Chapter I · How to acquire a command of Diction. (continued 5)

§ 102. immortalem: so §86, where it is more appropriate.

velocitatem: ‘rapid brevity.’ It is the quality which Dionysius denotes by τὸ τάχος τῆς ἀπαγγελίας p. 870 R. Cp. Hor. Sat i. 10, 9 Est brevitate opus ut currat sententia,—quoted on §73 brevis et semper instans sibi Thucydides, where see note. Arist. Rhet. iii. 16, 4 ταχεῖαν διήγησιν. So celeritas xii. 10, 65 hanc vim et celeritatem in Pericle miratur Eupolis: Eupolis having said of Pericles ταχὺς λέγειν μέν, πρὸς δέ γ᾽ αὐτῷ τῷ τάχει πειθώ τις (Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 535).

consecutus est, lit. = ‘equalled in point of fame’: the real object is not velocitatem, so that the idea is awkwardly expressed. Quintilian means that by other good points (cp. §73 diversis virtutibus) Livy obtained a degree of fame not inferior to what Sallust gained by his ‘velocitas.’ It is in fact a brachyology for ‘immortalitatem illius Sallustianae velocitatis.’ Cp. Cic. Phil. xiv. 35 parem virtutis gloriam consecuta est (legio): Quint. iii. 7, 9 quod immortalitatem virtute sint consecuti. See Crit. Notes.

Servilius Nonianus. In mentioning his death (A.D. 60) along with that of Domitius Afer (§86), Tacitus says that he rivalled the latter’s abilities and surpassed his morals:—summis honoribus et multa eloquentia viguerant, ille orando causas, Servilius diu foro, mox tradendis rebus Romanis celebris et elegantia vitae, quam clariorem effecit, ut par ingenio, ita morum diversus. Cp. Dial. ch. 23 eloquentia ... Servilii Noniani. Like most of the Roman historians, except Livy, he was a man of affairs. Pliny, N. H. xxviii. 2, 5 princeps civitatis. He was the friend—possibly at one time the teacher—of the satirist Persius, who is said to have reverenced him as a father (coluit ut patrem). Pliny tells us (Ep. i. 13, 3) how Claudius, on hearing the thunders of applause that greeted his recitations, entered the building and seated himself unobserved among the audience: memoria parentura Claudium Caesarem ferunt, cum in palatio spatiaretur andissetque clamorem, causam requisisse, cumque dictum esset recitare Nonianum, subitum recitanti inopinantique venisse.

et ipse. Quintilian had not only read his works, but had heard him: he would be between twenty and twenty-five when Servilius died.—For et ipse see on §31.

clarus vi ingenii: see Crit. Notes.

sententiis creber; cp. §68 sententiis densus. For sententiis (γνώμαις) cp. §60 §61: 2 §17. He was full of point and matter, but not concise enongh for the dignity of history. For pressus v. §44.

I:103 Quam paulum aetate praecedens eum Bassus Aufidius egregie, utique in libris belli Germanici, praestitit genere ipso, probabilis in omnibus, sed in quibusdam suis ipse viribus minor.

§ 103. Bassus Aufidius. Tacitus mentions him along with Servilius Nonianus, Dial. 23, where he speaks of antiquarians ‘quibus eloquentia Aufidii Bassi aut Servilii Noniani ex comparatione Sisennae aut Varronis sordet.’ Seneca gives some account of him in his thirtieth letter: §1 Bassum Aufidium, virum optimum, vidi quassum, aetati obluctantem: §3 Bassus tamen noster alacer animo est. hoc philosophia praestat. Cp. §§5, 10, 14. His history probably ended with the reign of Claudius, at which point Pliny the elder took it up: N. H. praef. 20 diximus ... temporum nostrorum historiam, orsi a fine Aufidii Bassi. The ‘libri Belli Germanici’ may have been an independent work.—The practice of placing the cognomen before the gentile name grew under the Empire: many instances are found even in Cicero’s letters, but not in the ordinary prose of the Republic; cp. §86, and Introd. p. lv.

genere ipso = ‘gerade durch den Stil’ (Kiderlin)—as being suitable to historiae auctoritas. Quintilian often uses genus in this sense (without dicendi): often with an adj. like rectum, but often also without, e.g. x. 2, 18 noveram quosdam &c.: 2 §23 uni alicui generi. For the reading, see Crit. Notes.—From the specimens (on the death of Cicero) given by Seneca the rhetorician (Suas. vi. 18 and 23), we should infer that the style of Bassus was rather affected and pretentious.

I:104 Superest adhuc et exornat aetatis nostrae gloriam vir saeculorum memoria dignus, qui olim nominabitur, nunc intellegitur. Habet amatores nec immerito Cremuti libertas, quamquam circumcisis quae dixisse ei nocuerat; sed elatum abunde spiritum et audaces sententias deprehendas etiam in his quae manent. Sunt et alii scriptores boni, sed nos genera degustamus, non bibliothecas excutimus.

§ 104. Superest. The fact that Cremutius put an end to his life in A.D. 25 is sufficient to disprove the theory that he is referred to here: superest when taken along with exornat aetatis nostrae gloriam cannot mean anything but superstes est (cp. supersunt 2 §28).—The Bonnell-Meister edition (1882) understands the reference to be to Tacitus: but though admirers of Tacitus would like to appropriate for him the phrase vir saeculorum memoria dignus, this can hardly be accepted. In the first place the words superest adhuc are, in their natural sense, inapplicable to one who had not published anything when Quintilian wrote (about 93 A.D.). He has just spoken of Servilius, who is known to have died in A.D. 60, and of Aufidius, who was old and frail in Seneca’s life-time, i.e. before A.D. 65: and though it may be proposed to take superest adhuc as meaning simply ‘I have still to refer to (a living writer),’ (cp. supersunt §123), in which sense the words might apply to Tacitus, it seems extremely improbable that after speaking of a youthful contemporary, Quintilian would in the next sentence return to Cremutius, who died as far back as A.D. 25. It might be argued that the point of the passage is that, after this indirect eulogy of Tacitus, the writer means to imply that the spirit of Cremutius still survives in him: ‘there is with us now one who will afterwards be famous but of whom we may not speak at present. The independence of Cremutius is still appreciated.’ But habet amatores will hardly cover this interpretation: it introduces a critique of Cremutius which has no relation to what goes before. And moreover it is doubtful whether Quintilian, who never mentions any living writer, except Domitian, would have hazarded a reference to one whose anti-imperial tendencies must have been so well known in Rome. Krüger’s supposition (3rd ed. p. 97) that after adhuc the name Tacitus has fallen out, or that we should write ‘superest Tacitus et ornat,’ is altogether out of the question: it would quite destroy the point of the sentence (nominabitur ... intellegitur). It seems safest, therefore, to follow those who with Nipperdey (Philol. vi. p. 193) understand the historian here meant to be Fabius Rusticus. It would have been strange if Quintilian had omitted to mention him, considering his eminence: Livius veterum, Fabius Rusticus recentium eloquentissimi auctores, Tac. Agr. 10. And what he says fits Fabius very well; he was an intimate friend of Seneca (Tac. Ann. xiii. 20 sane Fabius inclinat ad laudes Senecae cuius amicitia floruit), and from the fact that he was made co-heir with Tacitus and Pliny in the will of Dasumius we know that he was still alive 108 or 109 A.D. Mommsen thinks that to him also is addressed Pliny, Ep. ix. 29.

vir saeculorum memoria dignus: Cp. §80: iii. 7, 18 ingeniorum monumenta, quae saeculis probarentur: xi. 1, 13 perpetua saeculorum admiratione celebrantur.

olim, of future time, as §94. The writer referred to will come actually to enjoy the renown of which Quint. here declares him worthy.

nunc intellegitur. For Quint.’s rule not to mention living writers cp. iii. 1, 21, quoted at §95; and for the antithesis between nominabitur and intellegitur, xi. 1, 10 maluit emim vir sapientissimus (Socrates) quod superesset ex vita sibi perire quam quod praeterisset. Et quando ab hominibus sui temporis parum intellegebatur, posterorum se iudiciis reservavit brevi detrimento iam ultimae senectutis aevum saeculorum omnium consecutus.

Cremuti libertas: παρρησία, §65, §94. Cremutius Cordus published a history of the Civil Wars and of the reign of Augustus—unius saeculi facta, Sen. Cons. ad Marc. 26, 5. Augustus is said to have read the work, or to have heard it read, without disapproval (Dion. 57, 24, 2; Sueton. Tib. 61). He afterwards incurred the displeasure of Sejanus by some bold remarks, as, for example, when he said in regard to the statue of Sejanus which he was told the Senate had resolved to erect in Pompey’s theatre, restored by Tiberius after a fire, ‘tunc vere theatrum perire’—Sen. Cons. ad Marc. 22, 4. In A.D. 25 he was brought to trial ‘novo ac tunc primum audito crimine, quod editis annalibus laudatoque M. Bruto C. Cassium Romanorum ultimum dixisset’ (Tac. Ann. iv. 34 sq.). Finding his case prejudged, after a spirited defence he went home and starved himself to death. The Senate ordered his books to be burned: ‘sed manserunt,’ says Tacitus, ‘occultati et editi.’ Dion. tells us that ‘afterwards (i.e. under Caligula) they were published again, for they had been preserved by various people, and particularly by his daughter Marcia; and they were esteemed much more highly on account of the fate of Cordus’ (lvii. 24). For Marcia v. Senecae Consolatio ad Marciam c. 1. Suet. Calig. 16 tells us that the suppressed writings of others also (Titus Labienus and Cassius Severus) were allowed by Caligula to come again into circulation, after a process of editing similar to that referred to by Quint. (circumcisis, &c.). Tacitus’s reflections on the ineffectual attempt to destroy Cremutius’s works are interesting in connection with our passage: quo magis socordiam eorum inridere licet, qui praesenti potentia credunt extingui posse etiam sequentis aevi memoriam. Nam contra, punitis ingeniis gliscit auctoritas, neque aliud externi reges aut qui eadem saevitia usi sunt, nisi dedecus sibi atque illis gloriam peperere, Ann. iv. 35 ad fin.

abunde: used here to emphasise elatum: v. on §94.

spiritus, §§44, 61; 3 §22. The excisions and emendations in regard to matters of detail had evidently not interfered with the independent tone of Cremutius’s writings.

alii scriptores, συγγραφεῖς: the word being used specially of historians. He has not mentioned Caesar, or Nepos, or Velleius, or Quintus Curtius.

degustamus: ‘dipping into’: 5 §23 inchoatae et quasi degustatae. The opposite is persequi: §45 genera ipsa lectionum ... persequar.

I:105 Oratores vero vel praecipue Latinam eloquentiam parem facere Graecae possunt; nam Ciceronem cuicumque eorum fortiter opposuerim. Nec ignoro quantam mihi concitem pugnam, cum praesertim non id sit propositi ut eum Demostheni comparem hoc tempore; neque enim attinet, cum Demosthenen in primis legendum vel ediscendum potius putem.

§ 105. parem facere. Cicero uses aequare in a passage of the Brutus (§138), in which, speaking of Antonius and Crassus, he says: nam ego sic existimo, hos oratores fuisse maximos et in his primum cum Graecorum gloria Latine dicendi copiam aequatam. In the Silver Age, the phrase paria facere commonly occurs for ‘settling up’: e.g. nihil differamus. cotidie cum vita paria faciamus Sen. Ep. 101, 7. A near parallel to the passage in the text is ii. 8, 13 ea cura paria faciet iis in quibus eminebat.—Other reff. to Cicero’s pre-eminence are vi. 3, 1 Latinae eloquentiae princeps: xii. 1, 20 stetisse ipsum (Ciceronem) in fastigio eloquentiae fateor.

cuicumque, §12. The use of quicumque (which in classical Latin is joined with a verb) for quivis or quilibet (which are used absolutely) may be noted as a sign of the decay of the language. Cp. note on §12: Roby §2289.—For eorum Andresen and Jeep propose Graecorum.

fortiter opposuerim. The adv. is not merely one of manner: it conveys the expression of a judgment, ‘nicht die Art und Weise, sondern ein Urteil über die Handlung,’ Becher. So ‘inique Castorem cum Domitio comparo,’ Cicero, pro Deiot. §31. Cp. i, 5, 72 fortiter diceremus: v. 10, 78 fortiter ... iunxerim.—Roby (1540) gives numerous examples of this use of subj. (involving a suppressed condition such as ‘if occasion arose’) with such adverbs as merito, facile, lubenter, citius.

quantam ... pugnam: owing to the existing prejudice against the style of Cicero. Cp. Tac. Dial. 12 Plures hodie reperies qui Ciceronis gloriam quam qui Vergilii detrectent: ibid. 18 Satis constat ne Ciceroni quidem obtrectatores defuisse, quibus inflatus et tumens nec satis pressus, sed supra modum exsultans et superfluens et parum Atticus videretur. Legistis utique et Calvi et Bruti ad Ciceronem missas epistulas ex quibus facile est deprehendere Calvum quidem Ciceroni visum exsanguem et aridum, Brutum autem otiosum atque diiunctum, rursus Ciceronem a Calvo quidem male audisse tamquam solutum et enervem, a Bruto autem, ut ipsius verbis utar, tamquam fractum atque elumbem.—Hortensius had been from B.C. 95 the Latin representative of Asianism. Under the influence of his teachers, the Rhodian eclectics, Cicero emancipated himself from this school without, on the other hand, binding himself by the most rigorous canons of Atticism. His critics, who adhered to severer models, considered the fulness and richness of his style turgidity and bombast, and pointed to his elaborately periodic structure and rhythmical amplitude as proving that he was really an Asianist in disguise. Besides Brutus and Calvus, mentioned above (cp. Quint, xii. 1, 22), there were the Asinii, father and son (etiam inimice, ibid.), and Caelius. Asinius Gallus wrote a work de comparatione patris et Ciceronis, which was controverted by the emperor Claudius: Plin. Epist. vii. 4 §6 libros Galli ... quibus ille parenti ausus de Cicerone dare est palmamque decusque: Sueton. Claud. 41. Cicero, on the other hand, thought that his Atticising critics were too apt to forget (what he asks Atticus to remember) that the ‘thunders of Demosthenes show that the Attic style is quite consistent with the highest degree of grandeur’—si recordabere Δημοσθένους fulmina, tum intelliges posse et ἀττικώτατα gravissime dici, ad Att. xv. 1, ad fin. Quintilian denounces them in strong language, xii. 10, §§12-14 A. At L. M. Tullium non illum habemus Euphranorem circa plures artium species praestantem, sed in omnibus quae in quoque laudantur eminentissimum. Quem tamen et suorum homines temporum incessere audebant ut tumidiorem et Asianum et redundantem et in repetitionibus nimium et in salibus aliquando frigidum et in compositione fractum, exultantem ac paene, quod procul absit, viro molliorem: postea vero quam triumvirati proscriptione consumptus est, passim qui oderant, qui invidebant, qui aemulabantur, adulatores etiam praesentis potentiae non responsurum invaserunt. Ille tamen, qui ieiunus a quibusdam et aridus habetur, non aliter ab ipsis inimicis male audire quam nimiis floribus et ingenii adfluentia potuit. Falsum utrumque, sed tamen illa mentiendi propior occasio. Praecipue vero presserunt eum qui videri Atticorum imitatores concupierant. Haec manus quasi quibusdam sacris initiata ut alienigenam et parum superstitiosum devinctumque illis legibus insequebatur, unde nunc quoque aridi et exsuci et exsangues. Hi sunt enim qui suae imbecillitati sanitatis appellationem, quae est maxime contraria, obtendant: qui quia clariorem vim eloquentiae velut solem ferre non possunt, umbra magni nominis (i.e. Athens) delitescunt. In Quintilian’s own day (cp. nunc quoque above) a certain Largius Licinus wrote a work which he called Ciceromastix, repeating the criticisms of Asinius Gallus: cp. Aul. Gell. xvii. 1, 1 nonnulli tam prodigiosi tamque vaecordes exstiterunt in quibus sunt Gallus Asinius et Largius Licinus, cuius liber etiam fertur infando titulo ‘Ciceromastix,’ ut scribere ausi sint M. Ciceronem parum integre atque improprie atque inconsiderate locutum. These rigid Atticists appear to have ignored, as Sandys has pointed out (Introd. to Orator, p. lxii), the ‘difference between the two languages, between the power and breadth and compass of Greek as compared with the more limited resources of Latin.’ Mr. Sandys appends an apt quotation from J. H. Newman (in H. Thompson’s Rom. Lit.—Encyc. Metrop. p. 307, ed. 1852):—‘Greek is celebrated for copiousness in its vocabulary and perspicuity in its phrases; and the consequent facility of expressing the most novel or abstruse ideas with precision and elegance. Hence the Attic style of eloquence was plain and simple, because simplicity and plainness were not incompatible with clearness, energy, and harmony. But it was a singular want of judgment, an ignorance of the very principles of composition, which induced Brutus, Calvus, Sallust, and others to imitate this terse and severe beauty in their own defective language, and even to pronounce the opposite kind of diction deficient in taste and purity. In Greek, indeed, the words fall, as it were, naturally, into a distinct and harmonious order; and from the exuberant richness of the materials, less is left to the ingenuity of the artist. But the Latin language is comparatively weak, scanty, and unmusical; and requires considerable skill and management to render it expressive and graceful. Simplicity in Latin is scarcely separable from baldness; and justly as Terence is celebrated for chaste and unadorned diction, yet even he, compared with Attic writers, is flat and heavy (Quint. x. 1, §100).’ Cp. for a similar contrast Quint. xii. 10, §§27-39.

cum praesertim: Krüger (3rd ed.) gives the sense as follows, ‘especially since I do not intend to prove my statement by a detailed comparison’: following Becher (but see Crit. Notes), who thinks that Quint. means to say that the pugna will be all the more violent because he does not intend to go into a detailed comparison. Such a comparison would be out of place (neque enim attinet), as he is not denying the supreme excellence of Demosthenes. Cum praesertim means that there is all the less reason for controversy as he does not intend to compare the two: it gives an additional ground for what is really, if not formally, the main idea in the writer’s mind, viz. the needlessness of a pugna at this point. Hence it comes to have the force of quamvis, or idque cum tamen: tr. ‘and that though,’ ‘though indeed,’ ‘which is all the less necessary because,’ etc. Cp. Cic. de Fin. ii. 8, 25 cum praesertim in eo omne studium poneret,—where see Madvig’s note: in Verr. ii. 113 ut ex oppido Thermis nihil ex sacro, nihil de publico attingeres, cum praesertim essent multa praeclara, &c., i.e. ‘which is all the more wonderful because’—very much as in our text: Philipp. viii. 2, 5 C. quidem Caesar non expectavit vestra decreta, praesertim cum illud aetatis erat—i.e. as he might well have done at his age: ibid. ii. 64 inventus est nemo praeter Antonium, praesertim cum tot essent, &c.: i.e. which was all the more remarkable as, &c.: Brutus, §267 M. Bibulus qui et scriptitavit adcurate, cum praesertim non esset orator, et, &c., i.e. ‘and that too though’: de Off. ii. 56: Orator §32 nec vero si historiam non scripsisset (Thucydides) nomen eius exstaret, cum praesertim fuisset honoratus et nobilis. Roby §1732: Nägelsbach⁸, pp. 695-6.

propositi: for the gen. cp. iv. 2, 21 quid acti sit: quid tui consilii sit (Cic. ad Att. xii. 29, 2: Caes. B. G. i. 21, 2): quid offici sui sit Cic. Acad. Pr. ii. §25, with Dr. Reid’s note.

hoc tempore: Demosthenes and Cicero are eulogised together, xii. 1, §§14-22.

neque enim attinet, i.e. nor would there be any point in such a controversy. They have no need to draw the sword against me, for I too give Demosthenes the highest place. In exalting Cicero I do not mean to depreciate Demosthenes. Cp. Tac. Dial. 25 quo modo inter Atticos primae Demostheni tribuuntur ... sic apud nos Cicero quidem ceteros eorundem temporum disertos antecessit.

I:106 Quorum ego virtutes plerasque arbitror similes, consilium, ordinem, dividendi, praeparandi, probandi rationem, [omnia] denique quae sunt inventionis. In eloquendo est aliqua diversitas: densior ille hic copiosior, ille concludit adstrictius hic latius, pugnat ille acumine semper hic frequenter et pondere, illi nihil detrahi potest huic nihil adici, curae plus in illo in hoc naturae.

§ 106. consilium: vi. 5 §3 consilium vero ratio est quaedam alte petita et plerumque plura perpendens et comparans habensque in se et inventionem et iudicationem: §11 illud dicere satis habeo, nihil esse non modo in orando, sed in omni vita prius consilio, and the whole passage from §9 to end: ii. 13, 2 res in oratore praecipua consilium est, quia varie et ad rerum momenta convertitur. This ‘tact’ or ‘judgment’ would be specially shown in inventio and in dispositio, here made a part of inventio: elocutio is a higher gift. Cp. viii, Pr. §14 M. Tullius inventionem quidem ac dispositionem prudentis hominis putat, eloquentiam oratoris: Cicero, de Orat. ii. 120 cum haec duo nobis quaerenda sint in causis, primum quid [inventio], deinde quomodo [elocutio] dicamus, alterum ... prudentiae est paene mediocris [quid dicendum sit videre]: alterum est, in quo oratoris vis illa divina virtusque cernitur, ea quae dicenda sunt ornate copiose varieque dicere; Orator §44 nam et invenire et iudicare quid dicas magna illa quidem sunt et tamquam animi instar in corpore, sed propria magis prudentiae quam eloquentiae.

ordinem (τάξιν): ordo corresponds to dispositio iii. 3, 8. In vii. 1, 1 the two are separately defined: ordo recta quaedam collocatio prioribus sequentia adnectens: dispositio utilis rerum ac partium in locos distributio.

dividendi. Divisio is defined, along with partitio, in vii. 1, 1: divisio rerum plurium in singulas, partitio singularum in partes discretio. Here dividendi ratio is used in a more general sense, as equivalent to partitio in iv. 5: i.e. nostrarum aut adversarii propositionum aut utrarumque ordine collocata enumeratio. Of this useful process Quintilian says (iv. 5, 22): neque enim solum id efficit ut clariora fiant quae dicuntur, rebus velut ex turba extractis et in conspectu iudicum positis, sed reficit quoque audientem certo singularum partium fine, non aliter quam facientibus iter multum detrahunt fatigationis notata inscriptis lapidibus spatia.—Kiderlin (Hermes 23, p. 176) thinks it remarkable that divisio should here be ranked alongside of praeparandi, probandi rationem, whereas in iii. 3, 1 it stands independently alongside of inventio itself. He sees no difference between ordinem and dividendi rationem (iii. 3, 8), and suggests that in the MSS. readings (videndi and indicendi) there may be concealed some noun to correspond with ordinem: e.g. viam dicendi (‘der Gang der Reden’): cp. iv. 5, 3: x. 7, 5. But in x. 7, 9 we have both ordo and dispositio, in spite of iii. 3, 8, and so it is here.

praeparandi: iii. 9, 7 expositio enim probationum est praeparatio, nec esse utilis potest nisi prius constiterit, quid debeat de probatione promittere. A less formal use occurs x. 1 §21: cp. iv. 2 §55.

probandi rationem = confirmationem, the establishment of the case. Understanding the passage to contain an enumeration of the five parts of an oration (exordium, narratio, probatio, refutatio, and peroratio), Kiderlin takes probandi here as covering the third and fourth, which were often considered one part. Praeparandi = exordium, and the peroratio is omitted, because here Demosthenes and Cicero were unlike, for the reason given below (§107). In order to include narratio, he proposes to insert narrandi after praeparandi: it may easily, he thinks, have fallen out after -arandi. It is always included in similar enumerations: ii. 5, 7-8: ii. 13, 1: iv. pr. 6: x. 2, 27.

[omnia] denique quae sunt inventionis: see Crit. Notes. ‘Inventio,’ the orator’s first requisite, may of course be shown in all the various parts of a speech, e.g. narratio, divisio, confirmatio, as here. But in the antithesis between inventionis and in eloquendo Quintilian is thinking of that fundamental distinction between substance and form on which he based his treatment of his subject. Applying a rough division to his work, we may say that Books iii. to vii. deal with inventio including dispositio, i.e. εὕρεσις and τάξις: while Books viii-xi. treat of elocutio (λέξις), including actio or pronuntiatio, ‘delivery’ (ὑπόκρισις). So Cicero in the Orator §43 introduces a description of the ideal orator in the three relations of (1) inventio—quid dicat (εὕρεσις): (2) collocatio or dispositio—quo quidque loco (τάξις), and (3) actio or pronuntiatio (ὑπόκρισις): and elocutio (λέξις)—quo modo. Quintilian in iii. 3 gives in more detail the traditional parts of rhetoric: inventio, dispositio, elocutio, memoria, pronuntiatio (or actio). See §§1-9. For the division here cp. also xii. 10, 27 Latina mihi facundia, ut inventione, dispositione, consilio, ceteris huius generis artibus similis Graecae ac prorsus discipula eius videtur, ita circa rationem eloquendi vix habere imitationis locum.

aliqua diversitas: Morawski (Quaest. p. 33) thinks that this passage may be founded on a tractate by Caecilius (contemporary with Dion. Hal.), which is mentioned by Plutarch, Dem. 3 σύγκρισις τοῦ Δημοσθένους καὶ Κικέρωνος. A parallel passage is found in the περὶ ὕψους (Sp. i. p. 261), the author of which may also have borrowed from Caecilius:—ὁ μὲν γὰρ (Δημοσθένης) ἐν ὕψει τὸ πλέον ἀποτόμῳ, ὁ δὲ Κικέρων ἐν χύσει, καὶ ὁ μὲν ἡμέτερος διὰ τὸ μετὰ βίας ἕκαστα, ἔτι δὲ τάχους, ῥώμης, δεινότητος οἷον καίειν τε ἅμα καὶ διαρπάζειν, σκηπτῷ τινι παρεικάζοιτ᾽ ἂν ἢ κεραυνῷ, ὁ δὲ Κικέρων ὡς ἀμφιλαφής τις ἐμπρησμὸς οἶμαι πάντη νέμεται καὶ ἀνειλεῖται.... Cp. Introd. p. xxxviii.

densior: §76 tam densa omnia: so of Thucydides §73 densus et brevis.

concludit, not, as Bonnell = ratiocinatur (xii. 2, 25), but of the ‘rounding off’ of a period: ix. 4, 22, περίοδον quae est vel ambitus vel circumductum vel continuatio vel conclusio. Cp. Cic. Brutus §33 verborum ... quaedam ad numerum conclusio: cp. §34 below, concluditque sententiam: Orator §20 conclusa oratio: §177 concluse apteque dicere: §§200, 220, 230, 231: de Orat. ii. §34 quod carmen artificiosa verborum conclusione (‘artistic period’) aptius? Hor. Sat. i. 4, 40 concludere versum. The opposite is membratim caesimque dicere, Quint. ix. 4, 126: cp. Cic. Orat. §212 incise membratimve: de Orat. iii. 49, 190 carpere membris minutioribus orationem. For a contrast cp. Brutus §120 ut Stoicorum adstrictior est oratio aliquantoque contractior quam aures populi requirunt, sic illorum (Peripateticorum Academicorumque) liberior et latior quam patitur consuetudo iudiciorum et fori: §162 quin etiam comprehensio et ambitus ille verborum, si sic περίοδον appellari placet, erat apud illum (i.e. Crassum) contractus et brevis, et in membra quaedam, quae κῶλα Graeci vocant, dispertiebat orationem libentius.

astrictius ... latius: there is more compactness about the periodic structure in Demosthenes, greater breadth in that of Cicero. This could hardly be said of Demosthenes’s periods as a whole: it rather refers to the care which Cicero and Roman orators generally bestowed on the closing syllables of a period (Blass, Att. Ber. iii. 117). It was this liking for a sonorous and copious diction that seemed to Cicero’s critics to justify the epithets (inflatus, tumens, &c.) applied to him in Dial. de Orat. 18 (quoted above, §105); he himself tells us in the Orator, §104, that his ears craved for something more full and sonorous even than Demosthenes: ‘non semper implet aures meas: ita sunt avidae et capaces et semper aliquid immensum infinitumque desiderant.’

pugnat: used figuratively for dicit: cp. §4.

acumine: the word is used in §§81 and 83 of ‘power of thought,’ ‘intellectual penetration’: viii. 2, 21: x. 1, §81 and §83. See on acutus §77. So Cic. de Orat. i. §128 acumen dialecticorum. Here it includes the idea of ‘point’ in expression: following up the metaphor contained in ‘pugnat,’ we might render, ‘Demosthenes always thrusts with the rapier, Cicero often uses the bludgeon too.’ (Landor, speaking of Shaftesbury and Bolingbroke, as compared with Lord Brougham, said that they had ‘more of the rapier than the bludgeon.’) Cp. de Orat. ii. §158 ipsi se compungunt suis acuminibus. The contrast is something like that implied in xii. 10, 36 subtilitate vincimur (a Graecis): valeamus pondere: cp. ibid. §11 gravitatem Bruti acumen Sulpici.

nihil detrahi: cp. §76 is dicendi modus ut nec quod desit in eo nec quod redundet invenias.

curae ... naturae: v. Jebb’s Attic Orators, i. Introd. p. cvi, where it is remarked that this paradox is true in this sense alone, ‘that Cicero is an inferior artist, and indulges more freely the taste of the natural man for ornament.’ Quintilian may also refer to the laborious training which Demosthenes imposed on himself, and in consequence of which, says Plutarch, δόξαν εἶχεν ὡς οὐκ εὐφυὴς ὤν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ πόνου συγκειμένῃ δεινότητι καὶ δυνάμει χρώμενος (Vit. Demosth. viii.). Cp. the taunt of Pytheas, that his work ‘smelled of the lamp’: ἐλλυχνίων ὄζειν, ibid.; also Parallel. ch. i. It was the rule with Demosthenes never to speak without preparation: Cicero may have relied at times on the faculty of extemporising at need.

I:107 Salibus certe et commiseratione, quae duo plurimum in adfectibus valent, vincimus. Et fortasse epilogos illi mos civitatis abstulerit, sed et nobis illa, quae Attici mirantur, diversa Latini sermonis ratio minus permiserit. In epistulis quidem, quamquam sunt utriusque, dialogisve, quibus nihil ille, nulla contentio est.

§ 107. salibus: cp. vi. 3, 2 plerique Demostheni facultatem defuisse huic rei credunt, Ciceroni modum, nec videri potest noluisse Demosthenes, cuius pauca admodum dicta nec sane ceteris eius virtutibus respondentia palam ostendunt non displicuisse illi iocos sed non contigisse ... mihi quidem ... mira quaedam in eo (Cicerone) videtur fuisse urbanitas. So §21 Demosthenem urbanum fuisse dicunt, dicacem negant: Cic. Orat. §90 non tam dicax quam facetus: Dion. Hal. Dem. c. 54 πάσας ἔχουσα τὰς ἀρετὰς ἡ Δημοσθένους λέξις ... λείπεται εὐτραπελίας. Cp. περὶ ὕψους, 34, where the judgment is unduly severe, ἔνθα μέντοι γελοῖος εἶναι βιάζεται καὶ ἀστεῖος οὐ γέλωτα κινεῖ μᾶλλον ἢ καταγελᾶται. Cp. Sandys’ note on Orat. §90, “Though not obtrusively witty, Demosthenes nevertheless is not wanting in humour, as is proved by the speech on the Chersonesus §§5, 11 ff. and esp. 23 (characterized by Brougham as ‘full of refined and almost playful wit’): Plut. iii. §66: de Cor. §§198, 234 (Blass, Att. Ber. iii. 163-6).” For a criticism of Cicero’s wit, on the other hand, v. Plut. Parallel. §1 Κικέρων δὲ πολλαχοῦ τῷ σκωπτικῷ πρὸς τὸ βωμολόχον ἐκφερόμενος καὶ πράγματα σπουδῆς ἄξια γέλωτι καὶ παιδιᾷ κατειρωνευόμενος ἐν ταῖς δίκαις εἰς τὸ χρειῶδες ἠφείδει τοῦ πρέποντος, and below, Cato’s ὡς γελοῖον, ὦ ἄνδρες, ἔχομεν ὕπατον. Δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ γέλωτος οἰκεῖος ὁ Κικέρων γεγονέναι καὶ φιλοσκώπτης κ.τ.λ.

commiseratione, ‘pathos.’ See Orator §130 in quo ut viderer excellere non ingenio, sed dolore adsequebar; i.e. it was real sympathy more than any special talent that enabled him to excel in this respect.

in adfectibus, ‘where the feelings are concerned.’ Under adfectus (vi. 2) is included everything that makes an impression on the judges: §1 opus ... movendi iudicum animos: among other things laughter itself, virtus quae risum iudicis movendo et illos tristes solvit adfectus et animum ab intentione rerum frequenter avertit et aliquando etiam reficit et a satietate vel a fatigatione renovat.

vincimus: for the present cp. §§93, 101, 105.

epilogos, ‘perorations.’ The peroration was looked on as giving a great opportunity for moving the feelings: Arist. Rhet. iii. 19 says one of its parts is εἰς τὰ πάθη τὸν ἀκροατὴν καταστῆσαι. So Quint. iv. 1, 28 quod in ingressu parcius et modestius praetemptanda sit iudicis misericordia: in epilogo vero liceat totos effundere adfectus. The word is common in this sense in Quintilian: vi. 1, 37, sq. esp. §52 at hic, si usquam, totos eloquentiae aperire fontes licet. Nam et, si bene diximus reliqua, possidebimus iam iudicum animos, et e confragosis atque asperis evecti tota pandere possumus vela, et, cum sit maxima pars epilogi amplificatio, verbis atque sententiis uti licet magnificis et ornatis. Tunc est commovendum theatrum cum ventum est ad ipsum illud, quo veteres tragoediae comoediaeque cluduntur, plodite: cp. also Cicero, Brutus §33 exstat eius peroratio, qui epilogus dicitur: de Orat. ii. §278: ad Att. iv. 15, 4.

mos civitatis: ii. 16 §4 Athenis ubi actor movere adfectus vetabatur velut recisam orandi potestatem: vi. 1, 7, where he says that with the Attic orators the epilogus generally took the form of recapitulation (ἀνακεφαλαίωσις = enumeratio) ‘quia Athenis adfectus movere etiam per praeconem prohibebatur orator.’ Cp. xii. 10, 26. This would be especially the case in trials before the Areopagus. But it was the Hellenic instinct for moderation that imposed its own law. Lord Brougham, in his Dissertation on the Eloquence of the Ancients (p. 25), remarks on the calmness of the Greek peroration: cp. his Essay on Demosthenes (p. 184): ‘It seems to have been a rule enjoined by the severe taste of those times, that after being wrought up to a great pitch of emotion, the speaker should, in quitting his audience, leave an impression of dignity, which cannot be maintained without composure.’ Cp. Jebb, i. ciii-civ: ‘Cicero has now and then an Attic peroration, as in the Second Philippic and the Pro Milone; more often he breaks off in a burst of eloquence—as in the First Catilinarian, the Pro Flacco, and the Pro Cluentio.’

illa quae Attici mirantur: cp. §65, §100 illam solis concessam Atticis venerem: xii. 10 §35 illam gratiam sermonis Attici.

epistulis. If it were not for the ineptitude of the comparison which follows (in quibus nihil ille) we might be inclined to imagine that Quintilian knew of more letters of Demosthenes than the six which are still extant, and which are generally considered apocryphal.

dialogis: comprising most of Cicero’s philosophical works, and the Brutus and De Oratore among his rhetorical.

nihil ille, sc. effecit, consecutus est: cp. §§56, 123: 2 §§6, 24: 3 §25: 7 §§7, 23.

I:108 Cedendum vero in hoc, quod et prior fuit et ex magna parte Ciceronem quantus est fecit. Nam mihi videtur M. Tullius, cum se totum ad imitationem Graecorum contulisset, effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam Platonis, iucunditatem Isocratis.

§ 108. effinxisse, ‘artistically reproduced.’

iucunditatem. ‘The idea which Cicero got from Isocrates was that of number. See esp. de Orat. iii. 44 §173.’ Jebb. So ‘suavitatem Isocrates ... vim Demosthenes habuit’ de Orat. iii. §28.

I:109 Nec vero quod in quoque optimum fuit studio consecutus est tantum, sed plurimas vel potius omnes ex se ipso virtutes extulit immortalis ingenii beatissima ubertate. Non enim ‘pluvias,’ ut ait Pindarus, ‘aquas colligit, sed vivo gurgite exundat,’ dono quodam providentiae genitus, in quo totas vires suas eloquentia experiretur.

§ 109. ex se ipso ... extulit: cp. Cic. Acad. ii. 8, 23 artem vivendi quae ipsa ex sese habeat constantiam, where Dr. Reid cites this passage, along with many others, e.g. Sen. Ep. 52, 3 hos quibus ex se impetus fuit: Cic. N. D. iii. 88 a se sumere.

beatissima: cp. §61 beatissima rerum verborumque copia: 3, §22 beatiorem spiritum. Cp. the eulogy by Caesar, in his Analogia (written as he was crossing the Alps, and dedicated to Cicero himself): ac si ut cogitata praeclare eloqui possent non nulli studio et usu elaboraverunt, cuius te paene principem copiae atque inventorem bene de nomine ac dignitate populi Romani meritum esse existimare debemus, &c.—quoted in Brutus §253. Hild adds Pliny H. N. vii. 30 Facundiae Latiarumque litterarum parens atque ... omnium triumphorum gloria maior, quanto plus est ingenii Romani terminos in tantum promovisse quam imperii,—where the language has a close resemblance to that of Cicero himself in Brutus §255.

ut ait Pindarus. We get the pluvias aquas in the οὐρανίων ὑδάτων ὀμβρίων of Olymp. xi, but there is nothing in Pindar’s extant works that corresponds to the quotation.

exundat: cp. Tac. Dial. 30 ex multa eruditione et plurimis artibus et omnium rerum scientia exundat et exuberat illa admirabilis eloquentia.

providentia is used very frequently by itself in Quintilian, e.g. i. 10, 7 oratio qua nihil praestantius homini dedit providentia (v. Bonn. Lex.); also in xi. i, 23 with deorum immortalium.

eloquentia: cp. Sen. Ep. 40, 11 Cicero quoque noster, a quo Romana eloquentia exsiluit.

I:110 Nam quis docere diligentius, movere vehementius potest? Cui tanta umquam iucunditas adfuit? ut ipsa illa quae extorquet impetrare eum credas, et cum transversum vi sua iudicem ferat, tamen ille non rapi videatur, sed sequi.

§ 110. docere ... movere. Cp. iii. 5 §2 tria sunt item quae praestare debeat orator, ut doceat, moveat, delectet (quoted on §80). Iucunditas here expresses the third. So Cicero, Brutus §185 tria sunt enim, ut quidem ego sentio, quae sint efficienda dicendo: ut doceatur is apud quem dicetur, ut delectetur, ut moveatur vehementius.

extorquet: cp. v. 7, 17 at in eo qui invitus dicturus est prima felicitas interrogantis extorquere quod is noluerit: ib. §27. Cic. de Or. ii. §74 qui nunquam sententias de manibus iudicum vi quadam orationis extorsimus ac potius placatis eorum animis tantum quantum ipsi patiebantur accepimus.

transversus = ‘turned across,’ i.e. at right angles to the original line. So transversis itineribus Sall. Iug. 45, 2. For the figure contained in transversum ferat cp. ibid. 6, 3 opportunitas quae etiam mediocres viros ... transversos agit: 14, 20. The iudex is ‘turned athwart’—away from the path of his own judgment. So Sen. Ep. 8, 3 cum coepit transversos agere felicitas: Cic. Brutus 331 cuius in adulescentiam ... transversa incurrit misera fortuna rei publicae.

I:111 Iam in omnibus quae dicit tanta auctoritas inest ut dissentire pudeat, nec advocati studium sed testis aut iudicis adferat fidem; cum interim haec omnia, quae vix singula quisquam intentissima cura consequi posset, fluunt inlaborata et illa, qua nihil pulchrius auditum est, oratio prae se fert tamen felicissimam facilitatem.

§ 111. advocati, ‘pleader,’ as generally in Quintilian, syn. with ‘actor causae,’ ‘causidicus,’ ‘patronus.’ In Cicero the word is reserved for those who lent their countenance and personal support to a friend, especially in legal matters: e.g. Brutus §289: pro Clu. §110 quis eum unquam non modo in patroni, sed in laudatoris aut advocati loco viderat? See Fausset’s note on advocabat pro Clu. §54.

fidem: ‘trustworthiness,’ ‘credibility.’ So quantam afferat fidem iv. 2, 125.

cum interim: Roby §1732. Cp. note on §18.

posset: the use of the imperf. subj. points to a suppressed protasis, sc. si vellet. Cp. i. 1, 22 cur improbetur si quis ea quae domi suae recte faceret in publicum promit? So too below, 2 §25 qui noceret, where see note.

tamen is a reminiscence of tamen ille non rapi videatur, in the previous sentence, and must be taken with cum interim: = ‘for all that.’

facilitatem: cp. §1.

I:112 Quare non immerito ab hominibus aetatis suae regnare in iudiciis dictus est, apud posteros vero id consecutus, ut Cicero iam non hominis nomen sed eloquentiae habeatur. Hunc igitur spectemus, hoc propositum nobis sit exemplum, ille se profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valde placebit.

§ 112. regnare: cp. Cic. ad Fam. vii. 24, 1 olim quum regnare existimabamur: ad Att. i. 1 illud suum regnum iudiciale,—his ‘sovereignty of the bar’: in Verr. i. 12, 35 (of Hortensius) omnis dominatio regnumque iudiciorum: ad Fam. ix. 18, 1 amisso regno forensi: cp. pro Sulla §7.

non hominis ... sed eloquentiae. There is no thought here of holding the balance with Demosthenes, §105. Cp. what Brutus says after Caesar’s eulogy quoted above (§109 note): quo enim uno vincebamur a victa Graecia, id aut ereptum illis est aut certe nobis cum illis communicatum: Brut. §254. Hild quotes from Plutarch (Cicero, §4) the story of Molo, one of Cicero’s teachers, who, on hearing him declaim, said that he had to pity the hard fate of Greece, from whom the palm of eloquence, her sole surviving glory, was now to pass away.

exemplum, predicative, hoc being neuter by a common form of attraction: cp. 3 §17.

profecisse: Hild quotes Boileau, Art. Poet. iii. 308, speaking of Homer: c’est avoir profité que de savoir s’y plaire.

I:113 Multa in Asinio Pollione inventio, summa diligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur, et consilii et animi satis: a nitore et iucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest ut videri possit saeculo prior. At Messalla nitidus et candidus et quodam modo praeferens in dicendo nobilitatem suam, viribus minor.

§ 113. Quintilian makes no mention of orators previous to Cicero: for them see Brutus §53 sqq. Velleius disposes of them in the following sentence (i. 17, 3): At oratio ac vis forensis perfectumque prosae eloquentiae decus, ut idem separetur Cato, pace P. Crassi Scipionisque et Laeli et Gracchorum et Fanni et Servi Galbae dixerim, ita universa sub principe operis sui erupit Tullio, ut delectari ante eum paucissimis, mirari vero neminem possis, nisi aut ab illo visum aut qui illum viderit. Cp. Tac. Dial. 25. Hild cites also Seneca, Controv. i. praef.: quidquid Romana facundia habet, quod insolenti Graeciae aut opponat aut praeferat, circa Ciceronem effloruit; omnia ingenia quae lucem studiis nostris attulerunt, tunc nata sunt.

Asinio Pollione. C. Asinius Pollio (75 B.C.–4 A.D.) was consul in 40, when he helped Maecenas to arrange the Peace of Brundisium: afterwards becoming estranged from Antony he retired into private life and devoted himself to letters. Vergil dedicates the Fourth Eclogue to him, and in the first Ode of Book ii Horace recounts his various titles to distinction. He was a poet as well as an orator: Verg. Ecl. viii. 10 Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno: iii. 86 Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina: Hor. S. i. 10, 42. He was also distinguished as a historian, having written a history of the Civil Wars from the first triumvirate (Motum ex Metello consule Hor. Car. ii. 1, 1). In the same Ode (II. 13, 14) Horace alludes to his fame as an orator, both at the bar and in the senate. Quintilian’s judgment on him in this capacity may be compared with that of Seneca, Ep. 100, 7 Lege Ciceronem: compositio eius una est, pedem servat lenta et sine infamia mollis. At contra Pollionis Asinii salebrosa et exsiliens et ubi minime expectes relictura. Denique omnia apud Ciceronem desinunt, apud Pollionem cadunt exceptis paucissimis, quae ad certum modum et ad unum exemplar adstricta sunt. Cp. 2 §17 below tristes ac ieiuni Pollionem aemulantur.

diligentia: 2 §25 vim Caesaris, asperitatem Caelii, diligentiam Pollionis. The word does not refer to the historian’s painstaking care (which could hardly ever be ‘nimia’), but to the ‘precision’ or ‘exactitude’ of his language: v. the fragment quoted in ix. 4, 132.

consilii, ‘judgment,’ §106.

animi, ‘spirit,’ ‘vivacity.’

nitore: v. on §97.

saeculo prior. ‘As an orator and writer he affected antique severity in opposition to Ciceronian smoothness,’—Teuffel. Cp. Tac. Dial. 21 Asinius quoque quamquam propioribus temporibus natus sit, videtur mihi inter Menenios et Appios studuisse; Pacuvium certe et Accium non solum tragoediis sed etiam orationibus suis expressit: adeo durus et siccus est: Sen. Controv. iv. praef. 3 illud strictum eius et aspersum et nimis iratum in censendo iudicium adeo cessabat ut in multis illi venia opus esset quae ab ipso vix impetrabatur. See Schmalz ‘Ueber den Sprachgebrauch des Asinius Pollio,’ p. 289; München, 1890. Pollio’s antipathy to Cicero and his dislike of Cicero’s style may be seen from the story in Seneca, Suas. vi. extr., quoted by Bernhardy (q.v.), R. L. p. 268 (note 182).

Messalla, M. Valerius Corvinus (64 B.C.-8 A.D.), the friend of Tibullus, who dedicates to him i. 7: cp. the panegyric iv. 1. Cp. Tac. Dial. 18 Cicerone mitior Corvinus et dulcior et in verbis magis elaboratus,—with the latter part of which cp. Sen. Controv. ii. 12, 8 Latini utique sermonis observator diligentissimus. Cicero’s own opinion of him may be seen in Epist. ad Brutum i. 15, 1 cave putes probitate, constantia, cura, studio reipublicae quidquam illi esse simile; ut eloquentia, qua mirabiliter excellit, vix in eo locum ad laudandum habere videatur: quamquam in hac ipsa sapientia plus apparet: ita gravi iudicio multaque arte se exercuit in verissimo genere dicendi, tanta autem industria est tantumque evigilat in studio ut non maxima ingenio (quod in eo summum est) gratia habenda videatur. By verissimum genus dicendi Cicero seems to indicate that Messalla was neither an Asianist like Hortensius, nor an extreme Atticist like Calvus. See also Brutus §246, where the judgment is less favourable: nullo modo inops, sed non nimis ornatus genere verborum.

nitidus: cp. i. 7, 35 ideo minus Messalla nitidus quia, &c.

candidus: v. on §73.

quodam modo: cp. Cic. Brut. §30 (where Kellogg wrongly renders ‘with a certain style’): ib. §149: de Orat. iii. §37: §184.

praeferens = prae se ferens: cp. vi. 3, 17: 2, 14.

viribus minor: cp. §103.

I:114 C. vero Caesar si foro tantum vacasset, non alius ex nostris contra Ciceronem nominaretur. Tanta in eo vis est, id acumen, ea concitatio, ut illum eodem animo dixisse quo bellavit appareat; exornat tamen haec omnia mira sermonis, cuius proprie studiosus fuit, elegantia.

§ 114. Caesar. The purity and correctness of Caesar’s style are eulogised in the Brutus §§251-262: see esp. §261 non video cui debeat cedere. Cp. Phil. ii. 45 Fuit in illo ingenium, ratio, memoria, litterae, cura, cogitatio, diligentia: and with special reference to his oratorical talent, Suet. Caes. 55, where is cited a fragment from a letter of Cicero: ‘Quid? oratorum quem huic antepones eorum qui nihil aliud egerunt? Quis sententiis aut acutior aut crebrior? Quis verbis aut ornatior aut elegantior?’ Tac. Ann, xiii. 3 dictator Caesar summis oratoribus aemulus.

si foro tantum vacasset. So of Pompeius (Brut. 239), vir ad omnia summa natus, maiorem dicendi gloriam habuisset, nisi eum maioris gloriae cupiditas ad bellicas laudes abstraxisset: Tac. Dial. 21 concedamus sane C. Caesari, ut propter magnitudinem cogitationum et occupationes rerum in eloquentia non effecerit quae divinum eius ingenium postulabat.

contra, ‘by the side of,’ with the notion of being ‘pitted against’: cp. proximumque Ciceroni Caesarem, Vell. Pat. ii. 36, 2.

vis: xii. 10, 11 vim Caesaris.

acumen. See on §106: here probably of a pointed incisive style.

eodem animo: Livy xxxviii. 50 dicebantur enim ab eodem animo ingenioque a quo gesta erant.

proprie studiosus: cp. i. 7, 34 aut vim C. Caesaris fregerunt editi de analogia libri? Suet. Caes. 56: Gell. xix. 8, 3. See too Brutus §253, where we learn that the work was dedicated to Cicero: ‘qui etiam in maximis occupationibus ad te ipsum,’ inquit in me intuens, ‘de ratione Latine loquendi adcuratissime scripserit primoque in libro dixerit verborum delectum originem esse eloquentiae.’—Cp. Gell. xvi. 8 C. Caesar gravis auctor linguae latinae,—Proprie in this sense is post-Augustan: cp. Vell. Pat. ii. 9, 1.

elegantia: Brutus §252 ita iudico ... illum omnium fere oratorum Latine loqui elegantissime. In the Preface to B. G. viii. Hirtius says Erat autem in Caesare quum facultas atque elegantia summa scribendi tum, etc.

I:115 Multum ingenii in Caelio et praecipue in accusando multa urbanitas, dignusque vir, cui et mens melior et vita longior contigisset. Inveni qui Calvum praeferrent omnibus, inveni qui Ciceroni crederent eum nimia contra se calumnia verum sanguinem perdidisse; sed est et sancta et gravis oratio et castigata et frequenter vehemens quoque. Imitator autem est Atticorum, fecitque illi properata mors iniuriam, si quid adiecturus sibi non si quid detracturus fuit.

§ 115. Caelius, M. Rufus (82-48 B.C.), a man of loose morals and luxurious life, whom Cicero defended from some charges of sedition and attempted poisoning, 56 B.C. He had not much strength of character: during Cicero’s absence in Cilicia he was in friendly correspondence with him, but afterwards he joined Caesar, while urging Cicero to remain neutral. Becoming discontented, he intrigued with Milo to raise an insurrection against Caesar, and was put to death near Thurii by some foreign cavalry, 48 B.C. Cp. Brutus §273 splendida et grandis et eadem in primis faceta et perurbana oratio. Graves eius contiones aliquot fuerunt, acres accusationes tres (one against C. Antonius) ... defensiones ... sane tolerabiles. There was something bitter about him: 2 §25 asperitatem Caelii: cp. Tac. Dial. 25 amarior Caelius: Sen. de Ira iii. 8, 6 oratorem ... iracundissimum. A description of one of his speeches is given iv. 2, 123 sq.: for witticisms on Clodia v. viii. 6, 53. Cp. Tac. Dial. 21 and 25.

praecipue in accusando: vi. 3, 69 idem (Cicero) per allegoriam M. Caelium, melius obicientem crimina quam defendentem, bonam dextram malam sinistram habere dicebat.

urbanitas is defined vi. 3, 17 as sermonem praeferentem in verbis et sono et usu proprium quendam gustum urbis et sumptam ex conversatione doctorum tacitam eruditionem, denique cui contraria sit rusticitas. Here the idea of wit is uppermost, as in ii. 11, 2 and vi. 3, 105. Cp. vi. 3 §41 Caelius cum omnia venustissime finxit tum illud ultimum: i. 6, 29.

mens melior: Brut. §273 quaecunque eius in exitu vel fortuna vel mens fuit: Vell. Pat. ii. 68 vir eloquio animoque Curioni simillimus, sed in utroque perfectior nec minus ingeniose nequam.

Calvus, Gaius Licinius (B.C. 82-48), was the leading spirit among the stricter Atticists in Cicero’s day, and is censured by him in the Brutus (§§284-291) for taking so narrow a view of the full meaning of Attic oratory as to have introduced the attempt to imitate certain particular models among the Attic orators. A poet himself, he was the friend of Catullus, and, like Catullus, an opponent of Caesar. He prosecuted Vatinius on three separate occasions, and once showed such vehemence and energy that the defendant rose in court, saying ‘rogo vos, iudices, num si iste disertus est ideo me damnari oportet’ (Sen. Controv. vii. 6): Tac. Dial. 34 Vatinium eis orationibus insecutus est, quas hodieque cum admiratione legimus: cp. ib. 21. Cp. Catullus 53, where we get a lively idea of his energetic eloquence at the trial. The passage of Cicero referred to (Brutus §283 quoted below) was written after the death of Calvus: but already in Dec. 47 Cicero, in writing to his friend Trebonius, had stated his opinion that Calvus had made an error of judgment in the choice of his style, and that he was wanting in force: ad Fam. xv. 21 §4 genus quoddam sequebatur, in quo iudicio lapsus, quo valebat, tamen assequebatur quod probaret. Multae erant et reconditae litterae, vis non erat (Quint. x. 2, 25 ‘iudicium Calvi’). In the Dial. de Or. ch. 18 Tacitus refers to certain letters, now lost, from Calvus and Brutus to Cicero, showing that the latter regarded Calvus as exsanguis and attritus (v.l. aridus), while Calvus stigmatised Cicero as solutus and enervis. His position as leader of a school (which took Lysias mainly for its model and cultivated ‘plainness’ at the expense of other good qualities) is indicated by Cicero’s remark that he ‘not only went wrong himself, but also led others astray’ (Brut. §284).

Ciceroni crederent, &c. “In writing of his oratorical style in the Brutus, two years after his death, Cicero observes that, while he was more accomplished in literature than the younger Curio, he had also a more accurate and exquisite style; and although he handled it with skill and elegance, he was too minute and nice in his self-criticism; losing the very life-blood of style for fear of tainting its purity, and cultivating too scrupulous a taste to win the approval of the general public” (Sandys, Orator, Introd. xlvi.). The passage from the Brutus (283) is as follows:—adcuratius quoddam dicendi et exquisitius adferebat genus; quod quanquam scienter eleganterque tractabat, nimium tamen inquirens in se atque ipse sese observans metuensque ne vitiosum colligeret, etiam verum sanguinem deperdebat ... Atticum ... se dici oratorem volebat; inde erat ista exilitas, quam ille de industria consequebatur.

nimia ... calumnia, ‘by over-rigorous self-censure,’—a morbid habit of introspective criticism: the word being used to express nimium inquirens ... observans ... metuensque in the passage just quoted. Perhaps the nearest parallel to this use is to be found in Caec. ap. Cic. ad Fam. vi. 7, 4 in hac igitur calumnia, timoris et caecae suspicionis tormento,—of exaggerated fears inspired by the spirit of carping self-criticism, for which cp. 4 §3: 7 §14. The verb is found in the same sense in 3 §10 infelicem calumniandi se poenam: viii. prooem. 31 nullus est finis calumniandi se et cum singulis paene syllabis commoriendi. Cp. Plin. xxxiv. 8, 19 §92 calumniator sui, of one who is over-anxious in regard to his work. Cicero uses the verb absolutely: ad Fam. ix. 2, 3 mihi quidem venit in mentem bellum esse aliquo exire ... sed calumniabar ipse: putabam qui obviam mihi venisset ... suspicaturum aut dicturum, &c., where the meaning is ‘I indulged groundless fears’ (Nägelsbach, p. 54). The word calumnia is derived from the root calv found in calvor, to trick, quibble, through a participial form *calvomenos, calumnus (cp. autumnus, aerumna, columna). Its first meaning is a malicious charge or ‘cavil’: ad Fam. i. 1, 1, religionis calumniam, the ‘trumped-up plea of a religious difficulty.’ Hence it was applied in Roman law (Gaius 4, 178) to the vexatious abuse of legal forms, chicanery, legal quirks and quibbles, and generally to the pettifogging tendency which exalts the letter above the spirit.

verum sanguinem perdidisse: cp. 4 §3 exsanguia.

sancta et gravis: his style is ‘solemn and weighty,’ xii. 10, 11 ‘sanctitatem Calvi.’

castigata, ‘chastened,’ ‘severely finished’: cp. Hor. A. P. 292 carmen reprehendite quod non Multa dies et multa litura coercuit atque Praesectum decies non castigavit ad unguem, i.e. by pruning away everything that is useless and inappropriate: Tac. Dial. 25 adstrictior Calvus, numerosior Asinius.

frequenter: see on §17.

vehemens: cp. Sen. Controv. viii. 7 solebat praeterea excedere subsellia sua et impetu latus usque ad adversariorum partem transcurrere. Seneca adds that he resembled Demosthenes inasmuch as he was all struggle and excitement, though he sometimes employed a gentler style, ib. §8 nihil in illa (compositione) placidum, nihil lene est, omnia excitata et fluctuantia.

properata mors: cp. immatura mors. He died at the early age of 34. Cp. Brutus §279 facienda mentio est ... duorum adulescentium (Curio and Calvus) qui si diutius vixissent magnam essent eloquentiae laudem consecuti.

adiecturus, i.e. if it was likely that he would have added to the purity of his diction other and richer qualities. The cold dry manner of the strictest Atticists failed to hold the ear of Roman audiences: Brut. §289 subsellia grandiorem et pleniorem vocem desiderant, a larger and fuller utterance than that of the Atticists who spoke ‘anguste et exiliter.’ See Crit. Notes.

detracturus: sc. nimia contra se calumnia. He is exilis enough as it is.

I:116 Et Servius Sulpicius insignem non immerito famam tribus orationibus meruit. Multa, si cum iudicio legatur, dabit imitatione digna Cassius Severus, qui si ceteris virtutibus colorem et gravitatem orationis adiecisset, ponendus inter praecipuos foret.

§ 116. Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the most distinguished jurist of Cicero’s day, consul B.C. 51. See reff. in Brutus §150: §152: §153 (adiunxit etiam et litterarum scientiam et loquendi elegantiam). His letter of sympathy to Cicero on the death of Tullia is well known: ad Fam. iv. 5. Cp. 5 §4: 7 §30 and above §22.

meruit = consecutus est, as §94. See on §72.

Cassius Severus flourished under Augustus, and was banished on account of his libellous attacks (procacibus scriptis), first to Crete and then to Seriphos, where he is said to have died A.D. 34, in the twenty-fifth year of his exile; Tac. Ann. iv. 21: i. 72. He is spoken of as the introducer of the new school of declamatory eloquence, Tac. Dial. 19 Antiquorum admiratores ... Cassium Severum ... primum affirmant flexisse ab illa vetere atque directa dicendi via, &c.: ibid. 26 equidem non negaverim Cassium Severum ... si iis comparetur qui postea fuerunt, posse oratorem vocari, quamquam in magna parte librorum suorum plus bilis habeat quam sanguinis: primus enim contempto ordine rerum, omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, ipsis etiam quibus utitur armis incompositus et studio feriendi plerumque detectus, non pugnat sed rixatur; ceterum ... et varietate eruditionis et lepore urbanitatis et ipsaram virium robore multum ceteros superat.

colorem: cp. on §59. The word is not here used in the technical sense which it bears in rhetoric, i.e. the particular aspect given to a case by a skilful representation of the facts,—the ‘gloss’ or ‘varnish’ put on them by either the accused or the accuser. For this sense see iv. 2, 88: Inv. vi. 279 Dic aliquem, sodes, dic Quintiliane colorem: vii. 155 with Mayor’s note. Here it has a more general sense. Quintilian is charging Cassius with a want of proper ‘tone’: cp. omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, above: Cic. de Or. iii. 96 ornatur oratio genere primum et quasi colore quodam et suco suo.

gravitatem: Cassius was wanting in dignity, and his wit was apt to carry him too far. Quintilian gives an instance of this xi. 1, 57; Seneca, Controv. iii. praef. 2 says however ‘gravitas, quae deerat vitae, actioni supererat.’

I:117 Nam et ingenii plurimum est in eo et acerbitas mira et urbanitas et fervor, sed plus stomacho quam consilio dedit. Praeterea ut amari sales, ita frequenter amaritudo ipsa ridicula est.

§ 117. ingenii plurimum: Tacitus (Ann. iv. 21) allows that he was ‘orandi validus’: and Seneca (l.c.) says oratio eius erat valens culta ingentibus plena sententiis ... non est quod illum ex his quae edidit aestimetis ... eloquentia eius longe maior erat quam lectio.

acerbitas mira: cp. Tac. Ann. i. 72 commotus Cassii Severi libidine qua viros feminasque inlustres procacibus scriptis diffamaverat.

urbanitas, v. on §115. For examples see vi. 1, 43: viii. 3, 89: xi. 3, 133.

et fervor: see Crit. Notes, and cp. Seneca l.c. habebat ... genus dicendi ... ardens et concitatum.

stomacho: he was full of passionate impulse: cp. the passage quoted from Dial. 26 above.

praeterea ... ridicula est. Spalding’s interpretation of this passage is followed by Krüger (2nd ed.) and Hild: the other editors do not seem to have felt any difficulty. The sentence is taken in continuation of the praise of Cassius, attaching closely to ‘urbanitas’: the words from sed plus to dedit being then interjected as the only note of disparagement. The literal translation would then be ‘while his wit is bitter, the bitterness itself is often enough to make you laugh.’ ‘He has a caustic wit, but his causticity by itself will often make you laugh.’ For this sense of ridicula (Sp. ‘risum movet auditorum’) cp. vi. 3, 22 ridiculum ... haec tota disputatio a Graecis περὶ γελοίου inscribitur: 3 §6 ridiculum (‘funny,’ ‘droll’) dictum plerumque falsum est (ad hoc semper humile). Frieze compares vi. 3, 7: and adds ‘success in exciting the mirth of the court and the audience is not always a proof of the orator’s wit; but is often due to mere bitterness of invective, and coarse and rough or droll terms of abuse.’

One objection to this interpretation is the arrangement of the sentences: praeterea ... ridicula est connects even more naturally with sed plus ... dedit than with the eulogy contained in urbanitas et fervor. And it may be doubted if Quintilian or any other writer who had just been censuring Cassius for stomachus would immediately go on (using ridiculus in a good sense) to say that ‘often when he is merely bitter without being witty (this is the force of amaritudo ipsa, cp. note on §45) he makes you laugh.’ Drollery can hardly be claimed for unrelieved acrimoniousness.

A better sense can be obtained by taking amaritudo ipsa ridicula est as part not of the praise but of the censure of Cassius, and interpreting ridicula as ‘silly,’ ‘absurd,’ ‘ridiculous.’ Cicero uses the word in this sense, and there is abundant authority in Quintilian himself: cp. sint grandia et tumida, non stulta etiam et acrioribus oculis intuenti ridicula ii. 10, 6; ridiculum est v. 13, 7; fecit enim risum sed ridiculus fuit vi. 1, 48; quibus nos ... ridiculi videmur vii. 1, 43: ix. 3, 100; x. 3, 21; xi. 3, 128. The meaning then is ‘while his wit is bitter, yet bitterness by itself is silly,’ i.e. his wit has a bitter turn, but where he is (as often) bitter without being witty, the result is poor. There is undoubtedly something unsatisfactory about ut amari sales (sc. sunt), which might well have a general reference. See Crit. Notes.

I:118 Sunt alii multi diserti, quos persequi longum est. Eorum quos viderim Domitius Afer et Iulius Africanus longe praestantissimi. Verborum arte ille et toto genere dicendi praeferendus et quem in numero veterum habere non timeas: hic concitatior, sed in cura verborum nimius et compositione nonnumquam longior et translationibus parum modicus. Erant clara et nuper ingenia.

§ 118. diserti here, as in §68 and 3 §13, almost synonymous with eloquentes. In viii. pr. §13, however, Quintilian quotes a saying of M. Antonius, which was meant to establish a difference: nam et M. Antonius ... cum a se disertos visos esse multos ait, eloquentem neminem, diserto satis putat dicere quae oporteat, ornate autem dicere proprium esse eloquentis. Cp. i. 10, 8 ‘Fuit aliquis sine his disertus’: ‘at ego oratorem volo.’ Cicero gives the same quotation: Orat. §18: de Orat. i. §94, where the reason for the distinction between the ‘accomplished speaker’ and ‘the eloquent orator’ is given by Antonius himself,—quod ego eum statuebam disertum, qui posset satis acute atque dilucide apud mediocres homines ex communi quadam opinione hominum dicere, eloquentem vero, qui mirabilius et magnificentius augere posset atque ornare quae vellet, omnesque omnium rerum, quae ad dicendum pertinerent, fontes animo ac memoria contineret. Cp. Plin. Ep. v. 20 §5. For the derivation of disertus v. Sandys on Orat. §18.

longum est: the action is spoken of as still possible. Roby 1735. So Cic. pro Sest. 5: Longum est ea dicere: sed hoc breve dicam. Cp. 2 §§4, 7: 5 §7: 6 §2.

quos viderim: see on §98. In xii. 10, 11 he has ‘in iis etiam quos ipsi vidimus,’ mentioning both Afer and Africanus. Quintilian’s fondness for the perfect subjunctive is marked: cp. xii. 5, 5.

Domitius Afer: see on §86: cp. v. 7, 7 quem adolescentulus senem colui.

Iulius Africanus: a native of Gaul, who flourished under Nero. In xii. 10, 11 he is again named alongside of Afer,—vires Africani, maturitatem Afri. He is quoted as speaking to Nero in the name of Gaul viii. 5, 15 Insigniter Africanus apud Neronem de morte matris: rogant te, Caesar, Galliae tuae, ut felicitatem tuam fortiter feras. He divided the palm of eloquence with Afer: Tac. Dial. 15, He was a son of the Iulius Africanus of whom Tacitus speaks (Ann. vi. 7) as e Santonis Gallica civitate (Saintonge, to the N. of the lower Garonne): a grandson of his, also an orator, is mentioned by Pliny vii. 6, 11.

in numero veterum: cp. Tac. Dial. 15, ad fin.

compositione: v. on §79. If it has the same meaning here, it must = the euphonious collocation of words: see Cicero Orat. §147 de verbis enim componendis, &c., and §149 sq. Quintilian treats of compositio ix. 4, 1: Tr. ‘tedious in his phraseology’: viii. 3, 52: ix. 4, 144 neque longioribus quam oportet hyperbolis compositioni serviamus.

longior: i.e. he used ‘padding’ in the effort to round off his periods.

translationibus: viii. 6, 4 sq.: esp. 16 sed copia quoque modum egressa vitiosa est, praecipue in eadem specie.

I:119 Nam et Trachalus plerumque sublimis et satis apertus fuit et quem velle optima crederes, auditus tamen maior; nam et vocis, quantam in nullo cognovi, felicitas et pronuntiatio vel scaenis suffectura et decor, omnia denique ei, quae sunt extra, superfuerunt: et Vibius Crispus compositus et iucundus et delectationi natus, privatis tamen causis quam publicis melior.

§ 119. Trachalus, M. Galerius: consul A.D. 68 along with Silius Italicus. Tacitus (Hist. i. 90) tells us he was supposed to have written the speech delivered by Otho to an assembly of the people: in rebus urbanis Galerii Trachali ingenio Othonem uti credebatur. Et erant qui genus ipsum orandi noscerent, crebro fori usu celebre et ad inplendas populi aures latum et sonans. After Otho’s death he was fortunate in securing the protection of Galeria, wife of Vitellius (ibid. ii. 60), who may have been a relation of his. From viii. 5, 19 we learn that he had published an oration Contra Spatalem, in a case where Vibius Crispus appeared for the accused. Cp. vi. 3, 78.

velle optima, not ‘well-meaning,’ in a moral sense, but with reference to qualities of style: cp. below §122 ad optima tendentium: §131 meliora vellet.

auditus maior. In the passage often quoted already (xii. 10, 11) Quintilian singles out his sonus for special mention,—‘sonum Trachali.’—Gertz suggested melior for maior.

vocis ... felicitas: cp. xii. 5, 5, where, after enumerating vox, latus, and decor as the ‘naturalia instrumenta’ of the orator, he refers specially to the ‘external advantages’ (cp. omnia ... quae sunt extra, below) of Trachalus: Habuit oratores aetas nostra copiosiores, sed cum diceret eminere inter aequales Trachalus videbatur, Ea corporis sublimitas erat, is ardor oculorum, frontis auctoritas, gestus praestantia, vox quidem non, ut Cicero desiderat, paene tragoedorum sed super omnes, quos ego quidem audierim, tragoedos. Certe cum in basilica Iulia diceret primo tribunali, quattuor autem iudicia, ut moris est, cogerentur, atque omnia clamoribus fremerent, et auditum eum et intellectum et, quod agentibus ceteris contumeliosissimum fuit, laudatum quoque ex quattuor tribunalibus memini. Sed hoc votum est et rara felicitas.

suffectura, conditional, for quae suffectura fuisset, without the protasis si voluisset. Cp. note on habitura §99. So taciturus xi. 2, 16. Hor. Car. iv. 3, 20 donatura, si libeat: and ii. 6, 1 (where there is no protasis), Septimi Gades aditure mecum—For pronuntiatio see on §17.

superfuerunt, he had an abundant share of such advantages.

Vibius Crispus, a delator of the age of Nero, who amassed great wealth by the practice of his profession down to about A.D. 90. Tac. Hist. ii. 10 Vibius Crispus, pecunia potentia ingenio inter claros magis quam inter bonos ... Crispum easdem accusationes cum praemio exercuisse meminerant: ibid. iv. 41, 43. In the Dialogue Tacitus speaks of the fame of his eloquence, ch. 8 ausim contendere Marcellum Eprium et Crispum Vibium non minores esse in extremis partibus terrarum quam Capuae aut Vercellis, ubi nati dicuntur; hoc ... illis praestat ... ipsa eloquentia...; per multos iam annos potentissimi sunt civitatis ac, donec libuit, principes fori, nunc principes in Caesaris (i.e. Vespasiani) amicitia agunt feruntque cuncta, &c. And yet (ibid. 13) Adligati canum adulatione nec imperantibus unquam satis servi videntur nec nobis satis liberi. That he was still in favour with Domitian appears from Suet. 3 inter initia principatus quotidie secretum sibi horarium sumere solebat; nec quidquam amplius quam muscas captare ac stylo praeacuto configere: ut cuidam interroganti esset ne quis intus cum Caesare non absurde responsum sit a Vibio Crispo ‘Ne musca quidem.’ His wealth was proverbial: divitior Crispo Mart. iv. 54, 7: he was worth 200,000,000 sesterces, or even 300,000,000 according to Dial. 8. By its means he was enabled to shelter his brother Vibius Secundus, when accused of ‘repetundae’ in Mauretania: Tac. Ann. xiv. 28. Juvenal gives a sketch of his character iv. 81-93 Venit et Crispi iucunda senectus Cuius erant mores qualis facundia mite Ingenium ... nec civis erat qui libera posset Verba animi proferre et vitam impendere vero ... Sic multas hiemes atque octogesima vidit Solstitia his armis illa (of Domitian) quoque tutus in aula.

compositus: generally applied to style, ‘well-balanced,’ e.g. §44 lenis et nitidi et compositi generis: cp. Cicero Orat. §208 composita oratio. Here the epithet is transferred to the orator in the sense of ‘orderly,’ ‘finished’ in the choice and combination of words. Cp. Orat. §232 compositi oratoris bene structam collocationem dissolvere permutatione verborum: 2 §16 below fiunt ... pro ... compositis exultantes: §66 incompositus.

iucundus, ‘lively, agreeable, entertaining’: cp. Crispi iucunda senectus, Iuv., quoted above. In xii. 10, §11 Quintilian places iucunditatem Crispi alongside of the distinguishing characteristics of other orators: cp. v. 13, 48 Vibius Crispus vir ingenii iucundi et elegantis.

I:120 Iulio Secundo, si longior contigisset aetas, clarissimum profecto nomen oratoris apud posteros foret; adiecisset enim atque adiciebat ceteris virtutibus suis quod desiderari potest, id est autem ut esset multo magis pugnax et saepius ad curam rerum ab elocutione respiceret.

§ 120. Iulius Secundus is highly spoken of 3 §12 below: aequalem meum atque a me, ut notum est, familiariter amatum, mirae facundiae virum, infinitae tamen curae: and in xii. 10, 11 he is named as conspicuous for ‘elegantia.’ He is one of the interlocutors in the Dialogue of Tacitus, where he is made to pose as umpire between the representatives of Imperial and Republican eloquence: cp. esp. ch. 2 Aper et Iulius Secundus, celeberrima tum (under Vespasian) ingenia fori nostri ... Secundo purus et pressus et in quantum satis erat profluens sermo non defuit: chs. 4 and 14.

adiciebat: he had begun the improvement when death overtook him. He died about 88 A.D., not long before Quintilian began his Institutio.

curam rerum: he is to care for substance as well as form. Fabianus in Seneca (Epist. 100) had the opposite fault: visne illum assidere pusillae rei, verbis?

I:121 Ceterum interceptus quoque magnum sibi vindicat locum: ea est facundia, tanta in explicando quod velit gratia, tam candidum et lene et speciosum dicendi genus, tanta verborum etiam quae adsumpta sunt proprietas, tanta in quibusdam ex periculo petitis significantia.

§ 121. interceptus: so vi. pr. 1 si me ... fata intercepissent.

candidum: ‘lucid,’ v. on §73 (Herodotus), and cp. §113 Messalla ... candidus: §101 clarissimi candoris, of Livy.

lene opp. to forte et vehemens dicendi genus: §44. See Crit. Notes.

adsumpta = translata, ‘used figuratively.’ Cp. viii. 3, 43 adsumere ea, quibus inlustrem fieri orationem putat, delecta, translata, superlata, ad nomen adiuncta, duplicata et idem significantia atque ab ipsa actione atque imitatione rerum non abhorrentia. When the process is carried too far the verba adsumpta, become arcessita viii. 3. 56.

proprietas, v. on §46.

ex periculo: ii. 12, 5 quod est in elocutione ipsa periculum: viii. 6, 11 (verba) quae audaci et proxime periculum translatione tolluntur ... qualis est: pontem indignatus Araxes. Cp. paene periclitantia xi. 1, 32. For the phrase ex periculo petere cp. ii. 11, 3 sententiis grandibus, quarum optima quaeque a periculo petarur. Gr. παρακεκινδυνευμένα.

significantia: §49.

I:122 Habebunt qui post nos de oratoribus scribent magnam eos qui nunc vigent materiam vere laudandi; sunt enim summa hodie, quibus inlustratur forum, ingenia. Namque et consummati iam patroni veteribus aemulantur et eos iuvenum ad optima tendentium imitatur ac sequitur industria.

§ 122. eos qui nunc vigent. Who these were we can infer from the Dialogue of Tacitus and from Pliny’s Letters, e.g. Aper, Marcellus, Maternus, Aquilius Regulus, and others. Quintilian must of course have meant to include Tacitus and Pliny themselves.

consummati: often equivalent to perfectus in Quintilian: 5 §14. Cp. above §89. It is combined with perfectus v. 10, 119 ne se ... perfectos protinus atque consummates putent.

veteribus. Aemulari occurs elsewhere with the accusative, §62; 2 §17. So of envious emulation Cic. Tusc. i. §44: cp. iv. §17 with the dative of the person.

iuvenum ad optima tendentium. Hild refers to the speeches of Messalla and Maternus in the Dial. (28-30, 34-36) as indicating the oratorical aspirations of the youth of Rome when Quintilian wrote.

I:123 Supersunt qui de philosophia scripserint, quo in genere paucissimos adhuc eloquentes litterae Romanae tulerunt. Idem igitur M. Tullius, qui ubique, etiam in hoc opere Platonis aemulus extitit. Egregius vero multoque quam in orationibus praestantior Brutus suffecit ponderi rerum: scias eum sentire quae dicit.

§ 123. philosophia. For the attitude of the Romans to philosophy see Teuffel, §40 sq. Abstract speculation, leading to no practical end, was not held in honour by them: like Neoptolemus, in the play of Ennius, they said ‘philosophari est mihi necesse, at paucis (i.e. ‘only a little’: Roby, §1237) nam omnino haud placet,’—Cicero de Orat. ii. §156: de Repub. i. 18, 30: Pacuvius too (in Gell. xiii. 8) had made one of his characters exclaim: ego odi homines ignava opera et philosopha sententia. The Romans disliked the unsettling tendencies which seemed to accompany the study of philosophy: hence e.g. their treatment of the Athenian ambassadors in the middle of the second century B.C. The prejudice against such studies had by no means entirely disappeared even in the time of Cicero, who constantly apologises for and seeks to justify his leanings to philosophy: de Off. ii. 1, 2 sqq.: de Fin. i. 1, 1. Tacitus, Agricola 4, tells us that Agricola used to say ‘se prima in iuventa studium philosophiae acrius, ultra quam concessum Romano ac senatori, hausisse, ni prudentia matris incensum ac flagrantem animum coercuisset.’ About the time when Quintilian was writing, Domitian banished the philosophers from Rome: ibid. ch. 2. For the help which philosophy can give to oratory see xii. 11, which contains (§7) an expression of the Roman ideal: atqui ego illum quem instituo Romanum quendam velim esse sapientem, qui non secretis disputationibus, sed rerum experimentis atque operibus vere civilem virum exhibeat. Cp. Cicero’s boast in regard to himself and Cato of Utica: nos philosophiam veram illam et antiquam, quae quibusdam otii esse ac desidiae videtur, in forum atque in rempublicam atque in ipsam aciem paene deduximus. See on §84.

paucissimos ... eloquentes. The addition of an adj. to another adj. used as a subst. is rare in Quintilian. Hirt (Subst. des Adj. p. 17) cites only five exx. besides this one: e.g. iii. 8, 31 antiquis nobilibus ortos.

qui ubique. The sense is clear: it is a repetition of the claim made in §108 mihi videtur M. Tullius ... effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam Platonis, iucunditatem Isocratis. But it was not ubique that Cicero rivalled Plato: it was only in Plato’s own domain (sc. in hoc opere). The expression was adopted for brevity’s sake: Spalding says it is equivalent to ‘ut ubique Graecorum praestantissimi cuiusque, ita in hoc opere Platonis.’ For Cicero’s philosophical writings cp. Teuffel, §173 sq.

Brutus: cp. §23. He is not included in Quintilian’s list of orators; and though Cicero uses towards him the language of extravagant eulogy (v. esp. Brut. §22) in many of his works, yet we know from a passage in the Dialogue already quoted that he sometimes found him ‘otiosum atque disiunctum’ ch. 18. Cp. ch. 21 Brutum philosophiae suae relinquamus. Nam in orationibus minorem esse, fama sua etiam admiratores eius fatentur. A reference follows to his speech ‘Pro rege Deiotaro,’ which the speaker (Aper) considers ‘dull and tedious’—lentitudo and tepor being the words used. A fragment of a declamation by him is quoted ix. 3 §95–. On his philosophical works see Cic. Acad. i. 3, 12 (with Reid’s note). He was an adherent of the Stoico-academic school, whose tenets he had studied under Aristus and Antiochus: cp. Tusc. v. 21: Brut. 120, 149, 332: de Fin. v. 8. There was a treatise de Virtute addressed to Cicero, one περὶ καθήκοντος, and one de Patientia: Teuffel, 209 §§2 and 3.

suffecit ponderi rerum: Quint. xii. 10, 11 names gravitas as his distinguishing quality: cp. gravior Brutus, Tac. Dial. ch. 25.

sentire quae dicit. The intensity and sincerity of his nature can be inferred from ad Att. xiv. 1, 2, where Caesar is quoted as saying of him magni refert hic quid velit, sed quicquid vult valde vult. For his devotion to study see 7 §27 below.

I:124 Scripsit non parum multa Cornelius Celsus, Sextios secutus, non sine cultu ac nitore. Plautus in Stoicis rerum cognitioni utilis. In Epicureis levis quidem, sed non iniucundus tamen auctor est Catius.

§ 124. non parum multa: litotes, as at vi. 2, 3 semper fuerunt non parum multi.—Becher compares also non parum multi Cic. in Verr. iii. 9, 22: Phil. vii. 6, 18: pro Quinctio 3, 11: in Verr. iv. 12, 29: parum saepe de Fin. ii. 4, 12. The opposite of non parum is non nimis: cp. Liv. xxii. 26, 4 haud parum callide with Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 25, 70 nihil horum nimis callide.

Cornelius Celsus: a celebrated encyclopaedist under Augustus and Tiberius, who wrote on rhetoric, jurisprudence, farming, medicine, military art, and practical philosophy. Only eight books on medicine have come down to us. He survived into the reign of Nero. Cp. §23 above. Of his philosophy Augustine writes as follows (de Haeres. Prol.): opiniones omnium philosophorum qui sectas varias condiderunt usque ad tempora sua ... sex non parvis voluminibus ... absolvit; nec redarguit aliquem, sed tantum quid sentirent aperuit, ea brevitate sermonis ut tantum adhiberet eloquii quantum ... aperiendae iudicandaeque sententiae sufficeret. In xii. 11, 24 Quintilian refers to the universality of his knowledge, though he speaks of him as mediocri vir ingenio. “In other passages also Quintilian often expresses his disagreement from this predecessor of his, e.g. ii. 15, 22, 32: iii. 6, 13 sq.: viii. 3, 47: ix. 1, 18 ... Even when he agrees with him he does so with reserve, e.g. vii. 1, 10.—It may be that Quintilian was vexed that a subject to which he had devoted an entire life was merely cursorily treated by Celsus, and besides an encyclopaedia might easily be open to technical objections. At all events, Celsus’ rhetorical manual was obscured by that of Quintilian. It is mentioned only by Fortunat. iii. 2 (p. 121, 10 H)”—Teuffel, 275.

Sextios. The Sextii, father and son, were contemporary with Caesar and Augustus, and belonged to the Pythagorean school, though not without a leaning to the Stoics (Seneca, Ep. 64 §2–). Seneca speaks frequently of the elder Sextius in his letters: e.g. 59 §7– ‘virum acrem, Graecis verbis, Romanis moribus philosophantem.’ In the Nat. Quaest. vii. 32, 2 we are told how their following—‘Sextiorum nova et Romani roboris secta’—soon fell away: ‘inter initia sua extincta est,’ v. Teuffel 261.

cultu ac nitore: v. §79 and §83, with notes.

Plautus. The text is not certain (see Crit. Notes), but as Quintilian elsewhere (ii. 14, 2 and iii. 6, 23) refers to a philosopher of this name as employing the unusual words queentia and essentia, it may as well be retained. (In ii. 14, 2 however Meister reads Flavi: cp. Teuffel, 261, §9.)

levis: ‘of no weight.’

Catius, an Insubrian by birth, contemporary with Cicero, who speaks of his recent death ad Fam. xv. 16, 1; cp. 19, 2 Epicurus, a quo omnes Catii et Amafinii, mali verborum interpretes (referring to their faithful transcripts of Greek terminology) proficiscuntur. The scholiast on Hor. Sat. ii. 4 tells us that he wrote ‘quattuor libros de rerum natura et de summo bono.’

I:125 Ex industria Senecam in omni genere eloquentiae distuli propter vulgatam falso de me opinionem, qua damnare eum et invisum quoque habere sum creditus. Quod accidit mihi dum corruptum et omnibus vitiis fractum dicendi genus revocare ad severiora iudicia contendo; tum autem solus hic fere in manibus adulescentium fuit.

§ 125. Seneca: A.D. 2-65. For his life and works see Teuffel 282 sqq., Bernhardy p. 871 sq. Martha gives an estimate of the moral teaching of his well-known Letters in ‘Moralistes sous l’Empire Romain.’ Quintilian’s criticism of Seneca is subjected to a searching examination by M. Samuel Rocheblave in a pamphlet De M. Fabio Quintiliano L. Annaei Senecae Judice (Paris, 1890): see esp. chs. iii. and iv. Introduction, pp. xxiv. sqq.

opinionem. Quintilian worked hard to recall the Romans to a more temperate and classical style. He aimed too at a partial ‘return to Cicero,’ and considered Seneca a dangerous model for the youth of the day. See Introduction, pp. xxxix. sqq. Fronto and others used stronger language: e.g. p. 155 N eloquentiam ... Senecae mollibus et febriculosis prunuleis insitam subvertendam censeo radicitus ... neque ignoro copiosum sententiis et redundantem hominem esse, verum sententias eius tolutares video, quatere campum quadripedo concita cursu, tenere nusquam, pugnare nusquam ... dicteria potius eum quam dicta continere. Cp. Aul. Gell. xii. 2, 1 de Annaeo Seneca partim existimant ut de scriptore minime utili, cuius libros attingere nullum pretium operae sit, quod oratio eius vulgaris videatur et protrita, res atque sententiae aut inepto inanique impetu sint aut levi et quasi dicaci argutia, eruditio autem vernacula et plebeia nihilque ex veterum scriptis habens neque gratiae neque dignitatis. Alii vero elegantiae in verbis parum esse non infitias eunt, sed et rerum quas dicat scientiam doctrinamque ei non deesse dicunt et in vitiis morum obiurgandis severitatem gravitatemque non invenustam. So too Caligula (Suet. 53) had called Seneca’s productions arena sine calce, commissiones merae.

damnare ... invisum habere. There is nothing in this of a moral judgment, though some of Quintilian’s contemporaries, notably Tacitus, disliked Seneca, probably because they could not acquit him from blame in regard to his pupil Nero’s excesses, and other matters. The only parallel to et invisum quoque in classical Latin is said by Becher to be Cic. pro Domo §47 quoniam iam dialecticus es et haec quoque liguris. It does not occur in Caesar, seldom in Livy, but frequently in Quintilian. Cp. on §20.

corruption ... genus. He is not speaking of the false taste of Seneca’s style exclusively, but of the general deterioration that prevailed: cp. §43 recens haec lascivia.

dum contendo: ‘through the efforts I made’: the tum which follows shows that it refers to past time.

solus hic fere in manibus. Tac. Ann. xiii. 3 fuit illi viro ingenium amoenum et temporis eius auribus adcommodatum. In his endeavours to introduce a purer taste Quintilian naturally made so popular an author as Seneca the peg on which to hang his discourse.

I:126 Quem non equidem omnino conabar excutere, sed potioribus praeferri non sinebam, quos ille non destiterat incessere, cum diversi sibi conscius generis placere se in dicendo posse iis quibus illi placerent diffideret. Amabant autem eum magis quam imitabantur, tantumque ab illo defluebant quantum ille ab antiquis descenderat.

§ 126. excutere: sc. e manibus adulescentium.

incessere. At the close of the passage quoted above, Gellius goes on to quote, with much indignation, Seneca’s disparaging criticism of Ennius, Cicero, and Vergil, from Book xxii of the Letters to Lucilius (no longer extant). In Ep. 114 we find him censoring Sallust and those who imitated him. Sueton. Ner. 52 a cognitione veterum oratorum Seneca praeceptor, quo diutius in admiratione sui detineret (Neronem avertit). For iis, see Crit. Notes.

defluebant = degenerabant, i. 8, 9 quando nos in omnia deliciarum vitia dicendi quoque ratione defluximus.

I:127 Foret enim optandum pares ac saltem proximos illi viro fieri. Sed placebat propter sola vitia et ad ea se quisque dirigebat effingenda, quae poterat; deinde cum se iactaret eodem modo dicere, Senecam infamabat.

§ 127. Foret ... optandum, of a wish that is considered impossible,—which shows how high was Quintilian’s opinion of Seneca: cp. ac saltem proximus. So velles §130. For the infin. see Introd. p. lvi.

ad ea ... effingenda: cp. Cic. Orat. §9 ad illius similitudinem artem et manum dirigebat. For effingenda cp. §108.

quae poterat, sc. effingere: cp. Caesar, B.C. 37 quam celerrime potuit (comparare).

infamabat, ‘brought reproach on.’

I:128 Cuius et multae alioqui et magnae virtutes fuerunt, ingenium facile et copiosum, plurimum studii, multa rerum cognitio, in qua tamen aliquando ab his quibus inquirenda quaedam mandabat deceptus est.

§ 128. alioqui: see Introd. p. li.

quibus ... mandabat. Especially for physical science he must have been greatly indebted to external aid. His VII Books ‘Naturalium Quaestionum,’ with the addition of moral meditations, were used as a text-book in the Middle Ages.

I:129 Tractavit etiam omnem fere studiorum materiam; nam et orationes eius et poemata et epistulae et dialogi feruntur. In philosophia parum diligens, egregius tamen vitiorum insectator fuit. Multae in eo claraeque sententiae, multa etiam morum gratia legenda, sed in eloquendo corrupta pleraque atque eo perniciosissima, quod abundant dulcibus vitiis.

§ 129. orationes. None survive. Quintilian refers (viii. 5, 18) to the speech he made for Nero on the occasion of his mother’s funeral: Tac. Ann. xiii. 3, cp. 11. It is probable also that Seneca wrote the speeches mentioned by Suet. Ner. 7, the ‘gratiarum actio’ in the Senate, ‘pro Bononiensibus latine, pro Rhodiis atque Iliensibus graece.’ He also pleaded with success in the law-courts (Dion Cass. 59, 19, 7.).

poemata. That Seneca wrote poetry is evident from Tacitus Ann. xiv. 52, where his accusers, in order to prejudice him in the eyes of Nero (who was jealous of his reputation as a poet and an orator),—obiiciebant etiam eloquentiae laudem uni sibi adsciscere et carmina crebrius factitare postquam Neroni amor eorum venisset: cp. Suet. Ner. 52. He is said also to have written epigrams, and other forms of verse.—His tragedies are not referred to here, though Quintilian quotes from the Medea ix. 2, 8: see for them Teuffel 285; Bernhardy, note 322.

epistulae. The Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, as we have them now (see 3rd vol. of Teubner edition), are 124 in number, arranged in twenty books. There were more however originally, and Priscian speaks of Book x of the letters to Novatus (in decimo epistularum ad Novatum), while Martial (vii. 45, 3) refers to letters to Caesonius Maximus, of which we know nothing more.

dialogi, i.e. the works called by this name in the Milan MS., not his tragedies, though these were written to be read rather than to be acted. There are twelve of them (v. Teuffel 284 §4–), and each is dedicated to some particular individual. There is besides the De Clementia ad Neronem, and a Dialogus de Superstitione (no longer extant except in the fragment given in Augustine’s C.D. vi. 10) directed against the anthropomorphism of popular superstition.

feruntur: §23.

parum diligens: ‘not very critical.’ He was a student of life rather than a student of thought.

vitiorum insectator: cp. Lactantius, Inst. Div. v. 9 morum vitiorumqne publicorum et descriptor verissimus et accusator acerrimus.

eo for ideo: cp. Hor. Sat. i. 6, 89 eoque non ... Quod non ingenuos habeat ... parentes.

I:130 Velles eum suo ingenio dixisse, alieno iudicio; nam si obliqua contempsisset, si parum recta non concupisset, si non omnia sua amasset, si rerum pondera minutissimis sententiis non fregisset, consensu potius eruditorum quam puerorum amore comprobaretur.

§ 130. iudicio, ‘taste,’ as §127 above: cp. M. Seneca (of Capito) ‘habebat in sua potestate ingenium, in aliena modum.’

obliqua. For this apt conjecture (in place of the traditional aliqua), see Crit. Notes.

si parum recta. On the assumption that a word has fallen out of the MSS. after parum, recta is preferable to Halm and Meister’s sana. For rectum as abstr. cp. ii. 13, 11: xii. 1, 12. See Crit. Notes.

omnia sua amasset, §88 of Ovid, nimium amator ingenii sui. Cp. below 3 §12 utros peccare validius putem, quibus omnia sua placent...

rerum pondera ... fregisset: contrast §123 suffecit ponderi rerum. Seneca ‘weakened the force of his matter by striving after epigrammatic brevity.’

amore, of an ill-considered attachment (§94: 2 §19), whereas studio would have indicated mature taste, vi. 2, 12 amor πάθος, caritas ἦθος.

I:131 Verum sic quoque iam robustis et severiore genere satis firmatis legendus vel ideo quod exercere potest utrimque iudicium. Multa enim, ut dixi, probanda in eo, multa etiam admiranda sunt; eligere modo curae sit, quod utinam ipse fecisset. Digna enim fuit illa natura, quae meliora vellet: quod voluit effecit.

§ 131. sic quoque = καὶ οὕτως.

robustis, opp. to pueris: cp. 5 §1 below. Cp. Tac. Dial. 35 ‘controversiae robustioribus adsignantur,’ while ‘suasoriae pueris delegantur.’

firmatis. So occupatos 3 §27: exercitatos 5 §17. Introd. pp. xlviii-ix.

vel ideo quod: §86: 5 §16.

utrimque, i.e. laudantium et vituperantium, ‘for and against him.’ So 5, 20: 6, 7: and cp. 1, 22. Introd. p. lii.

Multa enim ... digna enim, another instance of the want of care that has been already noted, 2 §23.

natura: cp. §86.