musa illa rustica et pastoralis. Theocri_M. Fabi Quintiliani institutionis oratoriae liber decimus

real, as opposed to artificial, pastoral poetry. “He finds all things

delectable in the rural life: ‘sweet are the voices of the calves, and

sweet the heifer’s lowing; sweet plays the shepherd on the shepherd’s

pipe, and sweet is the echo.’ Even in courtly poems and in the

artificial hymns ... the memory of the joyful country life comes over

him. He praises Hiero, because Hiero is to restore peace to Syracuse,

and when peace returns, then ‘thousands of sheep fattened in the meadows

will bleat along the plain, and the kine, as they flock in crowds to the

stalls, will make the belated traveller hasten on his way.’” Mr. Lang’s

Introduction.

I:56

Audire videor undique congerentes nomina plurimorum poetarum. Quid?

Herculis acta non bene Pisandros? Nicandrum frustra

secuti Macer atque Vergilius? Quid?

Euphorionem transibimus? Quem nisi probasset Vergilius idem,

numquam certe ‘conditorum Chalcidico versu carminum’ fecisset in

Bucolicis mentionem. Quid? Horatius frustra Tyrtaeum Homero

subiungit?

§ 56.

videor: §46. Hor. Car. iii. 4, 6

audire magnos iam videor duces. So often _videre videor_: e.g. Cic.

in Catil. iv. §11.

congerentes: participle without subject: cp. solitos §7.

non: 2 §25.

Pisandros, of Cameirus in Rhodes, fl. circ. B.C. 645. He wrote a poem called _Heracleia_,

an epic narrative of the deeds of Hercules. He is often cited as an

authority for the various details of the legend, and was the first to

arm the hero with the club and lion’s skin.

Nicandrum, of Colophon, lived in the middle of the second

century B.C. at the court of Attalus

III, king of Pergamus. His didactic poem on the bites of venomous

animals (Θηριακὰ καὶ Ἀλεξιφάρμακα) is still extant. He also

wrote five books of ἑτεροιούμενα, on which Ovid drew for his

Metamorphoses.

frustra = temere, ‘without good reason’ (sine iusta causa):

cp. _frustra ... subiungit_ below. Cicero, de Div. ii. 60 nec

frustra ac sine causa quid facere deo dignum est. So i. 10, 15 non

igitur frustra Plato civili viro ... necessariam musicen credidit: xii.

2, 5 Caesar has _non nequiquam_ in the same sense B. G.

ii. 27, 5. In some cases it makes little difference whether the

rendering is ‘without good reason’ or ‘without good result,’ but here it

is very improbable that Quintilian is asking ‘whether Vergil can be

called an _unsuccessful_ follower of Nicander,’ as Conington puts

it.

Macer: §87. Aemilius Macer of

Verona, the friend and contemporary of Vergil and Ovid, wrote the

‘Ornithogonia’ (‘bird-breeding’) and the ‘Theriaca,’ neither of which is

extant. Ovid, Trist. iv. 10, 43-4 Saepe suos volucres legit mihi

grandior aevo, Quaeque necet serpens, quae iuvet herba, Macer.

Vergilius. See Conington’s Vergil, vol. i. pp. 141 sqq.

None of the extant fragments of Nicander’s Γεωργικά justify the supposition that Vergil was

indebted to it for the Georgics; but he seems to have used his work on

bees (μελισσουργικά) and also the θηριακά above mentioned (Georg. iii. 415,

425). And Macrobius (Sat. v. 22) tells us that it was from Nicander that

Vergil borrowed the legend of Pan drawing the moon down after him to the

woods by a fleece of snow-white wool (Georg. iii. 391).

Euphorionem. Euphorion, of Chalcis in Euboea, was a

contemporary of Ptolemy Euergetes, and Antiochus the Great, circ. B.C. 220. Among other works he wrote a

Georgica, or poem on agriculture.

in Bucolicis. Verg. Ecl. x. 50 ibo et Chalcidico quae sunt

mihi condita versu Carmina pastoris Siculi modulabor avena, where the

speaker is the elegiac poet Cornelius Gallus (§93 note), who had introduced Euphorion to general

notice by translating some of his poems.

Tyrtaeum. Tyrtaeus was a native either of Athens or of

Aphidnae in Attica, and flourished at the time of the second Messenian

War (in the seventh century B.C.), in

which he is said to have contributed to the success of the Spartan arms

by his inspiring battle-songs. The reference to Horace is A. P. 401

Post hos (Orpheus and Amphion) insignis Homerus Tyrtaeusque mares animos

in Martia bella Versibus exacuit. Mayor cites passages from Dio Chrys.

where Homer and Tyrtaeus are coupled in the same way: cp. Plato, Laws

ix. 858 E, where Tyrtaeus is classed with Homer for his moral and

political influence.

I:57

Nec sane quisquam est tam procul a cognitione eorum remotus ut non

indicem certe ex bibliotheca sumptum transferre in libros suos possit.

Nec ignoro igitur quos transeo nec utique damno, ut qui dixerim esse in

omnibus utilitatis aliquid.

§ 57.

tam ... ut non: Plin. Ep. iii. 5, 10: cp. §41 and §48 above.

indicem, ‘a catalogue.’ Any one can at least (if he does not

know anything more about them) make out a list of such poets in some

library, and note the titles of their works in his compilation. For

_index_ cp. Cic. Hortens., indicem tragicorum: Plin. Ep. iii. 5, 2

fungar indicis partibus: Seneca de Tranq. 9 §4 quo innumerabiles

libros et bibliothecas, quarum dominus vix tota vita indices perlegit?

Ep. 39 §2 sume in manus indicem philosophorum.—_Non ...

certe_ almost = _ne quidem_.

nec utique, ‘nor by any means.’ See on §20: cp. §24.

Krüger3 renders by ‘unbedingt,’ ‘absolut,’ ‘jedenfalls.’

ut qui dixerim: see on §55.

I:58

Sed ad illos iam perfectis constitutisque viribus revertemur, quod in

cenis grandibus saepe

facimus, ut, cum optimis satiati sumus, varietas tamen nobis ex

vilioribus grata sit. Tunc et elegiam vacabit in manus sumere, cuius

princeps habetur Callimachus, secundas confessione plurimorum

Philetas occupavit.

§ 58.

perfectis constitutisque viribus, i.e. by the reading of the epic

poets who are most suited to our purpose: §59 optimis adsuescendum est, &c. So §131 (of Seneca) iam robustis et severiore genere

satis firmatis legendus: 5 §1 iam robustorum. Cp i. 8, 6

(of amatory elegy and hendecasyllabics) amoveantur, si fieri potest, si

minus, certe ad firmius aetatis robur reserventur: §12

robustiores.—For _constitutis_ cp. ἐν τῇ καθεστηκυίᾳ ἡλικίᾳ:

xi. 3, 29.

revertemur: future used as a mild imperative. Cp. 7 §1.

quod ... ut. The dependent clause here gives the explanation

of _quod facimus_

in the form of a result, so that the construction is really pleonastic:

cp. 5 §18: 7 §11. In 3 §6 (where see note) _ut_

may have more of the idea of purpose.

tunc: when our taste is formed.

elegiam. Cp. i. 8, 6 quoted above. In A. P. 77 Horace

characterises the elegy as _exiguus_, i.e. it is slighter and less

dignified than the epic hexameter.

vacabit. This impersonal use (cp. §90) does not occur in Cicero. For the expression see

Introd. p. xxxii,

note.

Callimachus, of Cyrene, was the second director of the library

at Alexandria (§54): he flourished in the

middle of the 3rd century. Catullus, Propertius, and Ovid all imitated

his elegies. ‘The erotic elegy of Callimachus, Philetas, and their

school is chiefly interesting as having been the model of the Roman

elegy, which is one of the glories of Latin literature in the hands of

Ovid, Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius.’ Mahaffy.

secundas, §53.

Philetas of Cos, instructor of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 290

B.C. Like Callimachus he was a

literary critic as well as a poet, though probably less erudite than his

greater contemporary.

occupavit: Hor. Car. i. 12, 19 proximos illi tamen occupavit

Pallas honores.

I:59

Sed dum adsequimur illam firmam, ut dixi, facilitatem, optimis

adsuescendum est et multa magis quam multorum lectione formanda mens et

ducendus color. Itaque ex tribus receptis Aristarchi iudicio

scriptoribus

iamborum ad ἕξιν maxime

pertinebit unus Archilochus.

§ 59.

adsequimur, a present of endeavour: cp. §31. This gives a good contrast to _iam perfectis

constitutisque viribus_ and _tunc_, so that there is no need for

Halm’s conjecture _adsequamur_, which is however generally adopted:

see Crit. Notes.

ut dixi: see on §1.

multa ... multorum: Plin. Ep. vii. 9 §15 tu memineris sui

cuiusque generis auctores diligenter eligere. Aiunt enim multum legendum

esse, non multa. Mayor compares also Seneca, Epist. 2 §§2-4.

ducendus color: Verg. Ecl. ix. 49 (astrum) quo duceret apricis

in collibus uva colorem. _Ducere_ expresses the gradual process of

‘taking on’ a tinge; the agent in this process is here _lectio_, as

in Vergil it is the constellation. _Color_ is here the ‘appropriate

tone’ which will vary with the subject or the occasion: xii. 10, 71 non

unus color prooemii, narrationis, argumentorum, egressionis,

perorationis servabitur. Sen. Ep. 108 §3 non novimus quosdam qui

multis apud philosophum annis persederint et ne colorem quidem duxerint:

ib. 71 §31. So Cicero, Orat. §42 educata huius (Isocratis)

nutrimentis eloquentia ipsa se postea colorat (‘gathers strength and

colour’): de Or. ii. 60 ut cum in sole ambulem ... fieri natura ... ut

colorer, sic, cum istos libros ... studiosius legerim, sentio illorum

tactu orationem meam quasi colorari. Cp. on §116: 6 §5: 7 §7.

ex tribus receptis: sc. in ordinem sive numerum: cp. §54. The other two are Simonides of Amorgos

(Semonides) and Hipponax of Ephesus. The former is best known by his

satire on women; the latter is often mentioned along with Archilochus:

his spirit reappears in the later comedy. The treatise of Dion. Hal. as

we have it now does not contain any criticism either of the elegiac or

the iambic poets. Proclus however has: Ἰάμβων ποιηταὶ Ἀρχίλοχός τε ἄριστος καὶ Σιμωνίδης καὶ

Ἱππῶναξ (p. 242, Westphal.)

Aristarchi iudicio: §52.

scriptoribus iamborum: see on §9.

Diomedes iii. p. 485 11 k (p. 18, Reiff.) iambus est carmen

maledicum plerumque trimetro versu et epodo sequente compositum ...

appellatum est autem παρὰ τὸ ἰαμβίζειν, quod est maledicere. Cuius carminis

praecipui scriptores apud Graecos Archilochus et Hipponax, apud Romanos

Lucilius et Catullus et Horatius et Bibaculus: cp. §96.—The word ἄαμβος is derived from ἰάπτω ‘I fling’ (Curt. Etym.5 537: E. T.

ii. 154), and denoted originally a ‘flinging,’ or a verse ‘flung at’ a

person: hence ἰαμβίζειν, ‘to lampoon.’ Cp. ix. 4, 141 aspera vero

et maledica ... etiam in carmine iambis grassantur. Hor. Car. i. 16, 2

criminosis ... iambis: ib.

22-5 me quoque pectoris Temptavit in dulci iuventa Fervor et in celeres

iambos Misit furentem.

ἕξιν: see on §1.

maxime unus. _Unus_ is very commonly used in this way to

strengthen a superlative: Cic. in Verr. i. §1 quod unum ad invidiam

vestri ordinis ... sedandam maxime pertinebat: de Amic. §1 quem unum

nostrae civitatis ... praestantissimum audeo dicere: Verg. Aen. ii. 426

cadit et Rhipeus iustissimus unus. Becher thinks _unus_ may merely

be set over against _tribus_: cp. pro Sest. §49 unus bis

rempublicam servavi.

Archilochus of Paros (circ. 686 B.C.) was a master of various forms of metrical

composition; but his distinctive characteristic was that alluded to

here,—the employment of the iambic trimeter as the vehicle of

satire, the sting of which, as wielded by him, is said to have driven

people into hanging themselves. Hor. A. P. 79 Archilochum proprio

rabies armavit iambo.

I:60

Summa in hoc vis elocutionis, cum validae tum breves vibrantesque

sententiae, plurimum sanguinis atque nervorum, adeo ut videatur

quibusdam, quod quoquam minor est, materiae esse, non ingenii

vitium.

§ 60.

vibrantes, of the quivering motion of a spear (cp. ‘shafts’ of

eloquence) thrown from a stout arm. Cic. Brut. §326 oratio incitata et

vibrans: Quint. xii. 9, 3 nec illis vibrantibus concitatisque sententiis

velut missilibus utetur: xi. 3, 120 sententias vibrantes digitis

iaculantur: ix. 4, 55 neque enim Demosthenis fulmina tanto opere

vibratura dicit nisi numeris contorta ferrentur: cp. note on 7 §7 below.

sanguinis atque nervorum. The former refers to the quality of

‘fulness’ or ‘richness’ of thought and style, the latter (often

_lacerti_) to ‘force’: sanguinis et virium 2 §12. Cp. tori and caro §33 (note) and §77.

For _sanguis_, cp. §115 verum

sanguinem: 2 §12. “In

good Latin _nervus_, like νεῦρον, always denotes sinews or tendons (literal or

metaphorical): cp. Celsus viii. 1 nervi quos τένοντας Graeci appellant; but sometimes appears to

include also what we call ‘nerves’: see Mayor on Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii.

55, 136. Galen (born 130 A.D.) was the

first to limit νεῦρον to

the meaning ‘nerve,’ in its present sense.” Wilkins on Hor. A. P.

26.

quibusdam: cp. §64 ut quidam ...

eum ... praeferant: §93 quosdam ita deditos

sibi adhuc habet amatores: §113 adeo ut

quibusdam etiam nimia videatur.

quod quoquam minor est. This clause is the subject of

_videatur_, and the meaning is: with such high qualities the fact

that Archilochus comes behind any (if that is the case) is to be

attributed to his _materia_, not to his _ingenium_, which

latter would give him a claim to a place alongside of the very foremost,

Homer: cp. §65 post Homerum tamen, quem ut

Achillen semper excipi par est. So §62

copiae vitium est: §74 praedictis minor.

For _quod_ without _id_, cp. 4 §4. See Crit. Notes.

materia, ‘subject-matter,’ which was mainly personal character

and conduct in common life. Pind. Pyth. ii. 55 ψογερὸν

Ἀρχίλοχον βαρυλόγοις ἔχθεσιν πιαινόμενον. Hor. Ep. i. 19, 23

Parios ego primus iambos ostendi Latio, numeros animosque secutus

Archilochi non res et agentia verba Lycamben: 28 Temperat Archilochi

musam pede mascula Sappho Temperat Alcaeus sed rebus et ordine dispar,

Nec socerum quaerit quem versibus oblinat atris Nec sponsae laqueum

famoso carmine nectit. Val. Max. vi. 3, E. §1 tells us that the Spartans

banished the poems of Archilochus because of their corrupting influence

on the morals of their youth: Maximum poetam aut certe summo proximum

... carminum exilio multarunt. Velleius (i. 5, 1) brackets Homer

and Archilochus.

I:61

Novem vero lyricorum longe Pindarus

princeps spiritu magnificentia, sententiis figuris, beatissima rerum

verborumque copia et velut quodam eloquentiae flumine; propter quae

Horatius eum merito credidit nemini imitabilem.

§ 61.

novem ... lyricorum. Of the nine lyric poets not received into

the ‘canon’ those not mentioned here are Alcman, Sappho, Ibycus,

Anacreon, and Bacchylides. The four whom Quintilian names are the same

as those criticised by Dionysius, except that in the latter Simonides

comes next after Pindar.

Pindarus (521-441 B.C.,

though known to us now mainly by his Epinician Odes, essayed various

forms of the lyric art, most of which (except the skolia and encomia)

are pervaded by a deeply religious tone. He had the disadvantage of

belonging to the Medising city of

Thebes, but he spoke fearlessly out (after Salamis) for the liberators

of Greece; and both in the instinct for a national unity to which his

poems bear witness and in his ethical and religious beliefs he is

eminently representative of his age. He is the crowning glory of Greek

lyric poetry, and may be said in a sense to stand as it were midway

between the Homeric epos and the drama at Athens.

princeps, &c. Here Quintilian again coincides with

Dionysius (l.c.) Ζηλωτὸς δὲ καὶ Πίνδαρος ὀνομάτων καὶ νοημάτων εἵνεκα, καὶ

μεγαλοπρεπείας καὶ τόνου, καὶ περιουσίας ... καὶ σεμνότητος καὶ

γνωμολογίας καὶ ἐνεργείας καὶ σχηματισμῶν.

spiritu: see on §27: i. 8, 5. See

Crit. Notes.

magnificentia, μεγαλοπρέπεια iv. 2, 61. This is Pindar’s

distinctive quality: he is φιλάγλαος, ‘splendour-loving.’ Cp. magnificus §63: §84: iii. 8,

61: vi. 1, 52: xi. 3, 153.

sententiis: see on §50.

figuris: see on §12.

beatissima = fecundissima, uberrima: §109: 3 §22. Cp. Tac. Dial. 9: Hist.

iii. 66.

propter quae: see on §10, propter

quod.

Horatius: Car. iv. 2, 1 Pindarum quisquis studet aemulari ...

Monte decurrens velut amnis imbres Quem super notas aluere ripas, Fervet

immensusque ruit profundo Pindarus ore.

I:62

Stesichorum, quam sit ingenio validus, materiae quoque

ostendunt, maxima bella et clarissimos canentem duces et epici carminis

onera lyra sustinentem. Reddit enim personis in agendo simul loquendoque

debitam dignitatem, ac si tenuisset modum, videtur aemulari proximus

Homerum potuisse; sed

redundat atque effunditur, quod ut est reprehendendum, ita copiae vitium

est.

§ 62.

Stesichorus of Himera in Sicily (cir. 632-553 B.C.) is, like Simonides and Pindar, a

representative of the Dorian or choral lyric poetry of

Greece,—distinguished from the Aeolic (Alcaeus and Sappho) by its

greater complexity of structure and by the wider audience to which it

was addressed. His real name is said to have been Teisias: that by which

he is known he derived from the changes in the structure of the choral

ode which were introduced by him. He relieved the combination of strophe

and antistrophe by the _epode_, composed in a different manner, and

sung by the chorus standing before the altar,—thus affording it an

interval of rest after the movements to right and left. By Alexander the

Great, Homer and Stesichorus were classed together as the two poets

worthy to be studied by kings and conquerors.—With Quintilian’s

criticism cp. Dionysius l.c. (Usener, p. 20) Ὅρα δὲ καὶ Στησίχορον ἔν τε τοῖς ἑκατέρων τῶν

προειρημένων (Pindar and Simonides) πλεονεκτήμασι

κατορθοῦντα, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ὧν ἐκεῖνοι λείπονται κρατοῦντα‧ λέγω δὲ τῇ

μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ τῶν κατὰ τὰς ὑποθέσεις πραγμάτων, ἐν οἷς τὰ ἤθη καὶ τὰ

ἀξιώματα τῶν προσώπων τετήρηκεν.

ingenio validus: Cic. in Verr. ii. 35 Stesichori qui ... et

est et fuit tota Graecia summo propter ingenium honore et nomine.

materiae. The titles of his poems (Ἰλίου

Πέρσις, Γηρυονηίς, Ὀρέστεια, Νόστοι, Κέρβερος, Ἑλένα) show that

Stesichorus made extensive use of the old epic legends, which would

naturally fall more or less into a narrative form. Cp. Hor. Car. iv. 9,

8 Stesichorique graves Camenae. Ael. Hist. Anim xvii, 37 calls him σεμνός: and Pliny, Nat. Hist.

ii. 15, 54 has Stesichori et Pindari vatum sublimia ora.

si tenuisset ... videtur potuisse = potuit, ut videtur. Cp. on

§98. This use of the pf. indic. in such

clauses indicates the possibility (or duty, obligation, &c.) more

unconditionally than the plpf. subj. would do: e.g. Cic. in Vatin. §1

debuisti, Vatini, etiamsi falso venisses in suspicionem P. Sestio,

tamen mihi ignoscere: pro Mil. §31 quod si ita putasset, certe

optabilius Miloni fuit. &c. In the indirect there is a parallel

instance, de Off. i. §4 Platonem existimo ... si ... voluisset ...

potuisse dicere.

aemulari, with dat. §122.

Homerum. The author of the treatise ‘On the Sublime’ calls

Stesichorus Ὁμηρικώτατος, 13 §3: cp. Dio Chr. Or. ii.

p. 284

τοῦτό γε ἅπαντές φασιν οἱ Ἕλληνες, Στησίχορον Ὁμήρου

ζηλωτὴν γενέσθαι καὶ σφόδρα γε ἐοικέναι κατὰ τὴν ποίησιν.

redundat atque effunditur. Hermogenes, de Id. ii. 4

p. 322 Στησίχορος

σφόδρα ἡδὺς εἶναι δοκεῖ, διὰ τὸ πολλοῖς χρῆσθαι τοῖς ἐπιθέτοις.

Mayor quotes also Anth. Pal. vii. 75, 1-2 Στασίχορον, ζαπληθὲς ἀμετρήτου στόμα Μούσης,

ἐκτέρισεν Κατάνας αἰθαλόεν δάπεδον.

copiae vitium: ii. 4, 4 vitium utrumque, peius tamen illud

quod ex inopia quam quod ex copia venit: ib. 12 §4 effusus pro

copioso accipitur. Cp. Plin. Ep. i. 20 §§20-1; Cic. de Orat. ii.

§88.

I:63

Alcaeus in parte operis ‘aureo plectro’ merito donatur, qua

tyrannos insectatus multum etiam moribus confert, in eloquendo quoque

brevis et magnificus et diligens et plerumque oratori similis; sed et

lusit et in amores descendit, maioribus tamen aptior.

§ 63.

Alcaeus of Mitylene, cir. 600 B.C. The criticism of Dionysius is as

follows:—Ἀλκαίου δὲ

σκόπει τὸ μεγαλοφυὲς καὶ βραχὺ καὶ ἡδὺ μετά δεινότητος, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοὺς

σχηματισμοὺς καὶ τὴν σαφήνειαν, ὅσον αὐτῆς μὴ τῇ διαλέκτῳ τι κεκάκωται‧

καὶ πρὸ ἁπάντων τὸ τῶν πολιτικῶν πραγμάτων (ποιημάτων?) ἦθος. Πολλαχοῦ γοῦν τὸ μέτρον τις εἰ περιέλοι, ῥητορικὴν ἂν

εὕροι πολιτείαν (ῥητορείαν ... πολιτικήν Usener).

in parte: see on §9 in illis.

aureo plectro. ‘Plectrum’ is from πλήσσω (πλήκτρον), the ‘striking thing.’ Hor. Car. ii. 13, 26

Et te sonantem plenius aureo Alcaee plectro dura navis, Dura fugae mala,

dura belli.

tyrannos insectatus. These were Myrsilus and Pittacus, by the

latter of whom Alcaeus was driven into banishment. Those of his poems

which relate to the ten years’ civil war waged against the tyrants were

called στασιωτικά. At

some time during the rule of Pittacus, the party of Alcaeus attempted a

forcible return: Alcaeus was taken prisoner, but was at once set free by

the ruler whom he had so bitterly attacked. Cp. Hor. l.c. sed magis

Pugnas et exactos tyrannos Densum umeris bibit ore vulgus: id. i.

32, 5.

moribus: cp. ἦθος

in the passage quoted from Dionysius. Mayor appositely cites his saying

ἄνδρες

γὰρ πόλιος πύργος ἀρεύιοι.—For _confert_ with dat. cp.

§27.

brevis ... magnificus ... oratori similis: cp. in regard to

each of these points the criticism of Dionysius.—For

_diligens_ see Crit.

Notes.

lusit. For _ludere_, ‘to write sportively,’ to

‘trifle’,

cp. Hor. Car. iv. 9, 9 nec si quid olim lusit Anacreon delevit aetas: i.

32, 2: Verg. Georg. iv. 566 carmina qui lusi.

in amores descendit, in his ἐρωτικά and συμποτικά. Cic. Tusc. Disp. iv. §71 fortis vir in sua

republica cognitus quae de iuvenum amore scribit Alcaeus! Hor. Car. i.

32, 3 sqq. Age, dic Latinum, barbite, carmen, Lesbio primum modulate

civi, Qui ferox bello tamen inter arma, Sive iactatam religarat udo

Litore navim, Liberum et Musas Veneremque et illi Semper haerentem

puerum canebat, Et Lycum nigris oculis nigroque Crine decorum.

maioribus = rebus maioribus, ‘loftier themes.’ Introd. p. xlvii. Cp. i. pr. §5 ad

minora illa, sed quae si neglegas, non sit maioribus locus. Cp.

_subitis_ 7 §30:

Nägelsbach §24, 2 (pp. 116-117).

I:64

Simonides, tenuis alioqui, sermone

proprio et iucunditate quadam commendari potest; praecipua tamen eius in

commovenda miseratione virtus, ut quidam in hac eum parte omnibus eius

operis auctoribus praeferant.

§ 64.

Simonides of Ceos (556-468), like Pindar, was fortunate in his

age, and the most considerable of his fragments that remain are full of

the fire kindled in his heart by the great national struggle with

Persia. He was a sort of cosmopolitan poet, living by turns in Athens,

at the court of the Aleuadae and Scopadae in Thessaly, Corinth, Sparta,

and Sicily. He cultivated friendly relations with Miltiades and

Themistocles, with Pausanias of Sparta, and (like Pindar and Aeschylus)

with Hiero of Syracuse. He was famed for his elegies, epigrams,

epinician odes, and every form of choral lyric poetry. His wisdom was

renowned: σοφὸς καὶ θεῖος ὁ ἀνήρ, Plat. Rep. 331 E, where some of his

gnomic utterances are discussed: cp. ib. 335 E: Protag.

316 D.—The criticism of Dionysius (l.c.) corresponds: Σιμωνίδου δὲ παρατήρει τὴν ἐκλογὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων

(sermone proprio), τῆς συνθέσεως τὴν

ἀκρίβειαν‧ πρὸς τούτοις, καθ᾽ ὃ βελτίων εὑρίσκεται καὶ Πινδάρου, τὸ

οἰκτίζεσθαι μὴ μεγαλοπρεπῶς, ἀλλὰ παθητικῶς.

tenuis, ‘simple,’ ‘natural’: cp. 2 §19 and §23 (tenuitas), also μὴ μεγαλοπρεπῶς quoted above.

Λεπτότης (‘terse

simplicity’) was a quality of Simonides’ style, especially in his

epigrams: ‘when least adorned adorned the most,’ Mayor. Cp. §44, note. Opposites are _grandis_,

_copiosus_, _plenus_.

alioqui = τὰ μὲν

ἄλλα, ‘for the rest’: cp. ceterum. See on 3 §13, and Introd. p. li.

sermone proprio: see on §46.

iucundidate: see on iucundus §46,

and cp. §§82, 96, 101, 110, 113: 2 §23. Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. §60

non enim poeta solum suavis, verum etiam ceteroqui doctus sapiensque

traditur. So Tac. Dial. 10 lyricorum iucunditatem.

miseratione. He was a master of pathos, especially in his

θρῆνοι: witness his

‘Lament of Danae,’ truly a ‘precious tender-hearted scroll of pure

Simonides.’ Generally his poems seem to have been tinged with the same

melancholy resignation as inspired the earlier writers of elegy: e.g.

fr. 39 ‘slight is the strength of men, and vain are all their cares, and

in their brief life trouble follows upon trouble; and death, which none

can shun, hangs over all,—in him both good and bad share equally.’

Catull. 38, 7 paulum quidlibet adlocutionis maestius lacrimis Simonidis:

Hor. Car. ii. 1, 37 sed ne relictis Musa procax iocis Ceae retractes

munera neniae.

quidam: see on putant §54.

in hac parte, ‘in this respect.’ Cp. i. 3, 17: 7 §19:

10 §4: ii. 17, 1: iii. 6, 64: xii. 1, 16. So ab (ex) hac

parte.

operis = _generis_, ‘class of poetry.’ See on §9: cp. §28 §85.

auctoribus, §24.

I:65

Antiqua comoedia cum sinceram illam sermonis Attici gratiam prope sola

retinet, tum facundissimae libertatis est et in insectandis vitiis

praecipua; plurimum tamen virium etiam in

ceteris partibus habet. Nam et grandis et elegans et venusta, et nescio

an ulla, post Homerum tamen, quem ut Achillen semper excipi par est, aut

similior sit oratoribus aut ad oratores faciendos aptior.

§ 65.

Quintilian now proceeds to deal with the Comic and Tragic Drama. In the

περὶ μιμήσεως of

Dionysius there is nothing about the Old Comedy, and very little that

corresponds with Quintilian in the sections on Aeschylus, Sophocles, and

Euripides. Both however pass from Euripides to Menander.

The Old Comedy (§§65-66) was closely

connected with the political life of the day, as may be seen from its

plots, and especially from the _parabases_. When the licence of

ridicule was curbed (by the laws μὴ κωμῳδεῖν and μὴ κωμῳδεῖν ὀνομαστί), it passed into what is

known as Middle Comedy (B.C. 404-338),

in which literary and speculative pursuits take the place of politics;

its atmosphere is not that of the agora, but of the literary academies

and schools of philosophy. In the New Comedy (§§69-72) the Chorus, which has been becoming less and

less important, is altogether abandoned, along with other features which

the Middle Comedy had in common with the Old. Its strength lies in its

delineation of social life and manners, and the materials on which it

relied were handed on to Rome, whence, through Plautus and Terence, they

were transmitted to Modern Comedy.

Quintilian takes no notice of what is termed Middle Comedy. Between

the Old and the New, Tragedy is made to find a place (§§66-67), the plays of Euripides affording a

transition to those of Menander.

antiqua comoedia: cp. veteris comoediae §§9 and 82. See Hor. Sat. i. 4, 2: 10, 17.

sinceram ... gratiam: §44 sana et

vere Attica: §100 illam solis concessam

Atticis venerem: §107 illa quae Attici

mirantur. The same phrase occurs xii. 10, 35. Of Roman Comedy he says

(i. 8, 8) in comoediis elegantia et quidam velut ἀττικισμός inveniri potest.

libertatis = παρρησίας §§94, 104. Hor. Sat. i. 4, 5 multa cum libertate

notabant: A. P. 281-284 successit vetus his comoedia, non sine

multa Laude; sed in vitium libertas excidit et vim Dignam lege regi; lex

est accepta chorusque Turpiter obticuit sublato iure nocendi. Isocr. de

Pace 14 ἐγὼ δ᾽ οἶδα μὲν ὅτι ... δημοκρατίας οὔσης οὐκ ἔστι

παρρησία πλὴν ... ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ τοῖς κωμῳδιδασκάλοις. Marc. Aurel.

xi. 6:)

ἡ ἀρχαία κωμῳδία ... παιδαγωγικὴν παρρησίαν

ἔχουσα.—For the reading see Crit. Notes.

grandis = ὑψηλός, §77: 2 §16 (where it is opposed to

_tumidus_). Hor. A. P. 93-4 Interdum tamen et vocem comoedia

tollit. Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore.

elegans: §§78, 87, 93, 99: 2 §19, ‘choice,’ ‘tasteful.’ Cp.

Cic. Brut. §272 verborum delectus elegans. In the treatise ad Herenn.

(iv. 12) _elegantia_ stands along with _compositio_ and

_dignitas_ as a requisite of style: it includes _Latinitas_

(which avoids solecisms and barbarisms), and _explanatio_, which

uses _verba usitata_ and _propria_.

venusta: vi. 3, 18 venustum esse quod cum venere quadam et

gratia dicatur apparet. Krüger sees in these adjj. a reference to the

main characteristics of the three different styles distinguished by

rhetoricians, §44.

nescio an ulla: see Crit. Notes.

ut Achillen: Il. ii. 673-4 Νιρεύς, ὃς κάλλιστος ἀνὴρ ὑπὸ Ἴλιον ἦλθε Τῶν ἄλλων

Δαναῶν μετ᾽ ἀμύμονα Πηλεΐωνα: ib. 768. Alcaeus fr. 63 Κρονίδα βασιλήας γένος Αἴαν, τὸν ἄριστον πεδ᾽

Ἀχιλλέα.

similior oratoribus: §63

plerumque oratori similis. The same description of the style of the Old

Comedy is given by one of the rhetoricians, Walz Rhet. Gr. v. 471 (cp.

vi. 164, vii. 932) λόγοειδεστέρα‧

τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν ἡ κωμικωτέρα καὶ προσβεβληκυῖα λόγῳ πεζῷ κατὰ

συνθήκην, ὅθεν τινὲς καὶ ῥητορικὴν ἔμμετρον τὴν κωμῳδίαν

ἐκόλεσαν. Students of oratory went to the comic actors for

_pronuntiatio_ and _gestus_: i. 11, 1-14: 12, 14: xi. 3,

181.

I:66

Plures eius auctores, Aristophanes tamen et Eupolis

Cratinusque praecipui. Tragoedias primus in lucem

Aeschylus protulit, sublimis et gravis et grandiloquus

saepe usque ad vitium, sed rudis in plerisque et incompositus; propter

quod correctas eius fabulas in certamen deferre posterioribus poetis

Athenienses permiserunt, suntque eo modo multi coronati.

§ 66.

Aristophanes ... Eupolis ... Cratinus. The same representatives

of Old Comedy are named in Hor. Sat. i. 4, 1: cp. Persius i. 123 Audaci

quicumque adflate Cratino Iratum Eupolidem praegrandi cum sene palles.

So also Dionysius, Art. Rhet. viii. 11, p. 302 R (there is

nothing about Old Comedy in the ἀρχ. κρ.): ἡ δὲ κωμῳδία ὅτι

πολιτεύεται ἐν τοῖς δράμασι καὶ φιλοσοφεῖ, ἡ τῶν περὶ τὸν Κρατῖνον καὶ

Ἀριστοφάνην καὶ Εὔπολιν, τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν; Velleius i. 16, 3:

Diomed. p. 489 K (p. 9 Reiff.) ‘Ar. Eup. et Crat. qui vel principum

vitia sectati acerbissimas comoedias composuerunt.’ The chronological

order would be, Cratinus (519-422), Aristophanes (448-380), Eupolis

(446-410). In 424 B.C. Cratinus with

his Πυτίνη (‘Wine-flask’)

gained the victory over the _Clouds_ of Aristophanes, while in the

previous year Eupolis is said to have helped his greater rival in the

composition of the _Knights_. Cratinus was the real originator of

political comedy: see the grammarian quoted by Meineke (i. p. 540):

‘he added a serious moral object to the mere amusement in comedy, by

reviling evil-doers (τοὺς κακῶς πράττοντας διαβάλλων, cp.

insectandis vitiis) and chastising them with his comedy, as it were with

a public scourge’: cp. Platon. de Com. p. 27 οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ὁ

Ἀριστοφάνης ἐπιτρέχειν τὴν χάριν τοῖς σκώμμασι ποιεῖ ... ἀλλ᾽ ἁπλῶς καὶ

κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν γυμνῇ κεφαλῇ τίθησι τὰς βλασφημίας κατὰ τῶν

ἁμαρτανόντων.

primus. Just as in treating of Comedy Quintilian passes over

the Megarian farces of Susarion, and such earlier writers as Chionides

and Magnes, so now he omits all mention of Pratinas, Choerilus, Thespis

and Phrynichus. Thespis introduced the actor (ὑποκριτής) and arranged that the dithyrambic

choruses should be interrupted by regular dialogue between the

coryphaeus and the actor. This step secured the entrance of the dramatic

element, as distinct from the lyric, and made subsequent development

easy. Aeschylus is however the real founder of tragedy: he introduced a

second actor and subordinated the choral song to the dialogue, besides

elaborating the machinery of the stage and the scenic decoration

employed thereon. Cp. Hor. A. P. 275 sqq.

sublimis, &c. Cp. Dionysius, l.c., (Usener, p. 21)

Ὁ δ᾽ οὖν Αἰσχυλος πρῶτος ὑψηλός τε καὶ τῆς

μεγαλοπρεπείας ἐχόμενος, καὶ ἠθῶν καὶ παθῶν τὸ πρέπον εἰδώς, καὶ τῇ

τροπικῇ καὶ τῇ κυρίᾳ λέξει διαφερόντως // κεκοσμημενος, πολλαχοῦ δὲ καὶ

αὐτος δημιουργὸς καὶ ποιητὴς ἰδίων ὀνομάτων καὶ πραγμάτων.

grandiloquus. Cp. Aristoph. Frogs 823 βρυχώμενος ἥσει ῥήματα

γομφοπαγῆ, 939 τὴν τέχνην ...

οἰδοῦσαν ὑπὸ κομπασμάτων καὶ ῥημάτων ἐπαχθων, 1004, ἀλλ᾽ ὦ πρῶτος τῶν Ἑλλήνων πυργώσας

ῥήματα σεμνὰ καὶ κοσμήσας τραγικὸν λῆρον κ.τ.λ. So too the

biographer of Aeschylus, κατὰ δὲ τὴν σύνθεσιν τῆς

ποιήσεως ζηλοῖ τὸ ἁδρὸν (see on §44)

ἀεὶ πλάσμα ... πᾶσι τοῖς δυναμένοις

ὄγκον τῇ φράσει περιθεῖναι χρώμενος. Hor. A. P. 280 ‘et

docuit magnumque loqui nitique cothurno.’

rudis et incompositus, ‘uncouth and inharmonious.’ Cp. horride

atque incomposite 2 §17: and note on

_compositus_ §44. In the de Comp.

Verb. c. 22 Dionysius names Aeschylus along with Antimachus as a

representative of ἡ

αὐστηρὰ ἁρμονία (p. 150 R). For _rudis_ cp. Hor. Sat.

i. 10, 66 rudis et Graecis intacti carminis auctor: for

_incompositus_ see Introd. p. xlv. The author of the

treatise ‘On the Sublime’ qualifies his eulogy of Aeschylus by adding in

the same way that his plays were frequently unpolished, ill digested,

and rough in style.

in plerisque; neut. ‘in general,’ ‘for the most part.’ See

Intod. p. xlvii.

propter quod = quam ob rem: 7 §6: 5 §23. See on §10.

correctas ... permiserunt. This passage has been the subject

of much controversy. It seems inconsistent with our knowledge of the

statute passed by the orator Lycurgus (396) enacting that official

copies of the plays of the three great tragedians should be made, and

that no new performance of them should be allowed without a comparison

of the acting copy with the State MS. Perhaps Quintilian misunderstood

the phrase δράματα

διεσκευασμένα, commonly applied to plays revised by the author

himself with a view to a second representation. Madvig however (Kl.

philol. Schr. 1875, pp. 464-5) thinks it quite probable that

revised versions of plays of Aeschylus were allowed to be brought into

competition by later poets (say in the latter half of the 4th century),

when Aeschylus came in for criticism on the score of the defects alluded

to above (_rudis et incompositus_), but when, on the other hand,

creative genius was not so abundant. Krüger quotes Rohde (‘Scenica,’

Rhein. Mus. 1883, vol. 38, p. 289 sqq.), who sees in the words of

the scholiast on Arist. Ach. 10 (μόνου

αὐτοῦ τὰ δράματα ψηφίσματι κοινῷ καὶ μετὰ θάνατον ἐδιδάσκετο) a

compliment paid to Aeschylus alone, and consisting not merely in the

appreciative revival of his plays after his death, but in the fact that

they were reproduced not as παλαιαί but as new dramas, were provided afresh with

choruses by the archon, and were admitted to competition at the great

Dionysia (where only new tragedies were represented) if any one

appeared, who in the name of the dead poet asked to be provided with a

chorus. Cp. οὐκ ὀλίγας μετὰ τελευτὴν νίκας ἀπηνέγκατο, vit.

Acschyl. 68, Dindorf5.

I:67

Sed longe clarius inlustraverunt hoc opus Sophocles atque

Euripides, quorum in dispari dicendi via uter sit poeta melior

inter plurimos quaeritur. Idque ego sane, quoniam ad praesentem materiam

nihil pertinet, iniudicatum

relinquo. Illud quidem nemo non fateatur necesse est, iis qui se ad

agendum comparant utiliorem longe fore Euripiden.

§ 67.

longe, with the comp. vi. 4, 21: 3 §13. Cp. Verg. Aen. ix.

556: Vell. ii. 74, 1. In Cicero _longe_ is used only with the

superl. (and with _alius_: pro Caec. i. §3) with the compar. he

generally has _multo_. Quintilian has also _longe princeps_ §61: and _multo_ with superl., e.g. i.

2, 24.

opus: sc. tragoedias in lucem proferendi. See on §9.

in dispari dicendi via. By Dionysius Euripides is made the

only representative of the ‘smooth’ style of composition (γλαφυρὰ ἁρμονία, de Comp.

Verb. c. 23), while Sophocles represents the middle style (κοινή or μέση ἁρμονία, ib. c. 24). This must of course be

kept distinct from the three λέξεις, or styles of _diction_, which he enumerates

in his essay on Demosthenes, c. 1-3.

quaeritur. Modern criticism has taken

up the issue, and Euripides has suffered from being identified with what

was practically a dramatic revolution. Schlegel depreciated him as

contrasting with Sophocles in many points. Mr. Jebb’s utterance will

stand: ‘no one is capable of feeling that Sophocles is supreme who does

not feel that Euripides is admirable’ (Att. Or. i. p. xcix).

utiliorem: so _magis accedit oratorio generi_ immediately

below: Dionysius l.c. xi. (Usener, p. 22) κεκραμένη μεσότητι τῆς

λέξεως κέχρηται.

I:68

Namque is et sermone (quod ipsum reprehendunt quibus gravitas et

cothurnus et sonus Sophocli videtur esse sublimior) magis accedit

oratorio generi, et sententiis densus et in iis quae a sapientibus

tradita sunt paene ipsis par, et dicendo ac respondendo cuilibet eorum

qui fuerunt in foro diserti comparandus; in adfectibus vero cum omnibus

mirus, tum in iis qui in miseratione constant facile praecipuus.

§ 68.

quod ipsum reprehendunt: see Crit. Notes.

gravitas ... sublimior. The use of the comparative takes away

from the difficulty which commentators have found in the conjunction of

_sublimior_ as a predicate with _gravitas_ and

_cothurnus_ as well as with _sonus_.—For

_cothurnus_, cp. Iuv. vi. 634 Fingimus haec, altum Satira sumente

cothurnum Scilicet et finem egressi legemque priorum Grande Sophocleo

carmen bacchamur hiatu.

sententiis densus: cp. _sent. creber_ §102: and for _densus_ (= pressus) §§73, 76. Euripides

had been a pupil of Anaxagoras. Something might be said in support of

Halm’s suggestion to insert _est_ after _densus_.

sapientibus. In Euripides philosophy is brought on the stage,

and different theories are put forward in his plays as to such questions

as the moral government of the world, the opposition between freedom and

authority, the nature of punishment, the question of a future life,

&c.

dicendo ac respondendo. In this appears the influence of his

sophistic training. Euripides knew his audience, and in his plays the

characters indulge to the full all the tendencies that were fostered by

the sophistic habit of debate, while the chorus is as it were the jury

to which they address their arguments for and against a particular

proposition. Cp. Dion. l.c. πολὺς ἐν ταῖς ῥητορικαῖς εἰσαγωγαῖς.

adfectibus ... miseratione. Arist. Poet. 13 τραγικώτατός γε

τῶν ποιητῶν φαίνεται.

facile. So _facile princeps_ Cic. ad Fam. vi. 10, 2:

_facile primus_ pro Rosc. Amer. §15. For the reading see Crit. Notes.

I:69

Hunc admiratus maxime est, ut saepe testatur, et secutus, quamquam in

opere diverso, Menander, qui vel unus meo quidem iudicio

diligenter lectus ad cuncta quae praecipimus effingenda sufficiat: ita

omnem

vitae imaginem expressit, tanta in eo inveniendi copia et eloquendi

facultas, ita est omnibus rebus, personis, adfectibus accommodatus.

§ 69.

testatur: not in any extant fragment, though it is by no means

improbable that in some of his numerous plays Menander expressed an

admiration for the most popular tragedian of the day.

Menander, 342-290 B.C. At

his death the Athenians erected his tomb near the cenotaph of Euripides,

in token of the affectionate regard in which he had held the elder poet.

‘Euripides was the forerunner of the New Comedy; the poets of this

species admired him especially, and acknowledged him for their master.

Nay, so great is this affinity of tone and spirit between Euripides and

the poets of the New Comedy, that apothegms of Euripides have been

ascribed to Menander and _vice versa_. On the contrary, we find

among the fragments of Menander maxims of consolation which rise, in a

striking manner, even into the tragic tone.’ Schlegel. See Meineke Com.

Frag. iv. Epimetrum ii., Menander imitator Euripidis.

omnem vitae imaginem. Menander was the ‘mirror of life’: cp.

the exclamation of Aristophanes of Byzantium Ὦ Μένανδρε

καὶ βίε, πότερος ἄρ᾽ ὑμῶν πότερον ἐμιμήσατο; Manilius v. 470

Menander

Qui vitam ostendit vitae. So Cicero in a fragment of the De Republica

(or the Hortensius, Usener, p. 120): Comoedia est imitatio vitae,

speculum consuetudinis, et veritatis imago.—For this use of

_exprimere_, a figure from the plastic art, cp. Hor. A. P.

32-3.

tauta in eo, &c. Cp. with this Dionysius l.c. (Usener,

p. 22) τῶν δὲ κωμῳδῶν μιμητέον τὰς λεκτικὰς ἀρετὰς

ἁπάσας‧ εἰσὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασι καθαροὶ καὶ σαφεῖς, καὶ βραχεῖς καὶ

μεγαλοπρεπεῖς καὶ δεινοὶ καὶ ἠθικοί. Μενάνδρου δὲ καὶ τὸ πραγματικὸν

θεωρητέον.

I:70

Nec nihil profecto viderunt qui orationes, quae Charisi nomini

addicuntur, a Menandro scriptas putant. Sed mihi longe magis orator

probari in opere suo videtur, nisi forte aut illa iudicia, qua

Epitrepontes, Epicleros, Locroe habent, aut meditationes in Psophodee,

Nomothete, Hypobolimaeo non omnibus oratoriis numeris sunt

absolutae.

§ 70.

nihil viderunt: they have not ‘lacked discrimination.’ So, of

political insight or foresight, Cic. pro. Leg. Manil. §64 sin autem vos

plus in republica vidistis: Phil. ii. §39 cum me vidisse plus fateretur,

se speravisse meliora.

Charisius, an Athenian orator, a contemporary of Demosthenes,

who wrote speeches for others, in which he was thought to imitate

Lysias: he was in turn imitated by Hegesias, Cic. Brut. §286.

addicuntur: Aul. Gell. iii. 3. 13 istaec comoediae nomini eius

(Plauti) addicuntur.

in opere suo: ‘I consider that he proves his oratorical

ability far more in his own department’ (i.e. as a writer of

comedy)—than in those speeches of Charisius, supposing that he did

compose them. For _opus_ see on §9: cp.

§67.

nisi forte, ironical: see on 5 §6: cp. 2 §8. The formula introduces ‘a

case which is in fact inadmissible, but is intended to suggest to

another person that he cannot differ from our opinion, without admitting

as true a thing which is improbable and absurd,’ Zumpt §526.

iudicia ... meditationes: ‘judicial pleadings,’ speeches

suitable to be made before a court—‘extra-judicial pleadings,’

law-school speeches, _declamationes_, μελέται. Cp. iv. 2, 29 cum sit declamatio forensium

actionum meditatio: 5 §14.—The names are those

of some of Menander’s comedies: The Trusting, The Heiress, The Locri,

The Timid Man, The Lawyer, The Changeling. The second and the last are

known to have been imitated by Caecilius. For the reading see Crit. Notes.

numeris: here as at §91 rather

than as at §4, where see note. Here it only

= _partibus_ and has nothing to do with rhythmical composition. In

this sense it is found almost invariably with _omnis_: Varro apud

Aul. Gell. xiii. 11, 1 ipsum deinde convivium constat ex rebus quatuor,

et tum denique omnibus suis numeris absolutum est, &c.: Cic. de

N. D. ii. §37 mundum ... perfectum expletumque omnibus suis numeris

et partibus: de Div. i. §23 quod omnes habet in se numeros: de Off. iii.

§14: de Fin. iii. §24 omnes numeros virtutis continent: Sen. Ep.

71 §16 (veritas) habet numeros suos: plena est: 95 §5: Iuv.

vi. 249: Tac. Dial. 32 per omnes eloquentiae numeros isse. So viii. pr.

§1 per omnes numeros penitus cognoscere.

I:71

Ego tamen plus adhuc quiddam collaturum eum declamatoribus puto, quoniam

his necesse est secundum

condicionem controversiarum plures subire personas, patrum filiorum,

militum rusticorum, divitum pauperum, irascentium deprecantium, mitium

asperorum; in quibus omnibus mire custoditur ab hoc poeta decor.

§ 71.

plus adhuc quiddam = πλέον τι, or ἔτι καὶ πλέον. _Adhuc_ with compar. (for

_etiam_) is post-Augustan: cp. §99.

Here _quiddam_ (like τι)

is used to modify the force of the comparative. So adhuc melius ii. 4,

13: adhuc difficilior i. 5, 22: liberior adhuc disputatio vii. 2, 14:

and Tac. Germ. 29: Suet. Nero 10: Sen. Ep. 85, 24: Spalding on i.

5, 22.

declamatoribus. Students in the schools of rhetoric, and even

speakers of a more mature type, practised declamation at Rome in the

shape of oratorical compositions on questions which, though fictitious,

were yet akin to such as were argued in the law-courts. The youthful

aspirant learned in this way to speak in

public (Cic. de Orat. i. §149: Quint. ii. 10, 4: ib. §12), while the

orator had the opportunity of perfecting his articulation and delivery.

To these two aims the Greek terms μελέτη and φωνασκία correspond: for the first cp. de Orat. i.

§251, and for the second Brut. §310. It was in the age of the decadence

of Roman oratory that declamation came to be an end in itself. At first

it had been merely a preparatory exercise; now, under the head of

_suasoriae_ (deliberativae materiae) and _controversiae_

(iudiciales materiae), finished oratorical compositions were produced,

graced by all the ornaments of genuine rhetoric. Cp. Tac. Dial. 35.

controversiarum. Cp. iv. 2, 97 evenit aliquando in

scholasticis controversiis quod in foro an possit accidere dubito: iii.

8, 51 praecipue declamatoribus considerandum est quid cuique personae

conveniat, qui parcissimas controversias ita dicunt ut advocati:

plerumque filii, parentes, divites, senes, asperi, lenes, avari, denique

superstitiosi, timidi, derisores fiunt, ut vix comoediarum actoribus

plures habitus in pronuntiando concipiendi sunt, quam his in

dicendo.

decor: see on §27.

I:72

Atque ille quidem omnibus eiusdem operis auctoribus abstulit nomen et

fulgore quodam suae claritatis tenebras obduxit. Tamen habent alii

quoque comici, si cum venia leguntur, quaedam quae possis decerpere, et

praecipue Philemon; qui ut prave sui temporis iudiciis Menandro

saepe praelatus est, ita consensu tamen omnium meruit credi

secundus.

§ 72.

eiusdem operis, i.e. Comedy, not the New Comedy only, as is shown

by _alii comici_ below. Along with Menander and Philemon, Velleius

(i. 16, 3) and Diomedes (p. 489 K, p. 9 Reiff.) mention

Diphilus, on whom both Plautus and Terence drew for material.

nomen: see on §87.

fulgore ... obduxit: ‘has put them in the shade by the

brightness of his own glory.’

cum venia: cp. i. 5, 11: Ov. Tr. i. 1, 46 scriptaque cum venia

qualiacumque leget: ib. iv. 1, 104 cum venia facito, quisquis es, ista

legas. Kiderlin rightly holds this reading to be, not only possible, but

at least as appropriate to _habent quaedam_ as any of the

conjectures (see Crit. Notes) by which it has been proposed to supplant

it. The _severe_ critic will perhaps not find anything in the other

comic poets useful for the orator: but he who reads them with indulgence

(i.e. making allowance for their poverty as compared with Menander) will

find something. It is different with Menander, in whose plays even the

rigorous critic will find everything that the orator needs (§69).

Philemon, of Soli in Cilicia, 360-262. Fragments of fifty-six

of his ninety plays are extant. His Θησαυρός was used by Plautus for the

_Trinummus_, and his Ἔμπορος for the _Mercator_.

prave, ‘adverbium pro sententia.’ Cp. iii. 7, 18 quidam sicut

Menander iustiora posteriorum quam suae aetatis iudicia sunt consecuti:

Aul. Gell. 17, 1 Menander a Philemone nequaquam pari scriptore in

certaminibus comoediarum ... saepenumero vincebatur.—See Crit. Notes.

meruit credi = merito creditus est (or creditur). Cp. §74. Elsewhere _mereo_ means little more than

_adipisci_, _consequi_: §§94, 116: vi. 4, 5 nec immerito quidam ...

meruerunt nomina patronorum. For the nomin. with inf. cp. §97 qui esse docti adfectant: Ov. Met. xiii. 314 esse

reus merui.

§73-75.

Greek Historians:—

In his Ἀρχαίων

κρίσις (or περὶ

μιμήσεως 2) Dionysius says nothing of Ephorus, Clitarchus,

or Timagenes, but draws a more elaborate parallel (Usener, p. 22)

between Herodotus and Thucydides, as well as between Philistus and

Xenophon: Theopompus he treats by himself. Illustrative

passages are found also in the _Iudicium de Thucydide_ and the

_Epistola ad Cn. Pompeium_ (de Praecip. Historicis). Cp. also

Cicero, de Orat. ii. §55 sq., where the order is Herodotus and

Thucydides, Philistus, Theopompus and Ephorus, Xenophon, Callisthenes,

and Timaeus. For the last two Quint. substitutes Clitarchus and

Timagenes. Cp. Introd. p. xxxiii.

I:73

Historiam multi scripsere praeclare, sed nemo dubitat longe

duos ceteris praeferendos, quorum diversa virtus laudem paene est parem

consecuta. Densus et brevis et semper instans sibi

Thucydides, dulcis et candidus et fusus Herodotus:

ille concitatis hic remissis adfectibus melior, ille contionibus hic

sermonibus, ille vi hic voluptate.

§ 73.

scripsere. In i. 5, 42 Quint. (speaking of the forms

_scripsere_ and _legere_) says ‘evitandae asperitatis gratia

mollitum est ut apud veteres pro male _mereris_, male

_merere_,’ ib. §44 ‘quid? non Livius circa initia statim primi

libri, _tenuere_, inquit, _arcem Sabini_? et mox, _in

adversum Romani subiere_? sed quem potius ego quam M. Tullium

sequor, qui in Oratore, _non reprehendo_, inquit, _scripsere;

scripserunt esse verius sentio_.’ The passage referred to is Or.

§157. The termination _-ere_ for _-erunt_ is ‘found in some of

the earliest inscriptions, and is not uncommon in Plautus and Terence,

_rare in Cicero_ and Caesar, but frequent in dactylic poets and

Livy,’ Roby, §578. Mr. Sandys also quotes Dr. Reid: ‘There is hardly a

sound example of _-ere_ in the perfect in any really good MS. of

Cicero (see Neue, ii. 390 ff.); and similarly in the case of Caesar.’

Quintilian has permiserunt, §66 (where the

later MSS. give _-ere_): illustraverunt §67: viderunt §70:

indulsere §84. See Bonnell, Proleg. de

Gramm. Quint. p. xxvii.

nemo dubitat ... praeferendos. The acc. and inf. with

_dubito_ (for the negative expression of doubt) is much the more

common construction in Quint. (cp. §81, 4 §2), though he also uses

_quin_ and subj. (e.g. 2 §1: xii. 1, 42 ad hoc nemo

dubitabit quin ... magis e republica sit). A study of the instances

in Bonn. Lex. will fail to reveal any principle of difference: cp. vii.

6, 10 quis dubitaret quin ea voluntas fuisset testantis? with ix. 4, 68

quis enim dubitet unum sensum in hoc et unum spiritum esse? and i. 10,

12 atqui claros nomine sapientiae viros nemo dubitaverit studiosos

musices fuisse. The acc. with inf. belongs on the whole to the usage of

the Silver Age, being frequent in Livy, Nepos (e.g. his opening words

‘non dubito fore plerosque, Attice’), Tacitus, Pliny (e.g. praef. 18 nec

dubitamus multa esse), Pliny the Younger, Tacitus and Suetonius. It

never occurs in Caesar or Sallust, and in Cicero only in doubtful cases:

these are his youthful transl. of Xenophon’s Oeconomicus, where he has

(§6) quis enim dubitet nihil esse pulchrius in omni ratione vitae

dispositione atque ordine? ad Att. vii. 1, 2, where the passage may be

differently construed: de Fin. iii. 11, 38 nihil est enim de quo minus

dubitari possit quam et honesta expetenda per se et eodem modo turpia

per se esse fugienda. In the last instance the dependent clause ‘de quo

... possit’ = ‘certius’: and after ‘quam’ ‘illud’ may be supplied. On

the other hand cp. for _quin_ Rep. i. 23: Brut. §71: de Sen. §31:

in Verr. ii. 1, 40. In young Cicero’s letter to Tiro (ad Fam. xvi.

21, 2) we find the acc. c. inf., though below (§7) he has the usual construction.

diversa virtus ... consecuta: as for example from Dionysius,

Epist. ad Cn. Pomp. pp. 775-7 R (Usener, p. 57 sq.).

Densus, §68. It is opposed to

_fusus_ here as in §106 to

_copiosus_. Cp. Dionysius, p. 869 R, τό τε

πειρᾶσθαι δι᾽ ἐλαχίστων ὀνομάτων πλεῖστα σημαίνειν πράγματα, καὶ πολλὰ

συντιθέναι νοήματα εἰς ἕν.

brevis: Dion. Ἀρχ.

κρ. p. 425 R (Usener, pp. 22-3) καὶ τὸ μὲν σύντομόν ἐστι παρὰ Θουκυδίδῃ τὸ δ᾽ ἐναργὲς

παρ᾽ ἀμφοτέροις. This is what Dion. calls τὸ τάχος τῆς σημασίας

p. 793 R (Us. p. 82).

semper instans sibi, ‘ever pressing on.’ Thucydides does not

‘let things drift,’ but closely follows up each thought, making every

word tell, and even hurrying on to a new idea before he has fully

developed the previous one: Dion. l.c. καὶ ἔτι

προσδεχόμενόν τι τὸν ἀκροατὴν ἀκούσεσθαι καταλιπεῖν. Cp. xi. 3,

164 instandum quibusdam in partibus et densanda oratio. Hor. Ep. i. 2,

71 nec praecedentibus insto: cp. Sat. i. 10, 9 est brevitate opus ut

currat sententia neu se impediat verbis lassas onerantibus

aures.—Cicero’s references to Thucydides are similar: Orat. §40

Thucydides praefractior nec satis ut ita dicam rotundus; de Orat. ii.

§56 creber est rerum frequentia ... porro verbis est aptus et pressus;

ibid. §93 (with Pericles and Alcibiades) subtiles, acuti, breves,

sententiisque magis quam verbis abundantes; Brut. §29 grandes erant

verbis, crebri

sententiis, compressione rerum breves et ob eam ipsam causam interdum

subobscuri.

dulcis, §77, ‘pleasing,’ cp.

voluptate, below. So Cic. Hortens. ‘quid enim aut Herodoto dulcius aut

Thucydide gravius?’ Γλυκύτης is one of the essentials of ἡδεῖα λέξις in Dionysius (de Comp.

Verb. xi. p. 53 R). In the preceding chapter he has

distinguished between ἡ

ἡδονή and τὸ

καλόν, allowing the latter to Thucydides and both to Herodotus:

ἡ δὲ Ἡροδότου σύνθεσις ἀμφότερα

ταῦτα ἔχει‧ καὶ γὰρ ἡδεῖά ἐστι καὶ καλή. Hermogenes (ii.

p. 226) makes γλυκύτης the characteristic of Herodotus on account of

the attractiveness of his digressions.

candidus: §§113, 121: Cic. Orat. §53 elaborant alii in ... puro et

quasi quodam candido genere dicendi. So in ii. 5, 19 Quintilian

recommends young persons to read candidum quemque et maxime

expositum,—Livy rather than Sallust: of Livy he says elsewhere (§101) in narrando mirae iucunditatis

clarissimique candoris. The word denotes ‘clearness,’ ‘transparency’:

Dion. (Ἀρχ. κρ. R,

Us. p. 22) τῆς δὲ σαφηνείας

ἀναμφισβητήτως Ἡροδότῳ τὸ κατόρθωμα δέδοται. Such a quality of

style is the revelation of a man’s inner nature. It avoids all

adventitious ornament (ibid. τῷ ἀφελεῖ αὐτοφυεῖ ἀβασανίστῳ). Undue

_brevitas_ often interferes with it (ἀσαφὲς γίγνεται τὸ βραχύ), so that

the word gives a partial antithesis to _brevis_.

fusus supplies the antithesis to _densus_ as well as to

_semper instans sibi_. Cp. §77: ii. 3,

5 constricta an latius fusa oratio: ix. 4, 138 fusi ac fluentes. So

Cicero Orat. §39 alter sine ullis salebris quasi sedatus amnis fluit,

alter incitatior fertur.

concitatis ... remissis adfectibus. Dionysius, speaking of

τῶν ἠθων

τε καὶ παθῶν μίμησις (ad Cn. Pomp. p. 776 R, Us.

p. 58), says διῄρηνται τὴν ἀρετὴν

ταύτην οἱ συγγράφεις‧ Θουκυδίδης μὲν γὰρ τὰ πάθη δηλῶσαι κρείττων,

Ἡρόδοτος δὲ τὰ γ᾽ ἤθη παραστῆσαι δεινότερος. So (Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 425 R, Us.

p. 23) ἐν μέντοι τοῖς

ἠθικοῖς κρατεῖ Ἡρόδοτος, ἐν δὲ τοῖς παθητικοῖς ὁ Θουκυδίδης. Cp.

p. 793 R ὑπὲρ ἅπαντα δ᾽ αὐτοῦ ταῦτα τὸ παθητικόν.

For the distinction between τὸ ἠθικόν (the appeal to the moral sense) and τὸ παθητικόν (the appeal

to the emotions) see Cic. Orat. §128: Quint. vi. 2, §§8-10 Adfectus

igitur hos concitatos πάθος illos mites atque compositos ἦθος esse dixerunt, and sq. Cp. §§48 and 101 of

this book, and iii. 4, 15 concitandis componendisve adfectibus.

contionibus ... sermonibus: not the same antithesis as

_narrando ... contionibus_ §101, q.v.

The opposition here is between the set harangues of Thucydides and the

less formal conversations of Herodotus. In Thucydides the only dialogues

are that between the Melians and the Athenians in Book V, and that

between Archidamus and the Plataeans in Book II, whereas Herodotus

‘seldom speaks where there is a fair pretext for making the characters

speak.... Even the longer speeches have usually the conversational tone

rather than the rhetorical,’ Jebb. (Hild is wrong in referring

_sermonibus_ to τὸ πραγματικὸν εἶδος in Dionysius and _contionibus_

to τὸ λεκτικόν: Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 424 R,

Us. p. 22: cp. de Admir. Deor. vi. c. 51, p. 1112 R sq.).

The speeches of Thucydides are criticised by Dionysius (under the head

both of τὸ

πραγματικὸν μέρος and τὸ λεκτικόν) in his Iudicium, ch. 34,

p. 896 R sq. Herodotus on the other hand (ibid. 23 ad fin.),

οὐδὲ δημηγορίαις πολλαῖς ... οὐδ᾽ ἐναγωνίοις

κέχρηται λόγοις, οὐδ᾽ ἐν τῷ παθαίνειν καὶ δεινοποιεῖν τὰ πράγματα τὴν

ἀλκὴν ἔχει. Dionysius’s own opinion of the speeches in Thucydides

is seen from the last chapter of his Iudicium (pp. 950-2 R) to have

agreed with that of Cicero, Orator §30: ipsae illae contiones ita multas

habent obscuras abditasque sententias vix ut intellegantur. (Cp. Brutus

§287.) On this ground he says nihil ab eo transferri potest ad forensem

usum et publicum: cp. de Opt. Gen. 15, 16. Dionysius, however (ch. 34 ad

init.) indicates that some people thought differently: τῶν δημηγοριῶν ἐν αἷς οἴονταί τινες τὴν

ἄκραν τοῦ συγγραφέως εἶναι δύναμιν.—For the speeches see

Blass, Att. Bereds p. 231 sq.: and Jebb’s Essay in

_Hellenica_, esp. pp. 269-275.

vi ... voluptate. Many passages may be quoted from Dionysius

to illustrate this antithesis: Ἀχρ. κρ. p. 425 R, Usener p. 23

ῥώμῃ δὲ καὶ ἰσχύι καὶ τόνῳ καὶ τῷ περιττῷ καὶ

πολυσχηματίστῳ παρηυδοκίμησε Θουκυδίδης: ἡδονῇ δὲ καὶ πειθοῖ καὶ χάριτι

... μακρῷ διενεγκόντα τὸν Ἡρόδοτον εὑρίσκομεν: ad. Cn. Pomp. iii.

p. 776 R (Us. p. 58) ἕπονται ταύταις αἱ

τὴν ἰσχὺν καὶ τὸν τόνον καὶ τὰς ὁμοιοτρόπους δυνάμεις τῆς φράσεως ἀρεταὶ

περιέχουσαι. κρείττων ἐν ταύταις Ἡροδότου Θουκυδίδης. ἡδονὴν δὲ καὶ

πειθὼ καὶ τέρψιν καὶ τὰς ὁμοιογενεῖς ἀρετὰς εἰσφέρεται μακρῷ Θουκυδίδου

κρείττονας Ἡρόδοτος. So Iud. de Thucyd. 23, p. 866 R

πειθοῦς τε καὶ χαρίτων καὶ τῆς εἰς ἀκρὸν

ἡκούσης ἡδονῆς ἕνεκα. So in the Epist. ad Pomp. iii.

p. 767 R he praises Herodotus for his choice of subject (ὑπόθεσιν ... καλὴν καὶ κεχαρισμένην τοῖς

ἀναγνωσομένοις Us. p. 50), while Thucyd. was conscious ὅτι εἰς μὲν ἀκρόασιν ἧττον ἐπιτερπὴς ἡ γραφή ἐστι

(de Comp. Verb. p. 165 R). It is his variety (μεταβολὴ καὶ ποικίλον)

and the providing of agreeable ἀναπαύσεις that give Hdt. his charm: καὶ γὰρ τὸ βιβλίον ἢν

αὐτοῦ λάβωμεν μέχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης συλλαβῆς ἀγάμεθα καὶ ἀεὶ τὸ πλεῖον

ἐπιζητοῦμεν p. 772 R: while Thucydides is by comparison

ἀσαφὴς

καὶ δυσπαρακολούθητος p. 773 (Usener pp. 54-5).

For vi cp. also Orat. §39 alter incitatior fertur, et de bellicis

rebus canit etiam quodam modo bellicum: for voluptate Quint. ix. 4, 18

in Herodoto vero cum omnia, ut ego quidem sentio, leniter fluunt, tum

ipsa διάλεκτος habet

eam iucunditatem ut latentes in se numeros complexa videatur. And again

Dionysius, p. 777 R: Us. p. 59 διαφέρουσι δὲ κατὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα

ἀλλήλων ὅτι τὸ μὲν Ἡροδότου κάλλος ἱλαρόν ἐστι, φοβερὸν δὲ

(‘impressive’) τὸ

Θουκυδίδου.

I:74

Theopompus his proximus

ut in historia praedictis minor, ita oratori magis similis, ut qui,

antequam est ad hoc opus sollicitatus, diu fuerit orator.

Philistus quoque meretur qui turbae quamvis bonorum post eos

auctorum eximatur, imitator Thucydidi et ut multo infirmior,

ita aliquatenus lucidior. Ephorus, ut Isocrati visum,

calcaribus eget. Clitarchi probatur ingenium, fides

infamatur.

§ 74.

Theopompus, of Chios, born about 378 B.C. What Quint. says of him is not found in Dion.

though the latter gives him high praise in the Epist. ad Cn. Pomp.

p. 782 R sq. Cp. Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 428 sq. He wrote two histories, neither of

which has come down to us:—(1) Ἡλληνικά, containing in twelve books the sequel to

the Peloponnesian War, down to the battle of Knidos (B.C. 394); and (2) Φιλιππικά, a history of affairs under Philip, in

fifty-eight books. Dionysius says that he was the most distinguished of

all the pupils of Isocrates, whom he resembled in style (l.c.

p. 786). His master said that he needed the bit, as Ephorus (see

below) the spur: ii. 8, 11, cp. Brut. §204. Quint. says elsewhere (ix.

4, 35) that, like the followers of Isocrates in general, he was

unduly solicitous about avoiding the coalition of vowels: Orat. §151. In

the Brutus (§66) Cicero, comparing him with Philistus and Thucydides,

says officit Theopompus elatione atque altitudine orationis suae. His

fragments are collected in Müller’s Fragm. Histor. Graec. i.

pp. 278-333.

praedictis = antea, supra dictis. This is the usual meaning of

the word in Quint.: cp. tria quae praediximus iii. 6, 89: vicina

praedictae sed amplior virtus viii. 3, 83: ii. 4, 24: ix. 3, 66: Vell.

Pat. i. 4, 1: Suet. Aug. 90: Plin. N. H. lxxii. 16, 35. The

Ciceronian use appears only in ‘praedicta pernicies’ iii. 7, 19 (cp. iv.

2, 98): vii. 1, 30.

opus: §§31, 67, 69, 70, 96, 123: 2 §21. Cp. Introd. p. xliv.

sollicitatus by his master Isocrates. Cicero tells us this:

postea vero ex clarissima quasi rhetorum officina duo praestantes

ingenio, Theopompus et Ephorus, ab Isocrate magistro impulsi se ad

historiam contulerunt (de Orat. ii. §57).

Philistus, of Syracuse, born about B.C. 430. He was a contemporary of both the

Dionysii, by the elder of whom he was exiled and by the younger

recalled. He wrote a history of Sicily in two parts,—περὶ Σικελίας μὲν τὴν προτέραν ἐπιγραφων,

περὶ Διονυσίου δὲ τὴν ὑστέραν, Dion. ad Pomp. p 780 R (Us.

p. 61). Cicero says he liked the latter: me magis de Dionysio

delectat, ad Q. Fr. ii. 13, 4.—Müller, Fragm. Hist. Gr.

i. 185-192.

meretur qui: see on §72.

quamvis bonorum. For this brachyology cp. §94, and note: Livy ii. 54 §7 nec auctor quamvis

audaci facinori deerat: ibid. 51 §7. Cp. quamlibet properato 3 §19. Introd. p. liv.

eximatur: with _ex_ or _de_ in classical Latin, as

in the phrase ex reis eximi, aliquem de reis eximere (Cic.) For the dat.

cp. i. 4, 3 ut auctores alios omnino exemerint numero (opp. to in

ordinem redigere): Hor. Car. ii. 2, 19 Phraaten numero beatorum eximit

virtus. The same meaning appears in xii. 2, 28 quid ... eximat nos

opinionibus vulgi. In Tac. the dat. is common in the sense of to ‘free

from’: infamiae, morti, ignominiae.

What follows might be a condensation of Dion.’s criticism of Philistus:

Φίλιστος δὲ μιμητής

ἐστι Θουκυδίδου, ἔξω τοῦ ἤθους‧ ᾧ μὲν γὰρ ἐλεύθερον καὶ φρονήματος

μεστόν‧ τούτῳ δὲ θεραπευτικὸν τῶν τυράννων καὶ δοῦλον πλεονεξίας,

Ἀρχ. κρ.

p. 426 R, Us. p. 24: cp. ad Pomp. v. (p. 779 R)

Φίλιστος

δὲ Θουκυδίδη μᾶλλον <ἂν> δοξεῖεν ἐοικέναι, καὶ κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον

κοσμεῖσθαι τὸν χαρακτῆρα: Cic. de Orat. ii. 57 hunc (Thucydidem)

consecutus est Syracosius Philistus qui, cum Dionysii tyranni

familiarissimus esset, otium suum consumpsit in historia scribenda,

maximeque Thucydidem est, sicut mihi videtur, imitatus.

infirmior: Cic. ad Q. Fr. ii. 13, 4 Siculus ille (Philistus)

capitalis, creber, acutus, brevis, paene pusillus Thucydides: Dionysius,

Ἀρχ. κρ. (p.

427 R, Us. p. 25) μικρὸς δὲ ἐστι καὶ ταπεινὸς κομιδῇ ταῖς

ἐκφράσεσιν ... οὐδὲ ὁ λόγος τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ πράγματος ἐξισοῦται:

ad Pomp. (p. 781 R) μικρός τε περὶ πᾶσαν ἰδέαν ἐστὶ καὶ

ἐντελής κ.τ.λ.

aliquatenus with comparative, instead of the ablative

_aliquanto_, just as he uses _longe_ and _multum_ for

_multo_. So xi. 3, 97 aliquatenus liberius.

lucidior: τῆς δὲ λέξεως τὸ

μὲν γλωσσηματικὸν καὶ περίεργον οὐκ ἐζήλωκε Θουκυδίδου (Ἀρχ. κρ. l.c.). Yet Dionysius

blames him, even more than Thucyd., for ἀταξία τῆς οἰκονομίας, and adds that,

like Thucyd., δυσπαρακολούθητον τὴν

πραγματείαν τῇ συνχύσει τῶν εἰρημένων πεποίηκε.

Ephorus, of Cumae in Aeolis, was a contemporary of Philip and

Alexander: fl. cir. B.C. 340. He wrote

a Universal History down to his own times. Like Theopompus, he was a

pupil of Isocrates (de Orat. ii. §57: iii. §36: Orator §191); and

Dionysius mentions him, along with Theopompus, as the best example,

among historians, of ἡ γλαφυρὰ καὶ ἀνθηρὰ σύνθεσις, just as

Isocrates was among rhetoricians (de Comp. Verb. 23,

p. 173 R). Plutarch (Dion. 36) blames him for his sophistical

tendencies: Polybius (v. 33, 2) praises his wide knowledge.

calcaribus. Brutus §204 ut Isocratem in acerrimo ingenio

Theopompi et lenissimo Ephori dixisse traditum est, alteri se calcaria

adhibere, alteri frenos: de Orat. iii. 9, 36 quod dicebat Isocrates,

doctor singularis, se calcaribus in Ephoro contra autem in Theopompo

frenis uti solere: Hortensius: quid ... aut Philisto brevius aut

Theopompo acrius aut Ephoro mitius inveniri potest? Cp. also ad Att. vi.

1, 12: Quint, ii. 8, 11. So Suidas, ὁ γοῦν Ἰσοκράτης τὸν μὲν Θεόπομπον ἔφη χαλινοῦ δεῖσθαι,

τὸν δὲ Ἔφορον κέντρου (s.v. Ephorus). A similar story is

told of Plato, teacher of Aristotle and Xenocrates; and of Aristotle,

who in turn taught Theophrastus and Callisthenes.

Clitarchus, of Megara, a contemporary of Alexander the Great,

whom he accompanied on his expeditions, and whose history he wrote, in

twelve books, down to the battle of Ipsos. He also wrote a history of

the Persians before and after Xerxes. Cicero alludes (Brutus §42 sq.) to

his romantic turn: concessum est rhetoribus ementiri in historiis, ut

aliquid dicere possint argutius (‘more racily’); ut enim tu nunc de

Coriolano, sic Clitarchus, sic Stratocles de Themistocle finxit: de

Legg. i. 2.

I:75

Longo post intervallo temporis natus Timagenes vel hoc est ipso

probabilis, quod intermissam historias scribendi industriam nova

laude reparavit. Xenophon non excidit mihi, sed inter

philosophos reddendus est.

§ 75.

Timagenes belongs to the Augustan Age. He is said to have been a

native of Syria, who came to Rome after the capture of Alexandria (B.C. 55). At Rome he founded a school of

rhetoric, and wrote a history of Alexander the Great and his successors.

He was a friend of Asinius Pollio, and enjoyed the patronage of Augustus

till he incurred his censure for having spoken too boldly of the members

of the Imperial family: Hor. Ep. i. 19, 15. Quintilian might have filled

the gap (_intervallo temporis_) between Clitarchus and Timagenes

with such names as Timaeus (de Orat. ii. §58), Polybius, and Dionysius

himself.

historias scribendi: cp. §34 and

2 §7. The plural is

used of historical works, in the concrete: the sing. generally of

history as a mode of composition: §§31, 73, 74, 101, 102; 5 §15,—seldom as 1. 8, 20

cum historiae cuidam tanquam vanae repugnaret. Cp. Hor. Sat. i. 3, 89

amaras porrecto iugulo historias captivus ut audit: Car. ii. 12, 9

pedestribus dices historiis praelia Caesaris. Cicero has the sing. most

frequently: Brutus §287 si historiam scribere ... cogitatis: but the pl.

occurs ib. §42 (quoted above).

Xenophon §§33 and 82. By

Dionysius he is treated as a historian, and compared to Philistus. The

philosophic character of his work is however indicated in several

places: e.g. Ἀρχ. κρ.

(p. 426 R, Us. p. 24) ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τοῦ

πρέποντος τοῖς προσώποις πολλάκις ἐστοχάσατο, περιτιθεὶς ἀνδράσιν

ἰδιώταις καὶ βαρβάροις ἐσθ᾽ ὅτε λόγους φιλοσόφους: ad Cn. Pomp. 4

(p. 777) τὰς

ὑποθέσεις τῶν ἱστοριῶν ἐξελέξατο καλὰς καὶ μεγαλοπρεπεῖς καὶ ἀνδρὶ

φιλοσόφῳ προσηκούσας‧ τήν τε Κύρου παιδείαν, εἰκόνα βασιλέως ἀγαθοῦ καὶ

εὐδαίμονος κ.τ.λ.. Besides Cicero (de Orat. ii. §58 denique etiam

a philosophia profectus—Xenophon—scripsit historiam),

Diogenes Laertius and Dio Chrysostom speak of Xenophon as a philosopher,

all probably following an ancient authority. See Usener, p. 117,

and cp. Introd. p. xxxiii.

inter. Becher notes this use of the prep. ( = ‘among a number

of’) as occurring first in Livy. Cp. §116

ponendus inter praecipuos.

§§76-80.

Attic Orators:—

I:76

Sequitur oratorum ingens manus, ut cum decem simul Athenis

aetas una tulerit. Quorum longe princeps Demosthenes ac paene

lex orandi fuit: tanta vis in eo, tam densa omnia, ita quibusdam nervis

intenta sunt, tam nihil otiosum, is dicendi modus, ut nec quod desit in

eo nec quod redundet invenias.

ut cum. So _utpote cum_ Cic. ad Att. v. 8, 1 and Asinius

Pollio ad Fam. x. 32, 4: _quippe cum_ ad Att. x. 3. Bonn. Lex.

s.v. _ut_ (B ad fin.) gives other exx. from Quintilian: e.g.

v. 10, 44: vi. 1, 51: 3, 9: ix. i, 15.

decem. This is not a round number (Hild), but indicates a

recognised group of orators, generally considered to have been canonised

by the critics of Alexandria, in the course of the last two centuries

before the Christian era. Brzoska, however, in a recent paper (De canone

decem oratorum Atticorum quaestiones—Vratislaviae, 1883) develops

with great probability the view of A. Reifferscheid, that the canon

originated, towards the end of the second cent. B.C., with the school of Pergamus, where special

attention was paid to rhetoric and grammar, which the Alexandrian

critics neglected in favour of poetry. The group consisted of Antiphon,

Andocides, Lysias, Isocrates, Isaeus, Demosthenes, Aeschines, Lycurgus,

Hyperides, and Dinarchus. Of these Quintilian omits here Antiphon,

Andocides, Isaeus, Lycurgus, and Dinarchus, though all except the

last-named are mentioned in xii. 10, §§21-22. Demetrius of Phalerum is

thrown in at the end, probably after Cicero (see on §80). The earliest reference to the Ten Orators as a

recognised group occurs in the title of a lost work by Caecilius of

Calacte,—περὶ χαρακτῆρος τῶν δέκα ῥητόρων. But though Caecilius

was a contemporary of Dionysius at Rome in the age of Augustus, and is

known to have been intimate with him (p. 777 R, Us. p. 59),

there is no reference in Dionysius’s writings to the canon thus adopted.

Mr. Jebb thinks he may have deliberately disregarded it as not helpful

for the purpose with which he wrote, viz. to establish a standard of

Greek prose by a study of the orators as representing tendencies in the

historical development of the art of oratory (Att. Or. Introd.

p. 67: but see Brzoska, pp. 20-22). Besides this _decem_

in Quintilian (cp. on _ceteros_ §80),

the number ten is again recognised in the treatise on the Lives of the

Ten Orators, wrongly attributed to Plutarch, by Proclus (circ. 450 A.D.), and by Suidas (circ. 1100). In

selecting the five whom he treats here, Quintilian would seem to have

followed Dionysius. In the De Oratoribus Antiquis, 4 (p. 451 R), he

gives a chronological classification (κατὰ τὰς ἡλικίας), taking Lysias, Isocrates,

and Isaens to represent the first series (ἐκ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων: cp. his aetate Lysias

maior §74); and Demosthenes, Hyperides, and

Aeschines for the next. Elsewhere (de Din. Iud. i. p. 629 R)

he arrives at the same result on another principle, Lysias, Isocrates,

and Isaeus being classed as εὑρεταὶ ἰδίου χαρακτῆρος, while the other

three (Aeschines now taking the second place, as emphatically at

p. 1063 R) appear as τῶν εὑρημένων ἑτέροις τελειωταί.

Of Demosthenes, Hyperides, and Aeschines he says: ἡ γὰρ δὴ τελειοτάτη

ῥητορικὴ καὶ τὸ κράτος τῶν ἐναγωνίων λόγων ἐν τούτοις τοῖς ἀνδράσιν

ἔοικεν εἶναι, de Isaeo Iud. p. 629 R. The Ἀρχαίων κρίσις briefly

characterises, in the order in which they are named, Lysias, Isocrates,

Lycurgus, Demosthenes, Aeschines, and Hyperides; Quintilian omits

Lycurgus, the paragraph about whom in the Ἀρχ. κρ. is suspected by Claussen (p. 352). (Brzoska

notes that Quintilian’s list is identical with that given by Cicero de

Orat. iii. 28: and from a comparison of de Opt. Gen. Or. §7—qui

aut Attici numerantur aut dicunt

Attice—he infers that the canon was probably known also to

Cicero.) We have separate treatises by Dionysius on Lysias, Isocrates,

and Isaeus (the εὑρεταί), but those in which he discussed Demosthenes,

Hyperides, and Aeschines (the τελειωταί), are no longer extant. Instead we have the

first part of a longer work on Demosthenes (περὶ τῆς λεκτικῆς

Δημοσθένους δεινότητος pp. 953-1129 R), and a

bibliographical account of Dinarchus. Antiphon he only alludes to

briefly (de Isaeo, 20), in company with Thrasymachus, Polycrates, and

Critias: cp. Quint, iii. 1, 11.

Athenis. Dionysius groups the orators of whom he treats under

the title Ἀττικοί (p.

758 R, ἐν τῇ περὶ τῶν Ἀττικῶν πραγματείᾳ ῥητόρων).

Ammon (pp. 81-82) points out that Demetrius Magnes used the same

appellation (Dion. de Din. i. p. 631 R), and further suggests

that the Attic canon is already indicated in Cicero de Opt. Gen. Or. §13

ex quo intellegitur quoniam Graecorum oratorum praestantissimi sint ii

qui fuerunt Athenis, eorum autem princeps facile Demosthenes, hunc si

qui imitetur eum et attice dicturum et optime, ut quoniam attici

propositi sunt ad imitandum bene dicere id sit attice dicere.

aetas una, used here in a wide sense (as is shown by _aetate

... maior_, below). The period referred to extends from the latter

part of the 5th to the latter part of the 4th century B.C. So Cicero, Brut. §36 haec enim aetas effudit

hanc copiam: where he gives a place among the others to Demades.

longe princeps: Dion. de Thucyd. Iud. 55, p. 950 R,

Δημοσθένει ὃν ἁπάντων ῥητόρων

κράτιστον γεγενῆσθαι πειθόμεθα: cp. de vi Demosth. 33,

p. 1058 R sq.

vis, δεινότης.

Dion. de Thucyd. Iud. 53, p. 944 R τὴν ἐξεγείρουσαν τὰ πάθη

δεινότητα (of Demosthenes): cp. p. 865 τὸ ἐρρωμένον καὶ ἐναγώνιον πνεῦμα ἐξ ὧν ἡ καλουμένη γίγνεται

δεινότης: Cic. de Orat. iii. 28 vim Demosthenes habuit. For the

place of _vis_ in oratory cp. Orat. §69, and de Orat. ii.

128-9.

densa: §§68, 73, 106. So

_pressus_: Introd. p. xliii. The Greek

equivalent is τὸ

πυκνόν, ἡ πυκνότης. Dionysius attributes his brevity and

conciseness, as well as his energy and power of rousing the emotions, to

the influence of Thucydides.

quibusdam, inserted on account of the metaphor, as often in

Cicero, e.g. de Orat. i. §9 procreatricem quandam et quasi parentem:

Brut. §46 eloquentia est bene constitutae civitatis quasi alumna

quaedam: and constantly in translating Greek words and phrases (cp. Reid

on Acad. i. 5, 20 and 24). For _nervis intenta_ cp. εὔτονος τῇ φράσει, Ἀρχ.

κρ. p. 433 R: also ix. 4, 9, and note on 1 §60.

tam nihil otiosum, i.e. everything is so much to the point.

Cp. i. 1, 35 otiosas sententias, of copy-book headings that have no

point: viii. 3, 89 ἐνέργεια ... cuius propria sit virtus non esse quae

dicuntur otiosa: ibid. 4, 16: ii. 5, 7: Sen. Epist. 100, 11 exibunt

multa nec ferient et interdum otiosa praeterlabetur oratio. In Tac.

Dial. §§18 and 22 the meaning is ‘spiritless,’ ‘wearisome’ (cp.

lentitudo and tepor §21). In Quintilian there is also the idea of

‘superfluous,’ ‘unprofitable’: i, 12, 18 otiosis sermonibus, useless

gossip: ii. 10, 8: viii. 3, 55 quotiens otiosum fuerit et supererit: ix.

4, 58 adicere dum non otiosa et detrahere dum non necessaria. Cp.

Introd. p. xlv.

is dicendi modus: Cic. Orat. §23 hoc nec gravior exstitit

quisquam nec callidior nec temperatior.

quod desit: a reminiscence of Cic. Brut. §35 nam plane quidem

perfectum et cui nihil admodum desit Demosthenem facile dixeris.

Quintilian qualifies his eulogy in comparing him with Cicero §107 below: cp. xii. 12, 26, and Cic. Orat. §§90 and

104. See Crit. Notes.

I:77

Plenior Aeschines et magis fusus et grandiori similis, quo

minus strictus est; carnis tamen plus habet, minus lacertorum. Dulcis in

primis et acutus Hyperides, sed minoribus causis—

ut non dixerim utilior— magis par.

§ 77.

Plenior ... magis fusus: opposed to tam densa omnia, above.

Aeschines had not the terseness and intensity of Demosthenes, but was

not without a certain fluent vehemence of his own. Cicero mentions

_levitas_ and _splendor verborum_ as characteristics of

Aeschines,

Orat. §110; and Dionysius, Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 434 R, has ἀτονώτερος μὲν τοῦ Δημοσθένους, ἐν δὲ τῇ λέξεων ἐκλογῇ

πομπικός ἅμα καὶ δεινός ... καὶ σφόδρα ἐνεργὴς καὶ βαρὺς καὶ αὐξητικὸς

καὶ πικρὸς καὶ ... σφοδρός: Cic. de Orat. iii. §128 sonitum

Aeschines habuit. For a comparison between the two great rivals v.

Jebb’s Alt. Or. ii. 393 sq. See also Cicero’s de Optim. Gen. Orat.,

which was written as a preface to his translation of Aeschines’s speech

against Ctesiphon and Demosthenes on the Crown.

grandiori is certainly not neuter (sc. generi dicendi) as

Krüger (2nd edition), who compares the plural _maioribus_ §63 (where however we have _aptior_, not

_similior_), and ii. 11, 2, which is quite different: moreover

Quintilian never uses _grandius_ by itself to designate the more

sublime style, and with such an expression as ‘grandiori generi dicendi’

he would have employed _magis accedit_ (§68) or _propior est_ (§78) rather than _similis_. If the text is

allowed to stand _grandiori_ must be masc. (just like

_strictus_) and be used in a good sense: e.g. Cic. de Opt. Gen. Or.

§9 imitemur Lysiam, et eius quidem tenuitatem potissimum: est enim

multis in locis grandior: Brut. §203 fuit Sulpicius ... grandis et ut

ita dicam tragicus orator: Orat. §119 quo grandior sit et quodam modo

excelsior. _Similis_ gets the force of a comparative from

_magis_ preceding, and _minus_ following it (cp. §93 tersus atque elegans maxime: xii. 6, 6 a quam

maxime facili ac favorabili causa) so that we may render ‘he has an

appearance of greater elevation in proportion as his style is less

compressed.’ See Crit.

Notes.

minus strictus = remissior, cp. ἀτονώτερος above. Instead of being _nervis

intenta_ (εὔτονος) his

style was characterised as προπετής (‘headlong’) by the critics.

carnis ... lacertorum. The style of Aeschines is deficient in

compact force: it is often overcharged and redundant (cp. πομπικός and αὐξητικός above). So also Dem. Or. 19 (of

Aeschines) §133 σεμνολόγος: §255 σεμνολογεῖ. For _lacerti_ cp. Brut. §64 in

Lysia saepe sunt etiam lacerti sic ut fieri nihil possit valentius.

Hyperides, one of the leading orators of the patriotic party,

was put to death by order of Antipater, B.C. 322, just seven days before the death of

Demosthenes, with whom he had generally acted, though differences arose

between them in later life.

Dulcis: §73. So Dion. Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 435 R χάριτος μεστός: cp. de

Din. Iud. 8, p. 645 R, where he says that the imitators of

Hyperides, by failing to reproduce his exquisite charm, as well as his

force, became dry and rough in style: διαμαρτόντες τῆς χάριτος ἐκείνου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης δυνάμεως

αὐχμηροί τινες ἐγένοντο.

acutus. Cic. de Orat. iii. §28 acumen Hyperides ... habuit:

Orat. §110 nihil argutiis et acumine Hyperidi (cedit Demosthenes).

_Acumen_ (§§106, 114) is the quality required for the _tenue

genus_ which aims at instructing (Cic. de Orat. ii. §129: Quint, xii.

10, 59): it appeals mainly to the intellect. Here therefore

_acutus_ means ‘pointed,’ ‘direct’: cp. xii. 10, 39, Orat. §§20,

84, 98, where it is used of style. _Subtilis_ and _acutus_

sometimes go together as characteristics of the plain style: so in 5 §2 _subtilitas_ is

ascribed to Hyperides. On the other hand _acutus_ is used (§84 below) expressly of power of thought as opposed

to power of expression: cp. too §83

inventionem acumine opposed to eloquendi suavitate, and §81 acumine disserendi ... eloquendi facultate. So it

may be that Quintilian uses _acutus_ here to represent Dionysius:

εὔστοχος μὲν ... καὶ συνέσει πολλῇ κεχορήγηται (p.

434 R).

minoribus causis. Cp. with this the criticisms of Longinus,

Hermogenes, and others in Blass’s preface to the Teubner text. The

author of περὶ ὕψους

says:—“He knows when it is proper to speak with simplicity, and

does not, like Demosthenes, continue the same key throughout,” §34, and

below: “Nevertheless all the beauties of Hyperides, however numerous,

cannot make him sublime. He never exhibits strong feeling, has little

energy, rouses no emotion” (Havell). His style is “that of a newer

school than Demosthenes—of the school of Menander and the New

Comedy, to whom long periods and elaborate structure seemed tedious, and

who affected short and terse statement, clear and epigrammatic points,

smart raillery, and an easy and careless tone even in serious debate.

Hence the critics, such as Quintilian, think him more suited to slight

subjects.” Mahaffy, ii. p. 377. Dionysius says εὔστοχος μὲν

σπάνιον δ᾽ αὐξητικός: he hits his mark neatly, but

seldom lends grandeur to his theme by amplification. His Funeral Oration

is an exception: here he has ‘thoroughly caught from Isocrates the tone

of elevated panegyric’ (Jebb). His reputation as a wit and an easy-going

member of society may have helped to produce on casual students the

impression Quintilian wishes to convey: ‘unquestionably one great secret

of his success as a speaker,’ says Mr. Jebb, ‘was his art of making a

lively Athenian audience feel that here was no austere student of

Thucydides, but one who was in bright sympathy with the everyday life of

the time.’ For his wit cp. Cic. Orat. §90 and Sandys’ note. Dionysius’s

judgment is given at length in Jebb’s Attic Orators, ii. p. 383

sq.

ut non dixerim = ne dicam. Cp. 2 §15, and note. Tacitus makes a

similar use of the potential perfect in secondary clauses.—For

_utilior_ Maehly needlessly conjectures _futilibus_.

I:78

His aetate Lysias maior, subtilis atque elegans et quo nihil,

si oratori satis sit docere, quaeras perfectius; nihil enim est inane,

nihil arcessitum, puro

tamen fonti quam magno flumini propior.

§ 78.

aetate maior. The date of his birth has been variously fixed at

B.C. 459 and B.C. 436: see Sandys, Introd. to Orator,

p. xiii, and note; Wilkins, de Orat. i. (2nd ed.), p. 33. Jebb

gives the approximate date of his extant work as 403-380 B.C.

subtilis atque elegans. Cic. Orat. §30 subtilem et elegantem:

Brut. §35 egregie subtilis scriptor et elegans, quem iam prope audeas

oratorem perfectum dicere: ibid. §64: de Orat. iii. §28 subtilitatem ...

Lysias habuit: Orat. §110 nihil Lysiae subtilitate (cedit Demosthenes).

It is the ‘plain elegance’ of Lysias, his artistic and graceful

plainness, that Quintilian is commending: cp. ix. 4, 17 nam neque illud

in Lysia dicendi textum tenue atque rasum laetioribus numeris

corrumpendum erat: perdidisset enim gratiam, quae in eo maxima est,

simplicis atque inaffectati coloris, perdidisset fidem

quoque.—_Subtilitas_ and _elegantia_ go together 2 §19.

subtilis. Originally ‘suited for weaving’

(* _sub–telis_ from _tela_—Wharton). From

this the word came to be used metaphorically:—(1) ‘graceful,’

‘refined,’ ‘delicate’: subtilitas pronuntiandi, de Orat. iii. §42,

‘graceful refinement of utterance’: (2) ‘precise,’ ‘accurate,’

common in Cicero to represent ἀκριβης: cp. praeceptor acer atque subtilis, Quintilian

i. 4, 25: (3) ‘plain,’ ‘unadorned’: especially subtile genus

dicendi (xii. 10, 58) = τὸ ἰσχνὸν γένος, the ‘plain’ style of rhetorical

composition, which, with a careful concealment of art, imitated the

language of ordinary life, unlike the ‘grand’ style, which was more

artificial, seeking by the use of ornament to rise above the common

idiom. The sense in which the word is used here is mainly (3): it

represents what Dionysius says Ἀρχ. κρ. p. 432 R, (Us. p. 28) ἰσχνότητι γὰρ τῆς φράσεως σαφῆ καὶ

ἀπηκριβωμένην ἔχουσι τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἔκθεσιν. But there is a

reference also to (1), helped out by the addition of _elegans_,

‘choice,’ ‘tasteful.’ The style of Lysias was plain, but not without

Attic refinement.

docere. So Dion., in eulogising him for τὴν δεινότητα τῆς εὑρέσεως,

says (de Lysia 15, p. 486 R), τὰ πάνυ δοκοῦντα τοῖς ἄλλοις ἄπορα εἶναι καὶ ἀδύνατα

εὔπορα καὶ δυνατὰ φαίνεσθαι ποιεῖ. He could make the most of his

case: persuasiveness (πιθανότης) is mentioned (ibid. 13) as one of his

leading characteristics. ‘His statements of facts,’ says Mr. Jebb (ii.

182), ‘are distinguished by conciseness, clearness, and charm, and by a

power of producing conviction without apparent effort to convince’: cp.

Dion. de Lysia 18, p. 492 R ἐν δὲ τῷ διηγεῖσθαι τὰ πράγματα ... ἀναμφιβόλως ἡγοῦμαι

κράτιστον αὐτὸν εἶναι πάντων ῥητόρων, ὅρον τε καὶ κάνονα τῆς ἰδέας

ταύτης αὐτὸν ἀποφαίνομαι: and below, αἱ

διηγήσεις ... τὴν πίστιν ἅμα λεληθότως συνεπιφέρουσιν. But that

this is not the whole office of the orator Quintilian himself declares

iv. 5, 6 non enim solum oratoris est docere, sed plus eloquentia circa

movendum valet. Cp. iii. 5, 2: Brut. §105: de Orat. ii. §128. In regard

to this, Lysias is comparatively weak: ‘he cannot heighten the force of

a plea, represent a wrong, or invoke compassion, with sufficient spirit

and intensity,’ Jebb: in the words of Dion. (19, p. 496 R),

περὶ τὰ

πάθη μαλακώτερός ἐστι: he understands οὔτε αὐξήσεις οὔτε

δεινώσεις οὔτε οἴκτους. Cp. 13 ad fin.

nihil ... inane: cp. Orator §29 dum intellegamus hoc esse

Atticum in Lysia, non quod tenuis sit atque inornatus sed quod nihil

habeat insolens aut ineptum.

nihil arcessitum: Cp. Dion. de Lysia 13 ad fin.

p. 483 R ἀσφαλής τε μᾶλλόν ἐστιν ἢ

παρακεκινδυνευμένη, καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἰσχὺν ἱκανὴ δηλῶσαι τέχνης ἐφ᾽

ὅσον ἀλήθειαν εἰκάσαι φύσεως. Cp. 8, p. 468 ἀποίητός τις καὶ ἀτεχνίτευτος ὁ τῆς ἁρμονίας αὐτοῦ

χαρακτήρ. So Ἀρχ.

κρ. πρὸς τὸ χρήσιμον καὶ ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν

αὐτάρκης—Krüger3 suggests nihil enim

_inest_ inane. For the order see Introd. p. liii.

magno flumini: cp. Cicero, Orator §30 nam qui Lysiam sequuntur

causidicum quemdam sequuntur, non illum quidem amplum atque grandem,

subtilem et elegantem tamen et qui in forensibus causis possit praeclare

consistere. Cp. Dion. 13, p. 482, where he says that, besides

pathos, Lysias wants also grandeur and spirit: ὑψηλὴ δὲ καὶ μεγαλοπρεπὴς οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ Λυσίου λέξις, οὐδὲ

καταπληκτικὴ μὰ Δία καὶ θαυμαστή ... οὐδὲ θυμοῦ καὶ πνεύματος ἐστι

μεστή. Cicero says he shows elevation at times, though grandeur

was seldom possible in the treatment of the subjects he chose. Cp. the

whole passage, de Opt. Gen. Oratorum §9 Imitemur si potuerimus, Lysiam,

et eius quidem tenuitatem potissimum. Est enim multis locis grandior;

sed quia et privatas ille plerasque et eas ipsas aliis et parvarum rerum

causulas scripsit videtur esse ieiunior, cum se ipse consulto ad

minutarum genera causarum limaverit. He therefore prefers Demosthenes as

a model on account of his power: ib. §10 ita fit ut Demosthenes certe

possit summisse dicere, elate Lysias fortasse non possit.

Lysias was the favourite model of those who at Rome, in Cicero’s

time, sought to bring about the revival of Atticism. The unaffected

simplicity of his diction, his purity, lucidity, and naturalness amply

entitled him to this distinction. Dionysius’ criticism is most

appreciative: he praises the style of Lysias ‘not only for its purity of

diction, its moderation in metaphor, its perspicuity, its conciseness,

its terseness, its vividness, its truth to character, its perfect

appropriateness, and its winning persuasiveness; but also for a nameless

and indefinable charm, which he compares to the bloom of a beautiful

face, to the harmony of musical tones, or to perfect rhythm in the

marking of time’—v. de Lysia xi, xii.: Sandys, Introd. to Orator,

p. xvi.

I:79

Isocrates in diverso genere dicendi nitidus et comptus et

palaestrae quam pugnae

magis accommodatus omnes dicendi veneres sectatus est, nec immerito:

auditoriis enim se, non iudiciis compararat: in inventione facilis,

honesti studiosus, in compositione adeo diligens

ut cura eius reprehendatur.

§ 79.

Isocrates, the most celebrated of all the ancient teachers of

rhetoric, and called the father of eloquence (ille pater eloquentiae, de

Orat. ii. §10) from the number of orators produced by his school. His

home is described as being a school of eloquence and manufactory of

rhetoric for the whole of Greece, from which, as from the Trojan horse,

there came forth heroes only: Brut. §32 Isocrates, cuius domus cunctae

Graeciae quasi ludus quidam patuit atque officina dicendi: de Orat. ii.

§94 cuius e ludo tamquam ex equo Troiano meri principes exierunt: Orat.

§40 domus eius officina habita eloquentiae est. He is said to have died

of voluntary starvation shortly after the battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.) at the advanced age of 97. The story

of his death is examined by Jebb, ii. 31.

in diverso genere dicendi. The pupil of Gorgias, according to

Aristotle (v. Quint, iii. 1, 13), Isocrates worked out his master’s

theory of elaborately ornate and rhythmical style of composition. His is

not the _subtile genus_ of which Lysias is the best representative:

_suavitas_ (‘smoothness’) rather than _subtilitas_

(‘plainness’) is his chief characteristic (de Orat. iii. §28). He

carefully cultivated the period, to which he gave a large and luxuriant

expansion: Or. §40 primus instituit dilatare verbis et mollioribus

numeris explere sententias: Dion. de Isocr. 13, p. 561 R ὁ τῶν περιόδων ῥυθμός, ἐκ παντὸς διώκων τὸ γλαφυρόν.

In comparing him with Lysias (de Isocr. ii.-iii.), Dion. notes that his

style is less terse and compact, and characterised by a kind of opulent

diffuseness (κεχυμένη

πλουσίως), as well as by a more free use of metaphor and other

tropes.

nitidus: its opposite is _sordidus_ (viii. 3, 49):

cp. Brut. §238 non valde nitens sed plane horrida oratio. So nitidum et

laetum (genus verborum) de Orat. i. §81: where Wilkins says the word is

used ‘especially of things which are bright, because of the pains

bestowed on them,’ and cps. Hor. Ep. i. 4, 15 ‘nitidum bene curata cute

vises.’ There is the same opposition between niddus and _horridus_

Orat. §36: squalidus, ibid. §115: cp. de Orat. iii §51 ita de horridis

rebus nitida ... est oratio tua: de Legg. i. 2, 6 (of Caelius Antipater)

habuitque vires agrestes ille quidem atque horridas, sine nitore et

palaestra: Brut. §238 (of C. Macer) non valde nitens, non plane horrida

oratio.

comptus—κομψεύεται, Dion. Ἀρχ. κρ.: cp. viii. 3, 42 non quia comi expolirique

non debeat (oratio). With _nitidus et comptus_ cp. Cicero’s

statement that he had lavished on a Greek version of the story of his

consulship, ‘all the _fragrant essences_ of Isocrates and all the

little perfume-boxes of his pupils’: totum Isocrati μυροθήκιον atque omnes eius

discipulorum arculas, ad Att. ii. 1, §1.

palaestrae quam pugnae: Cp. Orat. §42 of epideictic oratory

(dulce ... orationis genus) pompae quam pugnae aptius gymnasiis et

palaestrae dicatum, spretum et pulsum foro: de Orat. i. §81 nitidum

quoddam genus est verborum et laetum et palaestrae magis et olei quam

huius civilis turbae ac fori. So of Demetrius non tam armis institutus

quam palaestrae, Brut. §37. For the meaning cp. ibid. §32 forensi luce

caruit intraque parietes aluit eam gloriam. Isocrates had not the

vigorous compression of style necessary for real contests, πανηγυρικώτερος ἐστι μᾶλλον ἢ

δικανικώτερος ... καὶ πομπικός ἐστι ... οὐ μὴν ἀγωνιστικός Dion.

Ἀρχ. κρ.,

p. 432 R: Pseudo-Plut. Vit. X Or. p. 845 (Φιλιππος) ἐκάλει τοὺς μὲν αὐτοῦ (Δημοσθένους) λόγους

ὁμοίους τοῖς στρατιώταις διὰ τὴν πομπικὴν δύναμιν, τοὺς δ᾽ Ἰσοκράτους

τοῖς ἀθληταῖς. For the figure involved in pugnae (ἀγών) cp. §§29, 31: 3, 3: 5, 17. Cicero says the pupils of

Isocrates were great alike on parade and in actual combat: eorum partim

in pompa partim in acie illustres esse voluerunt, de Orat. §94. See

Jebb, ii. 70-71.

veneres: in this sense only in poetry and post-Augustan prose,

and generally in the singular. Cp. Hor. Ars Poet. 320 Fabula nullius

veneris sine pondere et arte. Cp. §100

illam solis concessam Atticis venerem: vi. 3, 18 venustum esse quod cum

gratia quadam et venere dicatur apparet: iv. 2, 116 narrationem ... omni

qua potest gratia et venere exornandam puto: Seneca, de Benef. ii. 28, 2

habuit suam venerem: Plin. 35, 10, 36 §79 (of paintings) deesse iis

unam illam suam venerem dicebat quam Graeci charita vocant.

sectatus est: cp. Dion. de Isocr. 2, p. 538 R ὁ

γὰρ ἀνὴρ οὗτος τὴν εὐέπειαν ἐκ παντὸς διώκει, καὶ τοῦ γλαφυρῶς λέγειν

στοχάζεται μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦ ἀφελῶς. There is a certain elaborate

affectation about Isocrates: what in Lysias is the gift of nature he

attempts to gain by the aid of art,—πέφυκε γὰρ ἡ Λυσίου λέξις ἔχειν τὸ χαρίεν, ἡ δ᾽ Ἰσοκράτους

βούλεται ibid. p. 541. For the whole passage cp. Orat. §38

In Panathenaico autem (§§1, 2) Isocrates ea se studiose consectatum

fatetur; non enim ad iudiciorum certamen sed ad voluptatem aurium

scripserat.

nec immerito: see on §27.

auditoriis ... non iudiciis: cp. §36: Dion, de Isocr. 2, p. 539 R ἀναγνώσεώς τε μᾶλλον οἰκειότερός

ἐστιν ἢ ῥήσεως‧ τοιγάρτοι τὰς μὲν ἐπιδείξεις τὰς ἐν ταῖς πανηγύρεσι καὶ

τὴν ἐκ χειρὸς θεωρίαν φέρουσιν αὐτοῦ οἱ λόγοι, τοὺς δ᾽ ἐν ἐκκλησίαις καὶ

δικαστηρίοις ἀγῶνας οὐχ ὑπομένουσι Aristotle, Rhet. i. a 9 (p.

1368 a) διὰ τὴν ἀσυνήθείαν τοῦ δικολογεῖν. Isocrates himself

tells us that it was his weakness of utterance and timidity of

disposition that precluded him from public appearances: Panath. §10

οὕτω

γὰρ ἐνδεὴς ἀμφοτέρων ἐγενόμην, φωνῆς ἱκανῆς καὶ τόλμης, ὡς οὐκ οἶδ᾽ εἰ

τις ἀλλος τῶν πολιτῶν. Cp. Cic. de Rep. iii. 30, 42 duas sibi res

quominus in volgus et in foro diceret confidentiam et vocem defuisse:

Plin. Ep. vi. 29, 6 infirmitate vocis, mollitie frontis, ne in publico

diceret impediebatur. Moreover he laid claim to being a teacher of

morality; and looking on rhetoric as the highest and most important

branch of education, he spoke with contempt of those who wrote for the

law-courts, and with whom victory was the only object: Jebb, ii.

p. 7 and p. 43: Isocr. Panegyr. §11 with Sandys’ note.

inventione: here Dionysius says he is in no way inferior to

Lysias: ἡ

μὲν εὕρεσις τῶν ἐνθυμημάτων ἡ πρὸς ἕκαστον ἁρμόττουσα πρᾶγμα πολλὴ καὶ

πυκνὴ καὶ οὐδὲν ἐκείνης (sc. Lysiae) λειπομένη Iud. de Isocr. 4, p. 452 R.

honesti studiosus. This may refer to the diction of Isocrates:

cp. Dion. Iud. 2, p. 538 R, where his λέξις is said to be ἠθική τε καὶ πιθανή: and again de Dem.

p. 963. Cp. ix. 4, 146-7, on which Becher mainly relies for his

proposal (supported by Hirt. Berl. Jahr. xiv. 1888, p. 59) to take

‘honesti studiosus in compositione’ together: compositio debet esse

honesta, iucunda, varia ... cura ita magna ut sentiendi atque eloquendi

prior sit: so viii. 3, 16. But two considerations seem to prove the

correctness of the traditional interpretation and punctuation:

(1) the ascription of _honestum_ (in an ethical sense) to

Isocrates is peculiarly appropriate, and the word is constantly used in

this sense by Quintilian (see Bonn. Lex. s.v. ii γ): and

(2) _diligens_ could hardly stand alone, divorced from _in

compositione_: and moreover a similar expression (in compositione

adeo diligens, &c.) is used by Dionysius, ἐν τῇ

συνθέσει τῶν ὀνομάτων ... Ἰσοκράτην περιεργότερον (de Isocr. Iud.

11, p. 557 R): cp. p. 538. There is a similar criticism

at §118 in cura verborum nimius et

compositione nonnumquam longior.

As to (1) cp. Jebb, ii. pp. 44-5. The high moral tone of Isocrates is

seen both in his choice of noble themes and in the care with which he

ever keeps the higher aspects of his subject in view. Dion. Iud. 4,

p. 543 R μάλιστα δ᾽ ἡ προαίρεσις ἡ τῶν λόγων περὶ οὓς

ἐσπούδαζε καὶ τῶν ὑποθέσεων τὸ κάλλος ἐν αἷς ἐποιεῖτο τὰς διατριβάς‧ ἐξ

ὧν οὐ λέγειν δεινοὺς μόνον ἀπεργάσαιτ᾽ ἂν τοὺς προσέχοντας αὐτῷ τὸν

νοῦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἤθη σπουδαίους ... κράτιστα γὰρ δὴ παιδεύματα πρὸς

ἀρετὴν ἐν τοῖς Ἰσοκράτους ἐστὶν εὑρεῖν λόγοις. (2) Though

Becher points to the chiasmus obtained by punctuating ‘in inventione

facilis, honesti studiosus in compositione’ (cp. §97: Bonn. Lex. pr. lxviii) the rhythm of the

sentence tells the other way; and to his objection that the ethical

point of view does not belong to the history of literature (especially

when inserted between two such words as _inventio_ and

_compositio_) we can only answer that Quintilian is not an artist

in style, and that the ethical tone of Isocrates is too characteristic

to have been overlooked.

There is no need for Maehly’s conjecture ‘disponendi studiosus’: nor

for Eussner’s proposal to invert the clauses and read ... ‘compararat,

honesti studiosus: in inventione facilis, in comp. a. d.’ &c.: on

the ground that _honesti studiosus_ refers to the γένος ἐπιδεικτικόν of

Isocrates, which is regulated by _honestum_, as the δημηγορικόν is by _utile_, and

the δικανικόν by

_iustum_.

compositione: §§44, 66; ix. 4, 116: quem in poemate locum habet

versificatio eam in oratione compositio: ad Her. iv. 12, 18 compositio

est verborum constructio quae facit omnes partes orationis aequabiliter

perpolitas: Ἀρχ. κρ.

p. 433 R, (Us. p. 28) καὶ

αὐτοῦ μάλιστα ζηλωτέον τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐκλογὴν καὶ συνέχειαν.

‘Isocrates was the earliest great artist in the rhythm proper to prose,’

Jebb, ii. pp. 60-1. Cicero, Brutus §32 primus intellexit etiam in

soluta oratione, dum versum effugeres, modum tamen et numerum quendam

oportere servari: Orat. §174.

cura ... reprehendatur. This refers especially to his studied

avoidance of hiatus: cp. ix. 4, 35 nimiosque non immerito in hac cura

putant omnes Isocratem secutos, praecipueque Theopompum. So Orat. §151

in quo quidam Theopompum etiam reprehendunt ... etsi idem magister eius

Isocrates—(with Sandys’ note). Dionysius (de Isocr. 2)

contrasts in general terms his σύνθεσις (compositio) with that of Lysias, noting

especially the point here alluded to: p. 558 R περιεργοτέραν, and de Dem. 4,

pp. 963-4 R. Plutarch, de gloria Athen. p. 350 E πῶς οὖν οὐκ

ἔμελλεν ἅνθρωπος (Isocr.) ψόφον

ὅπλων φοβεῖσθαι καὶ σύρρηγμα φάλαγγος ὁ φοβούμενος φωνῆεν φωνήεντι

συγκροῦσαι καὶ συλλαβῇ τὸ ἰσόκωλον ἐνδεὲς ἐξενεγκεῖν; Jebb, ii,

pp. 66-7. With such excessive solicitude we can understand how

Isocrates should have taken ten years to write the Panegyricus (4 §4).

The judgments of Cicero and Dionysius will be found conveniently

summarised in Sandys’ Introd. to Orator, pp. xx-xxii.

I:80

Neque ego in his de quibus sum locutus has solas virtutes, sed has

praecipuas puto, nec ceteros parum fuisse magnos. Quin etiam

Phalerea illum Demetrium,

quamquam is primum inclinasse eloquentiam dicitur, multum ingenii

habuisse et facundiae fateor, vel ob hoc memoria dignum, quod ultimus

est fere ex Atticis qui dici possit orator; quem tamen in illo medio

genere dicendi praefert omnibus Cicero.

§ 80.

ceteros: cp. on _decem_ §76.

The use of the word involves a reference to a recognised group, from

which he has omitted Antiphon, Andocides, Isaeus, Lycurgus, and

Dinarchus. So Dion. p. 451 R, after mentioning Lysias,

Isocrates, Isaeus, Demosthenes, Hyperides, Aeschines, says οὓς ἐγὼ τῶν

ἄλλων ἡγοῦμαι κρατίστους. Demetrius is evidently an addition by

Quintilian himself, as is shown by the use of _quin etiam_.

Demetrius, of Phalerum, governed Athens, under Cassander, from

317 B.C. till he was overthrown by

Demetrius Poliorcetes in 307. He fled to Thebes and thence to Egypt,

where he died in 283, after assisting Ptolemy to draw up laws and found

his famous library. In citing him after the Attic orators, Quintilian

seems to follow Cicero, Brut. §37 Phalereus ... successit eis senibus

adulescens, &c. The same order (Phalereus before Demetrius) occurs

in Cicero, de Legg. iii. 14: de Orat. ii. §95: de Rep. ii. 2: Brut.

§285.—For _illum_ see on §17.

musa illa rustica et pastoralis. Theocritus is the type of