly feeling and moral dignity of which the nation was capable. By its vigorous rhetoric it may be said at least to have helped to develop the language for use in those departments in which it achieved so great success, i.e. oratory, history, and philosophical composition. And when under the Empire literature had become altogether divorced from practical life, the composition of tragedies was still a favourite practice with many (e.g. Seneca) who recognised in that pursuit an appropriate sphere for the rhetorical style which was then so much in vogue.

Attius L., (170-about 90 B.C.) should have come after Pacuvius, as being fifteen years younger. He produced his first play in conjunction with Pacuvius, cir. 140. We have the titles of about fifty of his dramas, and the fragments extant contain some 700 verses. He seems to have had pretty much the same qualities as Ennius and Pacuvius, manly seriousness of style combined with fervour of spirit. Cicero, who is said to have conversed with him in his boyhood, and others, bear witness to his oratorical force, his gravity, and passionate energy: pro Plancio, §59 gravis et ingeniosus poeta: pro Sest. §120 summus poeta: Ovid, Am. i. 15, 19 animosi Attius oris: Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 55-6 Ambigitur quotiens uter utro sit prior, aufert Pacuvius docti famam senis, Accius alti. Sellar’s Rom. Poets, pp. 146-7. Quintilian gives a shrewd answer of his (v. 13, 43): aiunt Attium interrogatum cur causas non ageret, cum apud eum in tragoediis tanta vis esset optime respondendi, hanc reddidisse rationem: quod illic ea dicerentur quae ipse vellet, in foro dicturi adversarii essent quae minime vellet.

Pacuvius, M. (220-132), the son of Ennius’s sister. Of provincial birth (his birth-place was Brundisium), he could not, according to Cicero, boast the pure Latinity which was the pride of Naevius and Plautus: Brut. §258 Caecilium et Pacuvium male locutos videmus. But in Orat. §36 an imaginary opinion is given as follows:—omnes apud hunc ornati elaboratique versus, multa apud alterum (Ennium) neglegentius. Martial (xi. 90), addressing a wrong-headed admirer of the old poets, jeers at him for delighting in archaisms,—Attonitusque legis terrai frugiferai Attius et quidquid Pacuviusque vomunt. We have about 400 lines extant, which are discussed in Sellar’s Roman Poets, and also by Ribbeck (Römische Tragödie, pp. 216-339). The epithet doctus, in the use of which Horace and Quintilian agree, probably refers to his wide acquaintance with Greek literature: see below.

clarissimi: see Crit. Notes.

nitor: v. on §79: and cp. §§33, 83, 98, 113: §124 cultus ac nitor.

summa manus: Cic. Brut. §126 manus extrema (the ‘finishing touch’) non accessit operibus eius: Cp. i. pr. §4 quasi perfectis omni alio genere doctrinae summam inde eloquentiae manum imponerent. See on §21.

magis ... temporibus: but see Cicero, Brut. l.c. Aetatis illius ista fuit laus, tamquam innocentiae, sic latine loquendi ... omnes tum fere ... recte loquebantur.

virium Attio: cp. Ovid’s ‘animosi oris,’ quoted above: Vell. Paterc. ii. §9 adeo quidem ut in illis limae in hoc paene plus videatur fuisse sanguinis. Persius is less complimentary, Brisaei ... venosus liber Acci (1, 76), the ‘shrivelled volume of the old Bacchanal Accius.’—Quintilian is here only recording current literary opinion: but such references as those at i. 5, 67: 7, 14: 8, 11: v. 10, 84: 13, 43 go far to prove independent knowledge.

doctiorem: cp. Horace’s ‘docti famam senis,’ quoted above.

esse docti adfectant: for the constr. cp. §72 meruit credi secundus: Introd. p. lvi. Cp. Hor. Sat. i. 9, 7 noris nos, inquit, docti sumus, where Professor Wilkins remarks: “The epithet of doctus was especially assumed by those who were versed in Greek literature and mythology, especially the products of the Alexandrine school.” It aptly characterises the artificial tendencies of the literature of the Empire.

Iam—a formula of transition. Kr.³ suggests Nam: see on §12.

I:98 Iam Vari Thyestes cuilibet Graecarum comparari potest. Ovidi Medea videtur mihi ostendere quantum ille vir praestare potuerit si ingenio suo imperare quam indulgere maluisset. Eorum quos viderim longe princeps Pomponius Secundus, quem senes quidem parum tragicum putabant, eruditione ac nitore praestare confitebantur.

§ 98. L. Varius Rufus (64 B.C.-9 A.D.), the friend of Vergil and Horace (Hor. Sat. i. 5, 40: 6, 55), enjoyed a high reputation as an epic poet before he took up tragedy. Macrobius (vi. 1, 39 sq.: i. 2, 19 sq.) gives twelve hexameters of his from an epic poem on Caesar’s death: hence Hor. Sat. i. 10, 51 forte epos acer ut nemo Varius ducit. From a Panegyricus Augusti Horace is said to have borrowed the verses which occur Ep. i. 16, 27-29. Cp. the ode addressed to Agrippa (i. 6) Scriberis Vario ... Maeonii carminis alite. He is mentioned as an epic poet together with Vergil, Ep. ii. 1, 147: A. P. 55. His tragedy Thyestes was performed at the games after the battle of Actium (B.C. 29). Cp. Tac. Dial. 12 Nec ullus Asinii aut Messallae liber tam illustris est quam Medea Ovidii aut Varii Thyestes: Philargyr. on Verg. Ecl. viii. 10 Varium cuius exstat Thyestes tragoedia, omnibus tragicis praeferenda. A quotation from it is given iii. 8, 45. He edited the Aeneid after Vergil’s death, along with Plotius and Tucca: probably prefixing the biographical sketch from which Quintilian quotes x. 3, 8.

Graecarum, sc. fabularum.

Medea: a quotation from it is given viii. 5, 6 servare potui: perdere an possim rogas?

quantum potuerit ... si maluisset: cp. §62. The use of the perf. subj. in such a sentence corresponds to the use of the pf. ind. in oratio recta with verbs implying possibility, duty, right, &c., as if to express the idea more unconditionally: e.g. deleri totus exercitus potuit si fugientes persecuti victores essent (Livy xxxii. 12), So Ventum erat eo ut si hostem similem antiquis Macedonum regibus habuisset consul magna clades accipi potuerit (Livy xliv. 4). Roby, 1568.

ingenio imperare: cp. nimium amator ingenii sui §88.

quos viderim, §118. The subj. seems to be used here on the analogy of the qui of restriction and limitation (Roby 1692): omnium quidem oratorum, quos quidem ego cognoverim, acutissimum iudico Q. Sertorium Brut. §48: cp. §65. The indic. is also used: in iis etiam quos ipsi vidimus xii. 10, 11.

Pomponius Secundus underwent an imprisonment of several years’ duration on account of his friendship with Aelius Gallus, son of Sejanus: Tac. Ann. v. 8 multa morum elegantia et ingenio illustri: ibid. xi. 13: xii. 28, where we are told that he obtained a triumph under Claudius,—modica pars famae eius apud postero, in quis carminum gloria praecellit: Dial. xiii, ne nostris quidem temporibus Secundus Pomponius Afro Domitio vel dignitate vitae vel perpetuitate famae cesserit. One of his plays was called ‘Aeneas.’ He died 60 A.D.

parum tragicum: contrast Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 166 Nam spirat tragicum satis et feliciter audet. See Crit. Notes.

I:99 In comoedia maxime claudicamus. Licet Varro Musas, Aeli Stilonis sententia, Plautino dicat sermone locuturas fuisse, si Latine loqui vellent, licet Caecilium veteres laudibus ferant, licet Terenti scripta ad Scipionem Africanum referantur (quae tamen sunt in hoc genere elegantissima, et plus adhuc habitura gratiae si intra versus trimetros stetissent),

§ 99. maxime claudicamus. No doubt this dictum must be taken as implying that ‘the educated taste of Romans under the Empire did not find much that was congenial in the works of Plautus, Caecilius, or Terence’ (Sellar, R. P. p. 154). But Quintilian must also have been biassed by a comparison with Greek Comedy, of the superiority of which we can have only an imperfect appreciation, owing to the scantiness of the survivals; while in depreciating Roman Comedy, as compared with Tragedy, he also had the advantage over us of a full acquaintance with the whole range of the latter. Moreover, it was Satire, not Comedy, that represented at Rome much of the spirit of the old Comedy of Athens. Horace, too, is more severe on Plautus than on Ennius and the tragic poets (Ep. ii. 1, 170: A. P. 270 sq.). Again, in Quintilian’s day the Mimus had so completely re-asserted its position that the production of comedies seems to have almost entirely ceased. “Comedy was not congenial to the educated or the uneducated taste of Romans in the last years of the Republic, and in the early Empire. But, on the other hand, the popularity enjoyed by the old comedy between the time of Naevius and of Terence, and even down to the earlier half of the Ciceronian age, when some of the great parts in Plautus continued to be performed by the ‘accomplished Roscius,’ and the admiration expressed for its authors by grammarians and critics, from Aelius Stilo down to Varro and Cicero, shows its adaptation to an earlier and not less vigorous, if less refined stage of intellectual development; while the actual survival of many Roman comedies can only be accounted for by a more real adaptation to human nature, both in style and substance, than was attained by Roman tragedy in its straining after a higher ideal of sentiment and expression.” Sellar, Roman Poets l.c.

Musas. To this Muretus added ‘Ne illae saepe, si Plautino more loquerentur, meretricio magis quam virginali more loquerentur.’ For the epigram cp. Plato on Aristophanes Αἱ χάριτες τέμενός τι λαβεῖν ὅπερ οὐχὶ πεσεῖται Διζόμεναι ψυχὴν εὗρον Ἀριστοφάνους.

Aeli Stilonis, the first Roman philologist (144-70 B.C.). His name was L. Aelius Praeconinus: he received the additional cognomen Stilo on the ground of his literary eminence. Suet, de Gramm. 2 Aelius cognomine duplici fuit; nam et Praeconinus, quod pater eius praeconium fecerat, vocabatur, et Stilo, quod orationes nobilissimo cuique scribere solebat. Cp. Cic. Brut. §205 scribebat tamen orationes quas alii dicerent: and above, fuit is omnino vir egregius et eques Romanus cum primis honestus idemque eruditissimus et Graecis litteris et Latinis, antiquitatisque nostrae et in inventis rebus et in actis scriptorumque veterum litterate peritus. Quam scientiam Varro noster acceptam ab illo auctamque per sese ... pluribus et illustrioribus litteris explicavit. Varro ap. Gell. N. A. i. 18, 2 L. Aelius noster, litteris ornatissimus memoria nostra: and L. L. vii. 2 homo in primis in litteris latinis exercitatus. Varro was his pupil; and we are told by Gellius (iii. 3, 1) that both master and pupil made lists of the plays of Plautus, Varro distinguishing his classes according to his personal feeling and judgment as to whether a play was worthy of Plautus or not. Cicero tells us (l.c.) that in his youth he was a very diligent student under Aelius; and as Lucilius addressed some of his satires to him he may be looked on as a bond of connection between the two epochs.

sententia: abl. by itself, after the analogy of mea, tua, sententia. Varro took the criticism from his master.

vellent: the possibility is looked upon as still present.

Plautino sermone. Plautus (254-184) fills a very distinct place in the development of Latin comedy. He engrafted the festive traditions of the Italian farce on the literary form which he borrowed from Greece, producing a picture of Roman life and manners which secured for his dramas a degree of popularity that caused them to be represented almost uninterruptedly down even to the fourth century of our era. Modern comedy is under deep obligations to him if only for his spirit of unrestrained fun. See Bernhardy, p. 452 sq.: Teuffel §§84-88: Cruttwell’s Rom. Lit. pp. 43-48: and Sellar’s Roman Poets, p. 189 sq.

Caecilius, Statius (219-166), an Insubrian Gaul by birth, and contemporary with Ennius. Fragments of his plays are preserved by Gellius, who tells us (xv. 24) that Volcatius Sedigitus (a critic who probably belonged to the earlier part of the first century,—Ritschl, Parerga, p. 240 sq.) placed him at the head of all the Roman comic poets: Caecilio palmam statuo dandam comico, Plautus secundus facile exsuperat ceteros. The three next are Naevius, Licinius, and Atilius; Terence comes only sixth on the list. Cicero inclines to the same verdict: de Opt. Gen. Orat. §1 itaque licet dicere et Ennium summum epicum poetam, si cui ita videtur: et Pacuvium tragicum: et Caecilium fortasse comicum. But elsewhere he censures his provincial style: Brutus, §258 Caecilium et Pacuvium male locutos videmus: ad. Att. vii. 3, 10 malus enim auctor Latinitatis est. For other quotations v. de Orat. ii §40: Lael. 99: de Sen. 96: de Fin. i. 4. Nonius (p. 374) quotes Varro as saying In argumentis Caecilius poscit palmam, in ethesi Terentius, in sermonibus Plautus. Horace’s criticism (Ep. ii. 1, 57) is still more familiar: Dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menandro, Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi, Vincere Caecilius gravitate, Terentius arte. By gravitas Horace probably means the sententious maxims for which he was distinguished (Sellar, p. 202). See Mommsen, ii. 441. Caecilius imitated Menander mainly, to whom Gellius compares him (ii. 23), while admitting the superiority of his Greek model. He is said neither to have amused his audience, like Plautus, by confounding Greek and Roman terms, manners, and customs, &c., nor like Terence, on the other hand, to have carefully excised everything that did not accord with Roman usage. He is said also to have recognised the division of tastes and interests that was now springing up at Rome, and to have begun to address only the higher classes, to whom Plautus had appealed along with ‘the gallery.’

laudibus ferant, for the Ciceronian efferant: Tac. Ann. ii. 13. Cp. Introd. p. l.

Terentii scripta ... elegantissima. The gap between the classes at Rome, alluded to above, had widened in the interval that separates Plautus from Terence (cir. 194-159 B.C.). The educated class was growing more refined and fastidious under the leavening influence of Greek culture, while the uneducated section of the people was gradually becoming coarser and more debased. A leading member of the Scipionic circle, he may be said to have begun the movement by which the creations of the genius of Rome became more perfect as works of art addressed to a smaller circle of men of rank and education, but lost also something of directness of purpose as having less bearing on the passions and interests of the time. The growing appreciation of Greek literature had produced a sense of dissatisfaction with the uncouth efforts of a previous age; and elegance of style, the cultivation of refinement and taste in thought and language, were the objects now aimed at. There is distinctly less of the drollery of the tavern about Terence than about Plautus. The ‘art’ with which Horace credits him (v. above) is seen in the careful finish of his style. Cp. Caesar’s lines, quoted by Sueton. Vit. Terent., in which he calls him puri sermonis amator, and dimidiate Menander. See Sellar, p. 208 sq.: Mommsen, vol. iii. p. 449 sq.

ad Scipionem Africanum. Cp. Sueton. Vit. Ter. (Roth. p. 293) non obscura fama est adiutum Terentium in scriptis a Laelio et Scipione, eamque ipse auxit nunquam nisi leviter refutare conatus, ut in prologo Adelphorum: Nam quod isti dicunt malevoli, homines nobiles Hunc adiutare adsidueque una scribere, &c. The rumour may have arisen from the fact of his Carthaginian origin, which renders all the more remarkable the success with which he cultivated a refined and elegant style.

plus adhuc = etiam plus: see on §71.

habitura. For this use of the fut. part, in a conditional sentence cp. xi. 1, 74 detracturus alioqui plurimum auctoritatis sibi si eum se esse qui temere nocentes reos susciperet fateretur. So too §119 below (without a si clause): pronuntiatio vel scaenis suffectura.

intra versus trimetros. This is a curious criticism, but it can be paralleled from Priscian, de Metris Terentii: quosdam vel abnegare esse in Terentii comoediis metra, vel ea quasi arcana quaedam et ab omnibus doctis semota sibi solis esse cognita confirmare. The vagaries of comic prosody were certainly not appreciated by ancient critics: they could not excuse what to them seemed carelessness and undue freedom from constraint: cp. Cicero, Orat. §184 at comicorum senarii propter similitudinem sermonis sic saepe sunt abiecti ut nonnunquam vix in eis numerus et versus intellegi possit. Quintilian and others would no doubt have preferred a stricter imitation of Menander’s versification. Horace himself took the same point of view in writing about Plautus, Ep. ii. 1, 272 si modo ego et vos ... legitimumque sonum digitis callemus et aure. Cp. Bernhardy, 325 n. and 350 n.

I:100 vix levem consequimur umbram: adeo ut mihi sermo ipse Romanus non recipere videatur illam solis concessam Atticis venerem, cum eam ne Graeci quidem in alio genere linguae suae obtinuerint. Togatis excellit Afranius: utinam non inquinasset argumenta puerorum foedis amoribus mores suos fassus.

§ 100. vix levem ... umbram: a proverbial expression, from the same disparaging point of view as claudicamus, above.

alio genere linguae suae, i.e. another dialect. The charm referred to is the peculiar property of Attic writers generally,—not the comic poets alone. Latin is too formal and rhetorical to fall into the simple naturalness and directness of Attic Greek. For suae see Crit. Notes.

Togatis, sc. fabulis. The Comoediae Togatae (though founded on Greek models) aspired to be thoroughly national in dress, manners, and tone: quae scriptae sunt secundum ritus et habitum togatorum, i.e. Romanorum (Diom. iii. p. 489). On the other hand, in the Palliatae of Plautus, Caecilius and Terence (so called from pallium, the Greek actor’s cloak, xi. 3, 143), all the surroundings are meant to be Greek, though much of the fun of the Plautine comedy is the result of the inconsistencies that sprang from the introduction into Greek circumstances of Roman names, scenes, manners, and characters.

Afranius, fl. cir. 150 B.C. He was the chief writer of togatae, and began to aim at getting rid altogether of Greek surroundings: and so comedy, descending into the low humours of Italian country life, and specially the debaucheries of the Italian towns, rapidly degenerated into farce. He borrowed freely from Menander: dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menandro, Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 57,—‘Menander’s speeches came very well from the characters of Afranius.’ Cic. de Fin. i. 3, 7. But he did not confine his attentions to Menander only: Macrob. Sat. vi. 1, 4 Afranius togatarum scriptor ... non inverecunde respondens arguentibus quod plura sumpsisset a Menandro, ‘Fateor,’ inquit, ‘sumpsi non ab illo modo sed ut quisque habuit conveniret quod mihi, quodque me non melius facere credidi, etiam a Latino.’ Cicero, Brut. §167 L. Afranius poeta, homo perargutus, in fabulis quidem etiam, ut scitis, disertus.

utinam non, i. 2, 6: ix. 3, 1: more usually utinam ne: Cic. ad Fam. 5, 17 illud utinam ne vere scriberem: Catull. 64, 171. Krüger (3rd ed.) cites however Cic. ad Att. xi. 9, 3 haec ad te die natali meo scripsi: quo utinam susceptus non essem aut ne quid ex eadem matre postea natum esset.

foedis amoribus: cp. Auson. Epigr. 71 vitiosa libido ... quam toga facundi scenis agitavit Afrani.

I:101 At non historia cesserit Graecis. Nec opponere Thucydidi Sallustium verear, nec indignetur sibi Herodotus aequari Titum Livium, cum in narrando mirae iucunditatis clarissimique candoris, tum in contionibus supra quam enarrari potest eloquentem: ita quae dicuntur omnia cum rebus, tum personis accommodata sunt: adfectus quidem praecipueque eos qui sunt dulciores, ut parcissime dicam, nemo historicorum commendavit magis.

§ 101. cesserit. So §85 auspicatissimum dederit exordium: cp. cesserimus §86. There is no need for Halm’s suggestion in historia cesserimus: or Spalding’s cesserim with historia in abl. Cp. Cicero, de Legg. i. 2, 5 ut in hoc etiam genere Graeciae nihil cedamus, and the whole passage.

Sallustium. This is a bold statement. Sallust evidently accepted Thucydides as his literary model, imitating his style, and following him in his speeches and the general arrangement of his work. (Capes’ Sallust: Introd. p. 13 sq.). Brevity (cp. illa Sallustiana brevitas §32) is a conspicuous feature in both: but the brevity of Thucydides is greatly the result of inability to keep pace with the rush of thought, whereas that of Sallust is often laboured and artificial, and is attained by conscious processes of excision and compression. Cp. iv. 2, 45 vitanda est etiam illa Sallustiana (quamquam in ipso virtutis obtinet locum) brevitas et abruptum sermonis genus: Seneca, Ep. 114, 17 Sallustio vigente amputatae sententiae et verba ante exspectatum cadentia et obscura brevitas fuere pro cultu: Aul. Gell. iii. 1, 6 Sallustium subtilissimum brevitatis artificem. His Grecisms are referred to by Quint. ix. 3, 17 ex Graeco vero translata vel Sallustii plurima. According to Suetonius (Gramm. 10 extr.) Ateius exhorted Asinius Pollio (ut) vitet maxime obscuritatem Sallustii et audaciam in translationibus. For the high esteem in which he was held in antiquity cp. Velleius ii. 36, 2 aemulum Thucydidi Sallustium: Tacitus, Ann. iii. 30 rerum Romanarum florentissimus auctor: Martial xiv. 191 primus Romana Crispus in historia. See Teuffel §§203-205. In modern times Milton exalted him above Tacitus, saying of the latter that ‘his highest praise consists in his having imitated Sallust with all his might.’ On the other hand Scaliger spoke of Sallust’s style as ‘anxium atque insiticium dicendi genus.’

Titum Livium. Quintilian’s estimate of Livy is very happily expressed so far as it goes. He ignores of course the defects which are obvious to modern students of Livy,—his want of that historic sense which shows itself in ability to trace the gradual development of institutions and to take a philosophic view of general political and social conditions, his indifference to the scrupulous collation and weighing of evidence, and his neglect of chronological and geographical precision. Munro in his ‘Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus’ speaks of Livy’s style as the greatest prose style that has ever been written in any age or language, and certainly it has all the beauties which Quintilian mentions here: besides, the happy adaptation of the language to the ever-varying phases of the subject is one of its greatest charms. Teuffel, §251 sq. The best proof of Livy’s popularity in ancient times may be found in the story of the man from Gades, Pliny, Ep. ii. 3, 8 Nunquamne legisti Gaditanum quendam Titi Livi nomine gloriaque commotum ad visendum eum ab ultimo terrarum orbe venisse statimque ut viderat abisse?

narrando ... contionibus. This antithesis is common in Dionysius: διηγήσεσιν ... δημηγορίαις (ad Pomp. p. 776 R, Us. pp. 58-9) τὸ διηγηματικὸν μέρος ... τὸ δημηγορικόν (Iud. de Thucyd.) p. 952 R.

candoris, ‘transparency’: ii. 5, 19 candidissimum quemque et maxime expositum velim, ut Livium a pueris magis quam Sallustium: etsi hic historiae maior est auctor, ad quem tamen intellegendum iam profectu opus sit: §32 lactea ubertas. Cp. dulcis et candidus et fusus Herodotus §73, where see note: §113 nitidus et candidus.—In a different sense, Seneca, Suas. vi. 22, ut est natura candidissimus omnium magnorum ingeniorum aestimator T. Livius.

contionibus. The speeches are introduced in order to give a portrait of some one (xlv. 25, 3), or to indicate motives (viii. 7: iii. 47, 5). Though they make no claim to historical truth (in hanc sententiam locutum accipio iii. 67, 1), they generally give a trustworthy picture of the circumstances and character of the speaker: cp. e.g. vii. 34. In some instances we can see how Livy rhetorically enlarges on the brief hints of a predecessor: cp. Polyb. iii. 64 with Liv. xxi. 40 sq. Teuffel §252, 12.

supra quam: cp. Sall. Cat. 5, 3 supra quam cuiquam credibile est: Iug. 24, 5: Cicero, Orator §139 saepe supra feret quam fieri posset (cp. de Nat. Deor. ii. §136). Quintilian has inenarrabilis xi. 3, 177, which occurs also in Livy xliv. 5, 1: xli. 15, 2.

eloquentem: viii. 1, 3 Tito Livio, mirae facundiae viro: Tac. Agr. 10 Livius veterum Fabius Rusticus recentium eloquentissimi auctores: Ann. iv. 34 T. Livius eloquentiae ac fidei praeclarus in primis: Seneca, de Ira i. 20, 6 apud disertissimum virum Livium.

adfectus: §48 adfectus quidem, vel illos mites vel hos concitatos: ‘the softer passions.’

parcissime: cp. below, 4 §4 qui parcissime: xi. 1, 66: 3, 100.

commendavit magis: ‘has set in a fairer light,’ ‘represented more perfectly’ (‘hat angemessen und eindringlich dargestellt.’—Bonnell-Meister). Spalding felt a difficulty about this word, but rightly suggested that it means ‘approbavit suis lectoribus,’—a meaning to which ut parcissime dicam is quite appropriate. The nearest parallel is iv. 1, 13 Nam tum dignitas eius (litigatoris) adlegatur, tum commendatur infirmitas (‘set in a strong light,’ ‘made much of’),—where too the verb is used absolutely, without a dative. The usual construction is found v. 11, 38 misericordiam commendabo iudici. In the sense of ‘set off’ (ornare), without a dat., we have quae memoria complecteretur actio commendaret viii. Prooem. 6: quaedam ... virtus haec sola commendat ix. 4, 13: hoc oratio recta, illud figura declinata commendat x. 5, 8.—For the reading commodavit see Crit. Notes.

I:102 Ideoque immortalem Sallusti velocitatem diversis virtutibus consecutus est. Nam mihi egregie dixisse videtur Servilius Nonianus, pares eos magis quam similes; qui et ipse a nobis auditus est clarus vi ingenii et sententiis creber, sed minus pressus quam historiae auctoritas postulat.