utinam non, i. 2, 6: ix. 3, 1: more usually _utinam ne_:

Cic. ad Fam. 5, 17 illud utinam ne vere scriberem: Catull. 64, 171.

Krüger (3rd ed.) cites however Cic. ad Att. xi. 9, 3 haec ad te die

natali meo scripsi: quo utinam susceptus non essem aut ne quid ex eadem

matre postea natum esset.

foedis amoribus: cp. Auson. Epigr.

100

71 vitiosa libido ... quam toga facundi scenis agitavit Afrani.

I:101

At non historia cesserit Graecis. Nec opponere Thucydidi

Sallustium verear, nec indignetur sibi Herodotus aequari

Titum Livium, cum in narrando mirae iucunditatis clarissimique

candoris, tum in contionibus supra quam enarrari potest eloquentem:

101

ita quae dicuntur omnia cum rebus, tum personis accommodata sunt:

adfectus quidem praecipueque eos qui sunt dulciores, ut parcissime

dicam, nemo historicorum commendavit magis.

§ 101.

cesserit. So §85 auspicatissimum

dederit exordium: cp. cesserimus §86. There

is no need for Halm’s suggestion _in historia cesserimus_: or

Spalding’s _cesserim_ with _historia_ in abl. Cp. Cicero, de

Legg. i. 2, 5 ut in hoc etiam genere Graeciae nihil cedamus, and the

whole passage.

Sallustium. This is a bold statement. Sallust evidently

accepted Thucydides as his literary model, imitating his style, and

following him in his speeches and the general arrangement of his work.

(Capes’ Sallust: Introd. p. 13 sq.). Brevity (cp. illa Sallustiana

brevitas §32) is a conspicuous feature in

both: but the brevity of Thucydides is greatly the result of inability

to keep pace with the rush of thought, whereas that of Sallust is often

laboured and artificial, and is attained by conscious processes of

excision and compression. Cp. iv. 2, 45 vitanda est etiam illa

Sallustiana (quamquam in ipso virtutis obtinet locum) brevitas et

abruptum sermonis genus: Seneca, Ep. 114, 17 Sallustio vigente amputatae

sententiae et verba ante exspectatum cadentia et obscura brevitas fuere

pro cultu: Aul. Gell. iii. 1, 6 Sallustium subtilissimum brevitatis

artificem. His Grecisms are referred to by Quint. ix. 3, 17 ex Graeco

vero translata vel Sallustii plurima. According to Suetonius (Gramm. 10

extr.) Ateius exhorted Asinius Pollio (ut) vitet maxime obscuritatem

Sallustii et audaciam in translationibus. For the high esteem in which

he was held in antiquity cp. Velleius ii. 36, 2 aemulum Thucydidi

Sallustium: Tacitus, Ann. iii. 30 rerum Romanarum florentissimus auctor:

Martial xiv. 191 primus Romana Crispus in historia. See Teuffel

§§203-205. In modern times Milton exalted him above Tacitus, saying of

the latter that ‘his highest praise consists in his having imitated

Sallust with all his might.’ On the other hand Scaliger spoke of

Sallust’s style as ‘anxium atque insiticium dicendi genus.’

Titum Livium. Quintilian’s estimate of Livy is very happily

expressed so far as it goes. He ignores of course the defects which are

obvious to modern students of Livy,—his want of that historic

sense which shows itself in ability to trace the gradual development of

institutions and to take a philosophic view of general political and

social conditions, his indifference to the scrupulous collation and

weighing of evidence, and his neglect of chronological and geographical

precision. Munro in his ‘Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus’ speaks

of Livy’s style as the greatest prose style that has ever been written

in any age or language, and certainly it has all the beauties which

Quintilian mentions here: besides, the happy adaptation of the language

to the ever-varying phases of the subject is one of its greatest charms.

Teuffel, §251 sq. The best proof of Livy’s popularity in ancient times

may be found in the story of the man from Gades, Pliny, Ep. ii. 3, 8

Nunquamne legisti Gaditanum quendam Titi Livi nomine gloriaque commotum

ad visendum eum ab ultimo terrarum orbe venisse statimque ut viderat

abisse?

narrando ... contionibus. This antithesis is common in

Dionysius: διηγήσεσιν ... δημηγορίαις (ad Pomp.

p. 776 R, Us. pp. 58-9) τὸ διηγηματικὸν μέρος ... τὸ

δημηγορικόν (Iud. de Thucyd.) p. 952 R.

candoris, ‘transparency’: ii. 5, 19 candidissimum quemque et

maxime expositum velim, ut Livium a pueris magis quam Sallustium: etsi

hic historiae maior est auctor, ad quem tamen intellegendum iam profectu

opus sit: §32 lactea ubertas. Cp. dulcis et candidus et fusus Herodotus

§73, where see note: §113 nitidus et candidus.—In a different

sense, Seneca, Suas. vi. 22, ut est natura candidissimus omnium magnorum

ingeniorum aestimator T. Livius.

contionibus. The speeches are introduced in order to give a

portrait of some one (xlv. 25, 3), or to indicate motives (viii. 7:

iii. 47, 5). Though they make no claim to historical truth (in hanc

sententiam locutum accipio iii. 67, 1), they generally give a

trustworthy picture of the circumstances and character of the speaker:

cp. e.g. vii. 34. In some instances we can see how Livy rhetorically

101

enlarges on the brief hints of a predecessor: cp. Polyb. iii. 64 with

Liv. xxi. 40 sq. Teuffel §252, 12.

supra quam: cp. Sall. Cat. 5, 3 supra quam cuiquam credibile

est: Iug. 24, 5: Cicero, Orator §139 saepe supra feret quam fieri posset

(cp. de Nat. Deor. ii. §136). Quintilian has _inenarrabilis_ xi. 3,

177, which occurs also in Livy xliv. 5, 1: xli. 15, 2.

eloquentem: viii. 1, 3 Tito Livio, mirae facundiae viro: Tac.

Agr. 10 Livius veterum Fabius Rusticus recentium eloquentissimi

auctores: Ann. iv. 34 T. Livius eloquentiae ac fidei praeclarus in

primis: Seneca, de Ira i. 20, 6 apud disertissimum virum Livium.

adfectus: §48 adfectus quidem,

vel illos mites vel hos concitatos: ‘the softer passions.’

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

3, 100.

commendavit magis: ‘has set in a fairer light,’ ‘represented

more perfectly’ (‘hat angemessen und eindringlich

dargestellt.’—Bonnell-Meister). Spalding felt a difficulty about

this word, but rightly suggested that it means ‘approbavit suis

lectoribus,’—a meaning to which _ut parcissime dicam_ is

quite appropriate. The nearest parallel is iv. 1, 13 Nam tum dignitas

eius (litigatoris) adlegatur, tum commendatur infirmitas (‘set in a

_strong_ light,’ ‘made much of’),—where too the verb is used

absolutely, without a dative. The usual construction is found v. 11, 38

misericordiam commendabo iudici. In the sense of ‘set off’

(_ornare_), without a dat., we have quae memoria complecteretur

actio commendaret viii. Prooem. 6: quaedam ... virtus haec sola

commendat ix. 4, 13: hoc oratio recta, illud figura declinata commendat

x. 5, 8.—For the

reading _commodavit_ see Crit. Notes.

I:102

Ideoque immortalem Sallusti velocitatem diversis virtutibus consecutus

est. Nam mihi egregie dixisse videtur Servilius Nonianus, pares

eos magis quam similes; qui et ipse a

102

nobis auditus est clarus vi ingenii et sententiis creber, sed minus

pressus quam historiae auctoritas postulat.

§ 102.

immortalem: so §86, where it is more

appropriate.

velocitatem: ‘rapid brevity.’ It is the quality which

Dionysius denotes by τὸ τάχος τῆς ἀπαγγελίας p. 870 R. Cp. Hor.

Sat i. 10, 9 Est brevitate opus ut currat sententia,—quoted on §73 brevis et semper instans sibi Thucydides,

where see note. Arist. Rhet. iii. 16, 4 ταχεῖαν διήγησιν. So _celeritas_ xii.

10, 65 hanc vim et celeritatem in Pericle miratur Eupolis: Eupolis

having said of Pericles ταχὺς λέγειν μέν, πρὸς δέ γ᾽

αὐτῷ τῷ τάχει πειθώ τις (Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 535).

consecutus est, lit. = ‘equalled in point of fame’: the real

object is not _velocitatem_, so that the idea is awkwardly

expressed. Quintilian means that by other good points (cp. §73 diversis virtutibus) Livy obtained a degree of

fame not inferior to what Sallust gained by his ‘velocitas.’ It is in

fact a brachyology for ‘immortalitatem illius Sallustianae velocitatis.’

Cp. Cic. Phil. xiv. 35 parem virtutis gloriam consecuta est (legio):

Quint. iii. 7, 9 quod immortalitatem virtute sint consecuti. See Crit.

Notes.

Servilius Nonianus. In mentioning his death (A.D. 60) along with that of Domitius Afer (§86), Tacitus says that he rivalled the latter’s

abilities and surpassed his morals:—summis honoribus et multa

eloquentia viguerant, ille orando causas, Servilius diu foro, mox

tradendis rebus Romanis celebris et elegantia vitae, quam clariorem

effecit, ut par ingenio, ita morum diversus. Cp. Dial. ch. 23 eloquentia

... Servilii Noniani. Like most of the Roman historians, except Livy, he

was a man of affairs. Pliny, N. H. xxviii. 2, 5 princeps civitatis.

He was the friend—possibly at one time the teacher—of the

satirist Persius, who is said to have reverenced him as a father (coluit

ut patrem). Pliny tells us (Ep. i. 13, 3) how Claudius, on hearing

the thunders of applause that greeted his recitations, entered the

building and seated himself unobserved among the audience: memoria

parentura Claudium Caesarem ferunt, cum in palatio spatiaretur

andissetque clamorem, causam requisisse, cumque dictum esset recitare

Nonianum, subitum recitanti inopinantique venisse.

et ipse. Quintilian had not only read his works, but had heard

him: he

102

would be between twenty and twenty-five when Servilius died.—For

_et ipse_ see on §31.

clarus vi ingenii: see Crit. Notes.

sententiis creber; cp. §68

sententiis densus. For _sententiis_ (γνώμαις) cp. §60 §61: 2 §17. He was full of point and

matter, but not concise enongh for the dignity of history. For

_pressus_ v. §44.

I:103

Quam paulum aetate praecedens eum Bassus Aufidius egregie,

utique in libris belli Germanici, praestitit genere ipso, probabilis in

omnibus, sed in quibusdam suis ipse viribus minor.

§ 103.

Bassus Aufidius. Tacitus mentions him along with Servilius

Nonianus, Dial. 23, where he speaks of antiquarians ‘quibus eloquentia

Aufidii Bassi aut Servilii Noniani ex comparatione Sisennae aut Varronis

sordet.’ Seneca gives some account of him in his thirtieth letter: §1

Bassum Aufidium, virum optimum, vidi quassum, aetati obluctantem: §3

Bassus tamen noster alacer animo est. hoc philosophia praestat. Cp. §§5,

10, 14. His history probably ended with the reign of Claudius, at which

point Pliny the elder took it up: N. H. praef. 20 diximus ...

temporum nostrorum historiam, orsi a fine Aufidii Bassi. The ‘libri

Belli Germanici’ may have been an independent work.—The practice

of placing the cognomen before the gentile name grew under the Empire:

many instances are found even in Cicero’s letters, but not in the

ordinary prose of the Republic; cp. §86,

and Introd. p. lv.

genere ipso = ‘gerade durch den Stil’ (Kiderlin)—as

being suitable to _historiae auctoritas_. Quintilian often uses

_genus_ in this sense (without dicendi): often with an adj. like

_rectum_, but often also without, e.g. x. 2, 18 noveram quosdam &c.: 2 §23 uni alicui generi.

For the reading, see Crit.

Notes.—From the specimens (on the death of Cicero) given by

Seneca the rhetorician (Suas. vi. 18 and 23), we should infer that the

style of Bassus was rather affected and pretentious.

I:104

Superest adhuc et exornat

103

aetatis nostrae gloriam vir saeculorum memoria dignus, qui olim

nominabitur, nunc intellegitur. Habet amatores nec immerito

Cremuti libertas, quamquam circumcisis quae dixisse ei

nocuerat; sed elatum abunde spiritum et audaces sententias deprehendas

etiam in his quae manent. Sunt et alii scriptores boni, sed nos genera

degustamus, non bibliothecas excutimus.

§ 104.

Superest. The fact that Cremutius put an end to his life in A.D. 25 is sufficient to disprove the theory

that he is referred to here: _superest_ when taken along with

_exornat aetatis nostrae gloriam_ cannot mean anything but

_superstes est_ (cp. supersunt 2 §28).—The

Bonnell-Meister edition (1882) understands the reference to be to

Tacitus: but though admirers of Tacitus would like to appropriate for

him the phrase _vir saeculorum memoria dignus_, this can hardly be

accepted. In the first place the words _superest adhuc_ are, in

their natural sense, inapplicable to one who had not published anything

when Quintilian wrote (about 93 A.D.).

He has just spoken of Servilius, who is known to have died in A.D. 60, and of Aufidius, who was old and

frail in Seneca’s life-time, i.e. before A.D. 65: and though it may be proposed to take

_superest adhuc_ as meaning simply ‘I have still to refer to

(a living writer),’ (cp. _supersunt_ §123), in which sense the words might apply to

Tacitus, it seems extremely improbable that after speaking of a youthful

contemporary, Quintilian would in the next sentence return to Cremutius,

who died as far back as A.D. 25. It

might be argued that the point of the passage is that, after this

indirect eulogy of Tacitus, the writer means to imply that the spirit of

Cremutius still survives in him: ‘there is with us now one who will

afterwards be famous but of whom we may not speak at present. The

independence of Cremutius is still appreciated.’ But _habet

amatores_ will hardly cover this interpretation: it introduces a

critique of Cremutius which has no relation to what goes before. And

moreover it is doubtful whether Quintilian, who never mentions any

living writer, except Domitian, would have hazarded a reference to one

whose anti-imperial tendencies must have been so well known in Rome.

Krüger’s supposition (3rd ed. p. 97) that after _adhuc_ the

name _Tacitus_ has fallen out, or that we should write ‘superest

Tacitus et ornat,’ is altogether out of the question: it would quite

destroy the point of the sentence (nominabitur ... intellegitur). It

seems safest, therefore, to follow those who with Nipperdey (Philol. vi.

p. 193) understand the historian here meant to be Fabius Rusticus.

It would have been strange if Quintilian had omitted to mention him,

considering his eminence: Livius veterum, Fabius Rusticus recentium

eloquentissimi

103

auctores, Tac. Agr. 10. And what he says fits Fabius very well; he was

an intimate friend of Seneca (Tac. Ann. xiii. 20 sane Fabius inclinat ad

laudes Senecae cuius amicitia floruit), and from the fact that he was

made co-heir with Tacitus and Pliny in the will of Dasumius we know that

he was still alive 108 or 109 A.D.

Mommsen thinks that to him also is addressed Pliny, Ep. ix. 29.

vir saeculorum memoria dignus: Cp. §80: iii. 7, 18 ingeniorum monumenta, quae saeculis

probarentur: xi. 1, 13 perpetua saeculorum admiratione celebrantur.

olim, of future time, as §94. The

writer referred to will come actually to enjoy the renown of which

Quint. here declares him worthy.

nunc intellegitur. For Quint.’s rule not to mention living

writers cp. iii. 1, 21, quoted at §95; and

for the antithesis between _nominabitur_ and _intellegitur_,

xi. 1, 10 maluit emim vir sapientissimus (Socrates) quod superesset ex

vita sibi perire quam quod praeterisset. Et quando ab hominibus sui

temporis parum intellegebatur, posterorum se iudiciis reservavit brevi

detrimento iam ultimae senectutis aevum saeculorum omnium

consecutus.

Cremuti libertas: παρρησία, §65, §94. Cremutius Cordus published a history of the

Civil Wars and of the reign of Augustus—unius saeculi facta, Sen.

Cons. ad Marc. 26, 5. Augustus is said to have read the work, or to

have heard it read, without disapproval (Dion. 57, 24, 2; Sueton. Tib.

61). He afterwards incurred the displeasure of Sejanus by some bold

remarks, as, for example, when he said in regard to the statue of

Sejanus which he was told the Senate had resolved to erect in Pompey’s

theatre, restored by Tiberius after a fire, ‘tunc vere theatrum

perire’—Sen. Cons. ad Marc. 22, 4. In A.D. 25 he was brought to trial ‘novo ac tunc primum

audito crimine, quod editis annalibus laudatoque M. Bruto

C. Cassium Romanorum ultimum dixisset’ (Tac. Ann. iv. 34 sq.).

Finding his case prejudged, after a spirited defence he went home and

starved himself to death. The Senate ordered his books to be burned:

‘sed manserunt,’ says Tacitus, ‘occultati et editi.’ Dion. tells us that

‘afterwards (i.e. under Caligula) they were published again, for they

had been preserved by various people, and particularly by his daughter

Marcia; and they were esteemed much more highly on account of the fate

of Cordus’ (lvii. 24). For Marcia v. Senecae Consolatio ad Marciam

c. 1. Suet. Calig. 16 tells us that the suppressed writings of

others also (Titus Labienus and Cassius Severus) were allowed by

Caligula to come again into circulation, after a process of editing

similar to that referred to by Quint. (_circumcisis_, &c.).

Tacitus’s reflections on the ineffectual attempt to destroy Cremutius’s

works are interesting in connection with our passage: quo magis

socordiam eorum inridere licet, qui praesenti potentia credunt extingui

posse etiam sequentis aevi memoriam. Nam contra, punitis ingeniis

gliscit auctoritas, neque aliud externi reges aut qui eadem saevitia usi

sunt, nisi dedecus sibi atque illis gloriam peperere, Ann. iv. 35 ad

fin.

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

spiritus, §§44, 61; 3 §22. The excisions and

emendations in regard to matters of detail had evidently not interfered

with the independent tone of Cremutius’s writings.

alii scriptores, συγγραφεῖς: the word being used specially of

historians. He has not mentioned Caesar, or Nepos, or Velleius, or

Quintus Curtius.

degustamus: ‘dipping into’: 5 §23 inchoatae et quasi

degustatae. The opposite is _persequi_: §45 genera ipsa lectionum ... persequar.

I:105

Oratores vero vel praecipue Latinam eloquentiam parem facere

104

Graecae possunt; nam Ciceronem cuicumque eorum fortiter

opposuerim. Nec ignoro quantam mihi concitem pugnam, cum

105

praesertim non id sit propositi ut eum Demostheni comparem hoc tempore;

neque enim attinet, cum Demosthenen in primis legendum vel ediscendum

potius putem.

§ 105.

parem facere. Cicero uses _aequare_ in a passage of the

Brutus (§138), in which, speaking of Antonius and Crassus, he says: nam

ego sic existimo,

104

hos oratores fuisse maximos et in his primum cum Graecorum gloria Latine

dicendi copiam aequatam. In the Silver Age, the phrase _paria

facere_ commonly occurs for ‘settling up’: e.g. nihil differamus.

cotidie cum vita paria faciamus Sen. Ep. 101, 7. A near

parallel to the passage in the text is ii. 8, 13 ea cura paria faciet

iis in quibus eminebat.—Other reff. to Cicero’s pre-eminence are

vi. 3, 1 Latinae eloquentiae princeps: xii. 1, 20 stetisse ipsum

(Ciceronem) in fastigio eloquentiae fateor.

cuicumque, §12. The use of

_quicumque_ (which in classical Latin is joined with a verb) for

_quivis_ or _quilibet_ (which are used absolutely) may be

noted as a sign of the decay of the language. Cp. note on §12: Roby §2289.—For eorum Andresen and

Jeep propose _Graecorum_.

fortiter opposuerim. The adv. is not merely one of manner: it

conveys the expression of a judgment, ‘nicht die Art und Weise, sondern

ein Urteil über die Handlung,’ Becher. So ‘inique Castorem cum Domitio

comparo,’ Cicero, pro Deiot. §31. Cp. i, 5, 72 fortiter diceremus: v.

10, 78 fortiter ... iunxerim.—Roby (1540) gives numerous examples

of this use of subj. (involving a suppressed condition such as ‘if

occasion arose’) with such adverbs as merito, facile, lubenter,

citius.

quantam ... pugnam: owing to the existing prejudice against

the style of Cicero. Cp. Tac. Dial. 12 Plures hodie reperies qui

Ciceronis gloriam quam qui Vergilii detrectent: ibid. 18 Satis constat

ne Ciceroni quidem obtrectatores defuisse, quibus inflatus et tumens nec

satis pressus, sed supra modum exsultans et superfluens et parum Atticus

videretur. Legistis utique et Calvi et Bruti ad Ciceronem missas

epistulas ex quibus facile est deprehendere Calvum quidem Ciceroni visum

exsanguem et aridum, Brutum autem otiosum atque diiunctum, rursus

Ciceronem a Calvo quidem male audisse tamquam solutum et enervem, a

Bruto autem, ut ipsius verbis utar, tamquam fractum atque

elumbem.—Hortensius had been from B.C. 95 the Latin representative of Asianism. Under

the influence of his teachers, the Rhodian eclectics, Cicero emancipated

himself from this school without, on the other hand, binding himself by

the most rigorous canons of Atticism. His critics, who adhered to

severer models, considered the fulness and richness of his style

turgidity and bombast, and pointed to his elaborately periodic structure

and rhythmical amplitude as proving that he was really an Asianist in

disguise. Besides Brutus and Calvus, mentioned above (cp. Quint, xii.

1, 22), there were the Asinii, father and son (etiam inimice,

ibid.), and Caelius. Asinius Gallus wrote a work _de comparatione

patris et Ciceronis_, which was controverted by the emperor Claudius:

Plin. Epist. vii. 4 §6 libros Galli ... quibus ille parenti ausus

de Cicerone dare est palmamque decusque: Sueton. Claud. 41. Cicero, on

the other hand, thought that his Atticising critics were too apt to

forget (what he asks Atticus to remember) that the ‘thunders of

Demosthenes show that the Attic style is quite consistent with the

highest degree of grandeur’—si recordabere Δημοσθένους fulmina, tum intelliges posse

et ἀττικώτατα

gravissime dici, ad Att. xv. 1, ad fin. Quintilian denounces them in

strong language, xii. 10, §§12-14 A. At L. M. Tullium non

illum habemus Euphranorem circa plures artium species praestantem, sed

in omnibus quae in quoque laudantur eminentissimum. Quem tamen et suorum

homines temporum incessere audebant ut tumidiorem et Asianum et

redundantem et in repetitionibus nimium et in salibus aliquando frigidum

et in compositione fractum, exultantem ac paene, quod procul absit, viro

molliorem: postea vero quam triumvirati proscriptione consumptus est,

passim qui oderant, qui invidebant, qui aemulabantur, adulatores etiam

praesentis potentiae non responsurum invaserunt. Ille tamen, qui ieiunus

a quibusdam et aridus habetur, non aliter ab ipsis inimicis male audire

quam nimiis floribus et ingenii adfluentia potuit. Falsum utrumque, sed

tamen illa mentiendi propior occasio. Praecipue vero presserunt eum qui

videri Atticorum imitatores concupierant. Haec manus quasi quibusdam

sacris initiata ut alienigenam et parum superstitiosum devinctumque

illis legibus insequebatur, unde nunc quoque aridi et exsuci et

exsangues. Hi sunt enim qui suae imbecillitati sanitatis appellationem,

quae est maxime contraria, obtendant: qui quia clariorem vim eloquentiae

velut solem ferre non possunt, umbra magni nominis (i.e. Athens)

delitescunt. In Quintilian’s own day (cp. nunc quoque above) a certain

105

Largius Licinus wrote a work which he called _Ciceromastix_,

repeating the criticisms of Asinius Gallus: cp. Aul. Gell. xvii. 1, 1

nonnulli tam prodigiosi tamque vaecordes exstiterunt in quibus sunt

Gallus Asinius et Largius Licinus, cuius liber etiam fertur infando

titulo ‘Ciceromastix,’ ut scribere ausi sint M. Ciceronem parum

integre atque improprie atque inconsiderate locutum. These rigid

Atticists appear to have ignored, as Sandys has pointed out (Introd. to

Orator, p. lxii), the ‘difference between the two languages,

between the power and breadth and compass of Greek as compared with the

more limited resources of Latin.’ Mr. Sandys appends an apt quotation

from J. H. Newman (in H. Thompson’s Rom. Lit.—Encyc.

Metrop. p. 307, ed. 1852):—‘Greek is celebrated for

copiousness in its vocabulary and perspicuity in its phrases; and the

consequent facility of expressing the most novel or abstruse ideas with

precision and elegance. Hence the Attic style of eloquence was plain and

simple, because simplicity and plainness were not incompatible with

clearness, energy, and harmony. But it was a singular want of judgment,

an ignorance of the very principles of composition, which induced

Brutus, Calvus, Sallust, and others to imitate this terse and severe

beauty in their own defective language, and even to pronounce the

opposite kind of diction deficient in taste and purity. In Greek,

indeed, the words fall, as it were, naturally, into a distinct and

harmonious order; and from the exuberant richness of the materials, less

is left to the ingenuity of the artist. But the Latin language is

comparatively weak, scanty, and unmusical; and requires considerable

skill and management to render it expressive and graceful. Simplicity in

Latin is scarcely separable from baldness; and justly as Terence is

celebrated for chaste and unadorned diction, yet even he, compared with

Attic writers, is flat and heavy (Quint. x. 1, §100).’ Cp. for a similar

contrast Quint. xii. 10, §§27-39.

cum praesertim: Krüger (3rd ed.) gives the sense as follows,

‘especially since I do not intend to prove my statement by a detailed

comparison’: following Becher (but see Crit. Notes), who thinks that Quint.

means to say that the _pugna_ will be all the more violent because

he does not intend to go into a detailed comparison. Such a comparison

would be out of place (neque enim attinet), as he is not denying the

supreme excellence of Demosthenes. _Cum praesertim_ means that

there is all the less reason for controversy as he does not intend to

compare the two: it gives an additional ground for what is really, if

not formally, the main idea in the writer’s mind, viz. the needlessness

of a _pugna_ at this point. Hence it comes to have the force of

_quamvis_, or _idque cum tamen_: tr. ‘and that though,’

‘though indeed,’ ‘which is all the less necessary because,’ etc. Cp.

Cic. de Fin. ii. 8, 25 cum praesertim in eo omne studium

poneret,—where see Madvig’s note: in Verr. ii. 113 ut ex oppido

Thermis nihil ex sacro, nihil de publico attingeres, cum praesertim

essent multa praeclara, &c., i.e. ‘which is all the more wonderful

because’—very much as in our text: Philipp. viii. 2, 5

C. quidem Caesar non expectavit vestra decreta, praesertim cum

illud aetatis erat—i.e. as he might well have done at his age:

ibid. ii. 64 inventus est nemo praeter Antonium, praesertim cum tot

essent, &c.: i.e. which was all the more remarkable as, &c.:

Brutus, §267 M. Bibulus qui et scriptitavit adcurate, cum

praesertim non esset orator, et, &c., i.e. ‘and that too though’: de

Off. ii. 56: Orator §32 nec vero si historiam non scripsisset

(Thucydides) nomen eius exstaret, cum praesertim fuisset honoratus et

nobilis. Roby §1732: Nägelsbach8, pp. 695-6.

propositi: for the gen. cp. iv. 2, 21 quid acti sit: quid tui

consilii sit (Cic. ad Att. xii. 29, 2: Caes. B. G. i. 21, 2):

quid offici sui sit Cic. Acad. Pr. ii. §25, with Dr. Reid’s note.

hoc tempore: Demosthenes and Cicero are eulogised together,

xii. 1, §§14-22.

neque enim attinet, i.e. nor would there be any point in such

a controversy. They have no need to draw the sword against me, for I too

give Demosthenes the highest place. In exalting Cicero I do not mean to

depreciate Demosthenes. Cp. Tac. Dial. 25 quo modo inter Atticos primae

Demostheni tribuuntur ... sic apud nos Cicero quidem ceteros eorundem

temporum disertos antecessit.

106

I:106

Quorum ego virtutes

106

plerasque arbitror similes, consilium, ordinem, dividendi, praeparandi,

probandi rationem, [omnia] denique quae sunt inventionis.

107

In eloquendo est aliqua diversitas: densior ille hic copiosior, ille

concludit adstrictius hic latius, pugnat ille acumine semper hic

frequenter et pondere, illi nihil detrahi potest huic nihil adici, curae

plus in illo in hoc naturae.

§ 106.

consilium: vi. 5 §3 consilium vero ratio est quaedam alte petita

et plerumque plura perpendens et comparans habensque in se et

inventionem et iudicationem: §11 illud dicere satis habeo, nihil esse

non modo in orando, sed in omni vita prius consilio, and the whole

passage from §9 to end: ii. 13, 2 res in oratore praecipua consilium

est, quia varie et ad rerum momenta convertitur. This ‘tact’ or

‘judgment’ would be specially shown in _inventio_ and in

_dispositio_, here made a part of inventio: _elocutio_ is a

higher gift. Cp. viii, Pr. §14 M. Tullius inventionem quidem ac

dispositionem prudentis hominis putat, eloquentiam oratoris: Cicero, de

Orat. ii. 120 cum haec duo nobis quaerenda sint in causis, primum quid

[_inventio_], deinde quomodo [_elocutio_] dicamus, alterum ...

prudentiae est paene mediocris [quid dicendum sit videre]: alterum est,

in quo oratoris vis illa divina virtusque cernitur, ea quae dicenda sunt

ornate copiose varieque dicere; Orator §44 nam et invenire et iudicare

quid dicas magna illa quidem sunt et tamquam animi instar in corpore,

sed propria magis prudentiae quam eloquentiae.

ordinem (τάξιν):

_ordo_ corresponds to _dispositio_ iii. 3, 8. In vii. 1,

1 the two are separately defined: _ordo_ recta quaedam collocatio

prioribus sequentia adnectens: _dispositio_ utilis rerum ac partium

in locos distributio.

dividendi. _Divisio_ is defined, along with

_partitio_, in vii. 1, 1: _divisio_ rerum plurium in singulas,

_partitio_ singularum in partes discretio. Here _dividendi

ratio_ is used in a more general sense, as equivalent to

_partitio_ in iv. 5: i.e. nostrarum aut adversarii propositionum

aut utrarumque ordine collocata enumeratio. Of this useful process

Quintilian says (iv. 5, 22): neque enim solum id efficit ut

clariora fiant quae dicuntur, rebus velut ex turba extractis et in

conspectu iudicum positis, sed reficit quoque audientem certo singularum

partium fine, non aliter quam facientibus iter multum detrahunt

fatigationis notata inscriptis lapidibus spatia.—Kiderlin (Hermes

23, p. 176) thinks it remarkable that _divisio_ should here be

ranked alongside of _praeparandi_, _probandi rationem_,

whereas in iii. 3, 1 it stands independently alongside of

_inventio_ itself. He sees no difference between _ordinem_ and

_dividendi rationem_ (iii. 3, 8), and suggests that in the

MSS. readings (videndi and indicendi) there may be concealed some noun

to correspond with _ordinem_: e.g. _viam dicendi_ (‘der Gang

der Reden’): cp. iv. 5, 3: x.

7, 5. But in x. 7,

9 we have both _ordo_ and _dispositio_, in spite of iii.

3, 8, and so it is here.

praeparandi: iii. 9, 7 expositio enim probationum est

praeparatio, nec esse utilis potest nisi prius constiterit, quid debeat

de probatione promittere. A less formal use occurs x. 1 §21: cp. iv. 2 §55.

probandi rationem = _confirmationem_, the establishment

of the case. Understanding the passage to contain an enumeration of the

five parts of an oration (exordium, narratio, probatio, refutatio, and

peroratio), Kiderlin takes _probandi_ here as covering the third

and fourth, which were often considered one part. _Praeparandi_ =

exordium, and the _peroratio_ is omitted, because here Demosthenes

and Cicero were unlike, for the reason given below (§107). In order to include _narratio_, he

proposes to insert _narrandi_ after _praeparandi_: it may

easily, he thinks, have fallen out after _-arandi_. It is always

included in similar enumerations: ii. 5, 7-8: ii. 13, 1: iv. pr. 6: x. 2, 27.

[omnia] denique quae sunt inventionis: see Crit. Notes. ‘Inventio,’ the orator’s

first requisite, may of course be shown in all the various parts of a

speech, e.g. narratio, divisio, confirmatio, as here. But in the

antithesis between _inventionis_ and _in eloquendo_ Quintilian

is thinking of that fundamental distinction between substance and form

on which he based his treatment of his subject. Applying a rough

division to his work, we may say that Books iii. to vii. deal with

_inventio_ including _dispositio_, i.e. εὕρεσις and τάξις: while Books viii-xi. treat of _elocutio_

(λέξις), including

_actio_ or _pronuntiatio_, ‘delivery’ (ὑπόκρισις). So Cicero in the Orator §43

introduces a description of the ideal orator in the three relations of

(1) inventio—quid dicat (εὕρεσις): (2) collocatio or dispositio—quo

quidque loco (τάξις), and

(3) actio or pronuntiatio (ὑπόκρισις): and elocutio (λέξις)—quo modo. Quintilian in iii. 3 gives

in more detail the traditional parts of rhetoric: inventio, dispositio,

elocutio, memoria, pronuntiatio (or actio). See §§1-9. For the division

here cp. also xii. 10, 27 Latina mihi facundia, ut inventione,

dispositione, consilio, ceteris huius generis artibus similis Graecae ac

prorsus discipula eius videtur, ita circa

107

rationem eloquendi vix habere imitationis locum.

aliqua diversitas: Morawski (Quaest. p. 33) thinks that

this passage may be founded on a tractate by Caecilius (contemporary

with Dion. Hal.), which is mentioned by Plutarch, Dem. 3 σύγκρισις τοῦ

Δημοσθένους καὶ Κικέρωνος. A parallel passage is found in

the περὶ ὕψους (Sp.

i. p. 261), the author of which may also have borrowed from

Caecilius:—ὁ μὲν γὰρ (Δημοσθένης) ἐν ὕψει τὸ πλέον ἀποτόμῳ, ὁ

δὲ Κικέρων ἐν χύσει, καὶ ὁ μὲν ἡμέτερος διὰ τὸ μετὰ βίας ἕκαστα, ἔτι δὲ

τάχους, ῥώμης, δεινότητος οἷον καίειν τε ἅμα καὶ διαρπάζειν, σκηπτῷ τινι

παρεικάζοιτ᾽ ἂν ἢ κεραυνῷ, ὁ δὲ Κικέρων ὡς ἀμφιλαφής τις ἐμπρησμὸς οἶμαι

πάντη νέμεται καὶ ἀνειλεῖται.... Cp. Introd. p. xxxviii.

densior: §76 tam densa omnia: so

of Thucydides §73 densus et brevis.

concludit, not, as Bonnell = ratiocinatur (xii. 2, 25),

but of the ‘rounding off’ of a period: ix. 4, 22, περίοδον quae est vel ambitus vel circumductum

vel continuatio vel conclusio. Cp. Cic. Brutus §33 verborum ... quaedam

ad numerum conclusio: cp. §34 below, concluditque sententiam: Orator §20

conclusa oratio: §177 concluse apteque dicere: §§200, 220, 230, 231: de

Orat. ii. §34 quod carmen artificiosa verborum conclusione (‘artistic

period’) aptius? Hor. Sat. i. 4, 40 concludere versum. The opposite is

membratim caesimque dicere, Quint. ix. 4, 126: cp. Cic. Orat. §212

incise membratimve: de Orat. iii. 49, 190 carpere membris minutioribus

orationem. For a contrast cp. Brutus §120 ut Stoicorum adstrictior est

oratio aliquantoque contractior quam aures populi requirunt, sic illorum

(Peripateticorum Academicorumque) liberior et latior quam patitur

consuetudo iudiciorum et fori: §162 quin etiam comprehensio et ambitus

ille verborum, si sic περίοδον appellari placet, erat apud illum (i.e.

Crassum) contractus et brevis, et in membra quaedam, quae κῶλα Graeci vocant, dispertiebat orationem

libentius.

astrictius ... latius: there is more compactness about the

periodic structure in Demosthenes, greater breadth in that of Cicero.

This could hardly be said of Demosthenes’s periods as a whole: it rather

refers to the care which Cicero and Roman orators generally bestowed on

the closing syllables of a period (Blass, Att. Ber. iii. 117). It was

this liking for a sonorous and copious diction that seemed to Cicero’s

critics to justify the epithets (inflatus, tumens, &c.) applied to

him in Dial. de Orat. 18 (quoted above, §105); he himself tells us in the Orator, §104, that

his ears craved for something more full and sonorous even than

Demosthenes: ‘non semper implet aures meas: ita sunt avidae et capaces

et semper aliquid immensum infinitumque desiderant.’

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

acumine: the word is used in §§81

and 83 of ‘power of thought,’ ‘intellectual penetration’: viii. 2, 21:

x. 1, §81 and §83. See on acutus §77.

So Cic. de Orat. i. §128 acumen dialecticorum. Here it includes the idea

of ‘point’ in expression: following up the metaphor contained in

‘pugnat,’ we might render, ‘Demosthenes always thrusts with the rapier,

Cicero often uses the bludgeon too.’ (Landor, speaking of Shaftesbury

and Bolingbroke, as compared with Lord Brougham, said that they had

‘more of the rapier than the bludgeon.’) Cp. de Orat. ii. §158 ipsi se

compungunt suis acuminibus. The contrast is something like that implied

in xii. 10, 36 subtilitate vincimur (a Graecis): valeamus pondere:

cp. ibid. §11 gravitatem Bruti acumen Sulpici.

nihil detrahi: cp. §76 is dicendi

modus ut nec quod desit in eo nec quod redundet invenias.

curae ... naturae: v. Jebb’s Attic Orators, i. Introd.

p. cvi, where it is remarked that this paradox is true in this

sense alone, ‘that Cicero is an inferior artist, and indulges more

freely the taste of the natural man for ornament.’ Quintilian may also

refer to the laborious training which Demosthenes imposed on himself,

and in consequence of which, says Plutarch, δόξαν εἶχεν ὡς οὐκ εὐφυὴς ὤν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ πόνου

συγκειμένῃ δεινότητι καὶ δυνάμει χρώμενος (Vit. Demosth. viii.).

Cp. the taunt of Pytheas, that his work ‘smelled of the lamp’: ἐλλυχνίων ὄζειν,

ibid.; also

108

Parallel. ch. i. It was the rule with Demosthenes never to speak without

preparation: Cicero may have relied at times on the faculty of

extemporising at need.

I:107

Salibus certe et

108

commiseratione, quae duo plurimum in adfectibus valent, vincimus. Et

fortasse epilogos illi mos civitatis abstulerit, sed et nobis illa, quae

Attici mirantur, diversa Latini sermonis ratio

109

minus permiserit. In epistulis quidem, quamquam sunt utriusque,

dialogisve, quibus nihil ille, nulla contentio est.

§ 107.

salibus: cp. vi. 3, 2 plerique Demostheni facultatem defuisse

huic rei credunt, Ciceroni modum, nec videri potest noluisse

Demosthenes, cuius pauca admodum dicta nec sane ceteris eius virtutibus

respondentia palam ostendunt non displicuisse illi iocos sed non

contigisse ... mihi quidem ... mira quaedam in eo (Cicerone) videtur

fuisse urbanitas. So §21 Demosthenem urbanum fuisse dicunt, dicacem

negant: Cic. Orat. §90 non tam dicax quam facetus: Dion. Hal. Dem. c. 54

πάσας ἔχουσα τὰς ἀρετὰς ἡ Δημοσθένους

λέξις ... λείπεται εὐτραπελίας. Cp. περὶ ὕψους, 34, where the judgment is unduly

severe, ἔνθα μέντοι

γελοῖος εἶναι βιάζεται καὶ ἀστεῖος οὐ γέλωτα κινεῖ μᾶλλον ἢ

καταγελᾶται. Cp. Sandys’ note on Orat. §90, “Though not

obtrusively witty, Demosthenes nevertheless is not wanting in humour, as

is proved by the speech on the Chersonesus §§5, 11 ff. and esp. 23

(characterized by Brougham as ‘full of refined and almost playful wit’):

Plut. iii. §66: de Cor. §§198, 234 (Blass, Att. Ber. iii. 163-6).” For a

criticism of Cicero’s wit, on the other hand, v. Plut. Parallel. §1

Κικέρων δὲ πολλαχοῦ τῷ σκωπτικῷ πρὸς τὸ βωμολόχον ἐκφερόμενος

καὶ πράγματα σπουδῆς ἄξια γέλωτι καὶ παιδιᾷ κατειρωνευόμενος ἐν ταῖς

δίκαις εἰς τὸ χρειῶδες ἠφείδει τοῦ πρέποντος, and below, Cato’s

ὡς γελοῖον, ὦ ἄνδρες, ἔχομεν ὕπατον. Δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ γέλωτος

οἰκεῖος ὁ Κικέρων γεγονέναι καὶ φιλοσκώπτης κ.τ.λ.

commiseratione, ‘pathos.’ See Orator §130 in quo ut viderer

excellere non ingenio, sed dolore adsequebar; i.e. it was real sympathy

more than any special talent that enabled him to excel in this

respect.

in adfectibus, ‘where the feelings are concerned.’ Under

_adfectus_ (vi. 2) is included everything that makes an

impression on the judges: §1 opus ... movendi iudicum animos: among

other things laughter itself, virtus quae risum iudicis movendo et illos

tristes solvit adfectus et animum ab intentione rerum frequenter avertit

et aliquando etiam reficit et a satietate vel a fatigatione renovat.

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

epilogos, ‘perorations.’ The peroration was looked on as

giving a great opportunity for moving the feelings: Arist. Rhet. iii. 19

says one of its parts is εἰς τὰ πάθη τὸν ἀκροατὴν καταστῆσαι. So

Quint. iv. 1, 28 quod in ingressu parcius et modestius praetemptanda sit

iudicis misericordia: in epilogo vero liceat totos effundere adfectus.

The word is common in this sense in Quintilian: vi. 1, 37, sq. esp. §52

at hic, si usquam, totos eloquentiae aperire fontes licet. Nam et, si

bene diximus reliqua, possidebimus iam iudicum animos, et e confragosis

atque asperis evecti tota pandere possumus vela, et, cum sit maxima pars

epilogi amplificatio, verbis atque sententiis uti licet magnificis et

ornatis. Tunc est commovendum theatrum cum ventum est ad ipsum illud,

quo veteres tragoediae comoediaeque cluduntur, plodite: cp. also Cicero,

Brutus §33 exstat eius peroratio, qui epilogus dicitur: de Orat. ii.

§278: ad Att. iv. 15, 4.

mos civitatis: ii. 16 §4 Athenis ubi actor movere

adfectus vetabatur velut recisam orandi potestatem: vi. 1, 7, where he

says that with the Attic orators the _epilogus_ generally took the

form of recapitulation (ἀνακεφαλαίωσις = enumeratio) ‘quia Athenis

adfectus movere etiam per praeconem prohibebatur orator.’ Cp. xii. 10,

26. This would be especially the case in trials before the Areopagus.

But it was the Hellenic instinct for moderation that imposed its own

law. Lord Brougham, in his Dissertation on the Eloquence of the Ancients

(p. 25), remarks on the calmness of the Greek peroration: cp. his Essay

on Demosthenes (p. 184): ‘It seems to have been a rule enjoined by the

severe taste of those times, that after being wrought up to a great

pitch of emotion, the speaker should, in quitting his audience, leave an

impression of dignity, which cannot be maintained without composure.’

Cp. Jebb, i. ciii-civ: ‘Cicero has now and then an Attic peroration, as

in the Second Philippic and the Pro Milone; more often he breaks off in

a burst of eloquence—as in the First Catilinarian, the Pro Flacco,

and the Pro Cluentio.’

illa quae Attici mirantur: cp. §65, §100 illam solis

concessam Atticis venerem: xii. 10 §35 illam gratiam sermonis

Attici.

109

epistulis. If it were not for the ineptitude of the comparison

which follows (in quibus _nihil_ ille) we might be inclined to

imagine that Quintilian knew of more letters of Demosthenes than the six

which are still extant, and which are generally considered

apocryphal.

dialogis: comprising most of Cicero’s philosophical works, and

the Brutus and De Oratore among his rhetorical.

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

I:108

Cedendum vero in hoc, quod et prior fuit et ex magna parte Ciceronem

quantus est fecit. Nam mihi videtur M. Tullius, cum se totum ad

imitationem Graecorum contulisset, effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam

Platonis, iucunditatem Isocratis.

§ 108.

effinxisse, ‘artistically reproduced.’

iucunditatem. ‘The idea which Cicero got from Isocrates was

that of number. See esp. de Orat. iii. 44 §173.’ Jebb. So

‘suavitatem Isocrates ... vim Demosthenes habuit’ de Orat. iii. §28.

I:109

Nec vero quod in quoque optimum fuit studio consecutus est tantum, sed

plurimas vel potius omnes ex se ipso virtutes extulit immortalis ingenii

beatissima ubertate. Non enim ‘pluvias,’ ut ait Pindarus, ‘aquas

colligit, sed vivo gurgite exundat,’ dono quodam providentiae genitus,

in quo totas vires suas eloquentia experiretur.

§ 109.

ex se ipso ... extulit: cp. Cic. Acad. ii. 8, 23 artem vivendi

quae ipsa ex sese habeat constantiam, where Dr. Reid cites this passage,

along with many others, e.g. Sen. Ep. 52, 3 hos quibus ex se impetus

fuit: Cic. N. D. iii. 88 a se sumere.

beatissima: cp. §61 beatissima

rerum verborumque copia: 3,

§22 beatiorem spiritum. Cp. the eulogy by Caesar, in his Analogia

(written as he was crossing the Alps, and dedicated to Cicero himself):

ac si ut cogitata praeclare eloqui possent non nulli studio et usu

elaboraverunt, cuius te paene principem copiae atque inventorem bene de

nomine ac dignitate populi Romani meritum esse existimare debemus,

&c.—quoted in Brutus §253. Hild adds Pliny H. N. vii. 30

Facundiae Latiarumque litterarum parens atque ... omnium triumphorum

gloria maior, quanto plus est ingenii Romani terminos in tantum

promovisse quam imperii,—where the language has a close

resemblance to that of Cicero himself in Brutus §255.

ut ait Pindarus. We get the _pluvias aquas_ in the οὐρανίων ὑδάτων

ὀμβρίων of Olymp. xi, but there is nothing in Pindar’s extant

works that corresponds to the quotation.

exundat: cp. Tac. Dial. 30 ex multa eruditione et plurimis

artibus et omnium rerum scientia exundat et exuberat illa admirabilis

eloquentia.

providentia is used very frequently by itself in Quintilian,

e.g. i. 10, 7 oratio qua nihil praestantius homini dedit providentia (v.

Bonn. Lex.); also in xi. i, 23 with deorum immortalium.

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

Romana eloquentia exsiluit.

I:110

Nam quis docere diligentius, movere vehementius potest? Cui tanta umquam

iucunditas adfuit? ut ipsa illa quae extorquet

110

impetrare eum credas, et cum transversum vi sua iudicem ferat, tamen

ille non rapi videatur, sed sequi.

§ 110.

docere ... movere. Cp. iii. 5 §2 tria sunt item quae

praestare debeat orator, ut doceat, moveat, delectet (quoted on §80). _Iucunditas_ here expresses the third.

So Cicero, Brutus §185 tria sunt enim, ut quidem ego sentio, quae sint

efficienda dicendo: ut doceatur is apud quem dicetur, ut delectetur, ut

moveatur vehementius.

extorquet: cp. v. 7, 17 at in eo qui invitus dicturus est

prima felicitas interrogantis extorquere quod is noluerit: ib. §27. Cic.

de Or. ii. §74 qui nunquam sententias de manibus iudicum vi quadam

orationis extorsimus ac potius placatis eorum animis tantum quantum ipsi

patiebantur accepimus.

110

transversus = ‘turned across,’ i.e. at right angles to the

original line. So transversis itineribus Sall. Iug. 45, 2. For the

figure contained in _transversum ferat_ cp. ibid. 6, 3 opportunitas

quae etiam mediocres viros ... transversos agit: 14, 20. The

_iudex_ is ‘turned athwart’—away from the path of his own

judgment. So Sen. Ep. 8, 3 cum coepit transversos agere felicitas: Cic.

Brutus 331 cuius in adulescentiam ... transversa incurrit misera fortuna

rei publicae.

I:111

Iam in omnibus quae dicit tanta auctoritas inest ut dissentire pudeat,

nec advocati studium sed testis aut iudicis adferat fidem; cum interim

haec omnia, quae vix singula quisquam intentissima cura consequi posset,

fluunt inlaborata et illa, qua nihil pulchrius auditum est, oratio prae

se fert tamen felicissimam facilitatem.

§ 111.

advocati, ‘pleader,’ as generally in Quintilian, syn. with ‘actor

causae,’ ‘causidicus,’ ‘patronus.’ In Cicero the word is reserved for

those who lent their countenance and personal support to a friend,

especially in legal matters: e.g. Brutus §289: pro Clu. §110 quis eum

unquam non modo in patroni, sed in laudatoris aut advocati loco viderat?

See Fausset’s note on _advocabat_ pro Clu. §54.

fidem: ‘trustworthiness,’ ‘credibility.’ So quantam afferat

fidem iv. 2, 125.

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

posset: the use of the imperf. subj. points to a suppressed

protasis, sc. si vellet. Cp. i. 1, 22 cur improbetur si quis ea quae

domi suae recte _faceret_ in publicum promit? So too below, 2 §25 qui noceret, where see

note.

tamen is a reminiscence of tamen ille non rapi videatur, in

the previous sentence, and must be taken with _cum interim_: = ‘for

all that.’

facilitatem: cp. §1.

I:112

Quare non immerito ab hominibus aetatis suae regnare in iudiciis dictus

est, apud posteros vero id consecutus, ut Cicero iam non hominis nomen

sed eloquentiae habeatur. Hunc igitur spectemus, hoc propositum nobis

sit exemplum, ille se profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valde placebit.

§ 112.

regnare: cp. Cic. ad Fam. vii. 24, 1 olim quum regnare

existimabamur: ad Att. i. 1 illud suum regnum iudiciale,—his

‘sovereignty of the bar’: in Verr. i. 12, 35 (of Hortensius) omnis

dominatio regnumque iudiciorum: ad Fam. ix. 18, 1 amisso regno forensi:

cp. pro Sulla §7.

non hominis ... sed eloquentiae. There is no thought here of

holding the balance with Demosthenes, §105. Cp. what Brutus says after Caesar’s eulogy

quoted above (§109 note): quo enim uno

vincebamur a victa Graecia, id aut ereptum illis est aut certe nobis cum

illis communicatum: Brut. §254. Hild quotes from Plutarch (Cicero, §4)

the story of Molo, one of Cicero’s teachers, who, on hearing him

declaim, said that he had to pity the hard fate of Greece, from whom the

palm of eloquence, her sole surviving glory, was now to pass away.

exemplum, predicative, hoc being neuter by a common form of

attraction: cp. 3 §17.

profecisse: Hild quotes Boileau, Art. Poet. iii. 308, speaking

of Homer: c’est avoir profité que de savoir s’y plaire.

I:113

Multa in Asinio Pollione inventio, summa

111

diligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur, et consilii et animi

satis: a nitore et iucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest ut videri

possit saeculo prior. At Messalla nitidus et candidus et quodam

modo praeferens in dicendo nobilitatem suam, viribus minor.

§ 113.

Quintilian makes no mention of orators previous to Cicero: for them see

Brutus §53 sqq. Velleius disposes of them in the following sentence (i.

17, 3): At oratio ac vis forensis perfectumque prosae eloquentiae

decus, ut idem separetur Cato, pace P. Crassi Scipionisque et Laeli

et Gracchorum et Fanni et Servi Galbae dixerim, ita universa sub

principe operis sui erupit Tullio, ut delectari ante eum paucissimis,

mirari vero neminem possis, nisi aut ab illo visum aut qui illum

viderit. Cp. Tac. Dial. 25. Hild cites also Seneca, Controv. i. praef.:

quidquid Romana facundia habet, quod insolenti Graeciae aut opponat aut

praeferat, circa Ciceronem effloruit; omnia ingenia quae lucem studiis

nostris attulerunt, tunc nata sunt.

111

Asinio Pollione. C. Asinius Pollio (75 B.C.–4 A.D.)

was consul in 40, when he helped Maecenas to arrange the Peace of

Brundisium: afterwards becoming estranged from Antony he retired into

private life and devoted himself to letters. Vergil dedicates the Fourth

Eclogue to him, and in the first Ode of Book ii Horace recounts his

various titles to distinction. He was a poet as well as an orator: Verg.

Ecl. viii. 10 Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno: iii. 86 Pollio

et ipse facit nova carmina: Hor. S. i. 10, 42. He was also distinguished

as a historian, having written a history of the Civil Wars from the

first triumvirate (Motum ex Metello consule Hor. Car. ii. 1, 1). In

the same Ode (II. 13, 14) Horace alludes to his fame as an orator, both

at the bar and in the senate. Quintilian’s judgment on him in this

capacity may be compared with that of Seneca, Ep. 100, 7 Lege Ciceronem:

compositio eius una est, pedem servat lenta et sine infamia mollis. At

contra Pollionis Asinii salebrosa et exsiliens et ubi minime expectes

relictura. Denique omnia apud Ciceronem desinunt, apud Pollionem cadunt

exceptis paucissimis, quae ad certum modum et ad unum exemplar adstricta

sunt. Cp. 2 §17 below

tristes ac ieiuni Pollionem aemulantur.

diligentia: 2 §25 vim Caesaris, asperitatem

Caelii, diligentiam Pollionis. The word does not refer to the

historian’s painstaking care (which could hardly ever be ‘nimia’), but

to the ‘precision’ or ‘exactitude’ of his language: v. the fragment

quoted in ix. 4, 132.

consilii, ‘judgment,’ §106.

animi, ‘spirit,’ ‘vivacity.’

nitore: v. on §97.

saeculo prior. ‘As an orator and writer he affected antique

severity in opposition to Ciceronian smoothness,’—Teuffel. Cp.

Tac. Dial. 21 Asinius quoque quamquam propioribus temporibus natus sit,

videtur mihi inter Menenios et Appios studuisse; Pacuvium certe et

Accium non solum tragoediis sed etiam orationibus suis expressit: adeo

durus et siccus est: Sen. Controv. iv. praef. 3 illud strictum eius et

aspersum et nimis iratum in censendo iudicium adeo cessabat ut in multis

illi venia opus esset quae ab ipso vix impetrabatur. See Schmalz ‘Ueber

den Sprachgebrauch des Asinius Pollio,’ p. 289; München, 1890.

Pollio’s antipathy to Cicero and his dislike of Cicero’s style may be

seen from the story in Seneca, Suas. vi. extr., quoted by Bernhardy

(q.v.), R. L. p. 268 (note 182).

Messalla, M. Valerius Corvinus (64 B.C.-8 A.D.), the

friend of Tibullus, who dedicates to him i. 7: cp. the panegyric

iv. 1. Cp. Tac. Dial. 18 Cicerone mitior Corvinus et dulcior et in

verbis magis elaboratus,—with the latter part of which cp. Sen.

Controv. ii. 12, 8 Latini utique sermonis observator diligentissimus.

Cicero’s own opinion of him may be seen in Epist. ad Brutum i. 15, 1

cave putes probitate, constantia, cura, studio reipublicae quidquam illi

esse simile; ut eloquentia, qua mirabiliter excellit, vix in eo locum ad

laudandum habere videatur: quamquam in hac ipsa sapientia plus apparet:

ita gravi iudicio multaque arte se exercuit in verissimo genere dicendi,

tanta autem industria est tantumque evigilat in studio ut non maxima

ingenio (quod in eo summum est) gratia habenda videatur. By

_verissimum genus dicendi_ Cicero seems to indicate that Messalla

was neither an Asianist like Hortensius, nor an extreme Atticist like

Calvus. See also Brutus §246, where the judgment is less favourable:

nullo modo inops, sed non nimis ornatus genere verborum.

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

&c.

candidus: v. on §73.

quodam modo: cp. Cic. Brut. §30 (where Kellogg wrongly renders

‘with a certain style’): ib. §149: de Orat. iii. §37: §184.

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

viribus minor: cp. §103.

I:114

C. vero Caesar si foro tantum vacasset, non alius ex

112

nostris contra Ciceronem nominaretur. Tanta in eo vis est, id acumen, ea

concitatio, ut illum eodem animo dixisse quo bellavit appareat; exornat

tamen haec omnia mira sermonis, cuius proprie studiosus fuit,

elegantia.

§ 114.

Caesar. The purity and correctness of Caesar’s style are

eulogised in the Brutus §§251-262: see esp. §261 non video cui debeat

cedere. Cp. Phil. ii. 45 Fuit in illo ingenium, ratio, memoria,

112

litterae, cura, cogitatio, diligentia: and with special reference to his

oratorical talent, Suet. Caes. 55, where is cited a fragment from a

letter of Cicero: ‘Quid? oratorum quem huic antepones eorum qui nihil

aliud egerunt? Quis sententiis aut acutior aut crebrior? Quis verbis aut

ornatior aut elegantior?’ Tac. Ann, xiii. 3 dictator Caesar summis

oratoribus aemulus.

si foro tantum vacasset. So of Pompeius (Brut. 239), vir ad

omnia summa natus, maiorem dicendi gloriam habuisset, nisi eum maioris

gloriae cupiditas ad bellicas laudes abstraxisset: Tac. Dial. 21

concedamus sane C. Caesari, ut propter magnitudinem cogitationum et

occupationes rerum in eloquentia non effecerit quae divinum eius

ingenium postulabat.

contra, ‘by the side of,’ with the notion of being ‘pitted

against’: cp. proximumque Ciceroni Caesarem, Vell. Pat. ii.

36, 2.

vis: xii. 10, 11 vim Caesaris.

acumen. See on §106: here

probably of a pointed incisive style.

eodem animo: Livy xxxviii. 50 dicebantur enim ab eodem animo

ingenioque a quo gesta erant.

proprie studiosus: cp. i. 7, 34 aut vim C. Caesaris

fregerunt editi de analogia libri? Suet. Caes. 56: Gell. xix. 8, 3.

See too Brutus §253, where we learn that the work was dedicated to

Cicero: ‘qui etiam in maximis occupationibus ad te ipsum,’ inquit in me

intuens, ‘de ratione Latine loquendi adcuratissime scripserit primoque

in libro dixerit verborum delectum originem esse eloquentiae.’—Cp.

Gell. xvi. 8 C. Caesar gravis auctor linguae

latinae,—_Proprie_ in this sense is post-Augustan: cp. Vell.

Pat. ii. 9, 1.

elegantia: Brutus §252 ita iudico ... illum omnium fere

oratorum Latine loqui elegantissime. In the Preface to B. G. viii.

Hirtius says Erat autem in Caesare quum facultas atque elegantia summa

scribendi tum, etc.

I:115

Multum ingenii in Caelio et praecipue in accusando multa

urbanitas, dignusque vir, cui et mens melior et vita longior

contigisset. Inveni qui Calvum

113

praeferrent omnibus, inveni qui Ciceroni crederent eum nimia contra se

calumnia verum sanguinem perdidisse; sed est et sancta et gravis oratio

et castigata et frequenter vehemens

114

quoque. Imitator autem est Atticorum, fecitque illi properata mors

iniuriam, si quid adiecturus sibi non si quid detracturus fuit.

§ 115.

Caelius, M. Rufus (82-48 B.C.),

a man of loose morals and luxurious life, whom Cicero defended from some

charges of sedition and attempted poisoning, 56 B.C. He had not much strength of character: during

Cicero’s absence in Cilicia he was in friendly correspondence with him,

but afterwards he joined Caesar, while urging Cicero to remain neutral.

Becoming discontented, he intrigued with Milo to raise an insurrection

against Caesar, and was put to death near Thurii by some foreign

cavalry, 48 B.C. Cp. Brutus §273

splendida et grandis et eadem in primis faceta et perurbana oratio.

Graves eius contiones aliquot fuerunt, acres accusationes tres (one

against C. Antonius) ... defensiones ... sane tolerabiles. There

was something bitter about him: 2 §25 asperitatem Caelii: cp.

Tac. Dial. 25 amarior Caelius: Sen. de Ira iii. 8, 6 oratorem ...

iracundissimum. A description of one of his speeches is given iv.

2, 123 sq.: for witticisms on Clodia v. viii. 6, 53. Cp. Tac. Dial.

21 and 25.

praecipue in accusando: vi. 3, 69 idem (Cicero) per allegoriam

M. Caelium, melius obicientem crimina quam defendentem, bonam

dextram malam sinistram habere dicebat.

urbanitas is defined vi. 3, 17 as sermonem praeferentem in

verbis et sono et usu proprium quendam gustum urbis et sumptam ex

conversatione doctorum tacitam eruditionem, denique cui contraria sit

rusticitas. Here the idea of _wit_ is uppermost, as in ii. 11, 2

and vi. 3, 105. Cp. vi. 3 §41 Caelius cum omnia venustissime finxit

tum illud ultimum: i. 6, 29.

mens melior: Brut. §273 quaecunque eius in exitu vel fortuna

vel mens fuit: Vell. Pat. ii. 68 vir eloquio animoque Curioni

simillimus, sed in utroque perfectior nec minus ingeniose nequam.

Calvus, Gaius Licinius (B.C.

82-48), was the leading spirit among the stricter Atticists in Cicero’s

day, and is censured by him in the Brutus (§§284-291) for taking so

narrow a view of the full meaning of Attic oratory as to have introduced

the attempt to imitate certain particular models among the Attic

orators. A poet himself, he was the friend of Catullus, and, like

Catullus, an opponent of Caesar. He prosecuted Vatinius on three

separate

113

occasions, and once showed such vehemence and energy that the defendant

rose in court, saying ‘rogo vos, iudices, num si iste disertus est ideo

me damnari oportet’ (Sen. Controv. vii. 6): Tac. Dial. 34 Vatinium

eis orationibus insecutus est, quas hodieque cum admiratione legimus:

cp. ib. 21. Cp. Catullus 53, where we get a lively idea of his energetic

eloquence at the trial. The passage of Cicero referred to (Brutus §283

quoted below) was written after the death of Calvus: but already in Dec.

47 Cicero, in writing to his friend Trebonius, had stated his opinion

that Calvus had made an error of judgment in the choice of his style,

and that he was wanting in force: ad Fam. xv. 21 §4 genus quoddam

sequebatur, in quo iudicio lapsus, quo valebat, tamen assequebatur quod

probaret. Multae erant et reconditae litterae, vis non erat (Quint. x.

2, 25 ‘iudicium Calvi’). In the Dial. de Or. ch. 18 Tacitus refers to

certain letters, now lost, from Calvus and Brutus to Cicero, showing

that the latter regarded Calvus as _exsanguis_ and _attritus_

(v.l. aridus), while Calvus stigmatised Cicero as _solutus_ and

_enervis_. His position as leader of a school (which took Lysias

mainly for its model and cultivated ‘plainness’ at the expense of other

good qualities) is indicated by Cicero’s remark that he ‘not only went

wrong himself, but also led others astray’ (Brut. §284).

Ciceroni crederent, &c. “In writing of his oratorical

style in the _Brutus_, two years after his death, Cicero observes

that, while he was more accomplished in literature than the younger

Curio, he had also a more accurate and exquisite style; and although he

handled it with skill and elegance, he was too minute and nice in his

self-criticism; losing the very life-blood of style for fear of tainting

its purity, and cultivating too scrupulous a taste to win the approval

of the general public” (Sandys, Orator, Introd. xlvi.). The passage from

the Brutus (283) is as follows:—adcuratius quoddam dicendi et

exquisitius adferebat genus; quod quanquam scienter eleganterque

tractabat, nimium tamen inquirens in se atque ipse sese observans

metuensque ne vitiosum colligeret, etiam verum sanguinem deperdebat ...

Atticum ... se dici oratorem volebat; inde erat ista exilitas, quam ille

de industria consequebatur.

nimia ... calumnia, ‘by over-rigorous self-censure,’—a

morbid habit of introspective criticism: the word being used to express

nimium inquirens ... observans ... metuensque in the passage just

quoted. Perhaps the nearest parallel to this use is to be found in Caec.

ap. Cic. ad Fam. vi. 7, 4 in hac igitur calumnia, timoris et caecae

suspicionis tormento,—of exaggerated fears inspired by the spirit

of carping self-criticism, for which cp. 4 §3: 7 §14. The verb is found in the

same sense in 3 §10

infelicem calumniandi se poenam: viii. prooem. 31 nullus est finis

calumniandi se et cum singulis paene syllabis commoriendi. Cp. Plin.

xxxiv. 8, 19 §92 calumniator sui, of one who is over-anxious in

regard to his work. Cicero uses the verb absolutely: ad Fam. ix. 2, 3

mihi quidem venit in mentem bellum esse aliquo exire ... sed calumniabar

ipse: putabam qui obviam mihi venisset ... suspicaturum aut dicturum,

&c., where the meaning is ‘I indulged groundless fears’ (Nägelsbach,

p. 54). The word _calumnia_ is derived from the root

_calv_ found in _calvor_, to trick, quibble, through a

participial form *calvomenos, calumnus (cp. autumnus, aerumna, columna).

Its first meaning is a malicious charge or ‘cavil’: ad Fam. i. 1, 1,

religionis calumniam, the ‘trumped-up plea of a religious difficulty.’

Hence it was applied in Roman law (Gaius 4, 178) to the vexatious abuse

of legal forms, chicanery, legal quirks and quibbles, and generally to

the pettifogging tendency which exalts the letter above the spirit.

verum sanguinem perdidisse: cp. 4 §3 exsanguia.

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

11 ‘sanctitatem Calvi.’

castigata, ‘chastened,’ ‘severely finished’: cp. Hor.

A. P. 292 carmen reprehendite quod non Multa dies et multa litura

coercuit atque Praesectum decies non castigavit ad unguem, i.e. by

pruning away everything that is useless and inappropriate: Tac. Dial. 25

adstrictior Calvus, numerosior Asinius.

frequenter: see on §17.

vehemens: cp. Sen. Controv. viii. 7

114

solebat praeterea excedere subsellia sua et impetu latus usque ad

adversariorum partem transcurrere. Seneca adds that he resembled

Demosthenes inasmuch as he was all struggle and excitement, though he

sometimes employed a gentler style, ib. §8 nihil in illa (compositione)

placidum, nihil lene est, omnia excitata et fluctuantia.

properata mors: cp. immatura mors. He died at the early age of

34. Cp. Brutus §279 facienda mentio est ... duorum adulescentium (Curio

and Calvus) qui si diutius vixissent magnam essent eloquentiae laudem

consecuti.

adiecturus, i.e. if it was likely that he would have added to

the purity of his diction other and richer qualities. The cold dry

manner of the strictest Atticists failed to hold the ear of Roman

audiences: Brut. §289 subsellia grandiorem et pleniorem vocem

desiderant, a larger and fuller utterance than that of the Atticists who

spoke ‘anguste et exiliter.’ See Crit. Notes.

detracturus: sc. nimia contra se calumnia. He is _exilis_

enough as it is.

I:116

Et Servius Sulpicius insignem non immerito famam tribus

orationibus meruit. Multa, si cum iudicio legatur, dabit imitatione

digna Cassius Severus, qui si ceteris virtutibus colorem et

gravitatem orationis adiecisset, ponendus inter praecipuos foret.

§ 116.

Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the most distinguished jurist of

Cicero’s day, consul B.C. 51. See

reff. in Brutus §150: §152: §153 (adiunxit etiam et litterarum scientiam

et loquendi elegantiam). His letter of sympathy to Cicero on the death

of Tullia is well known: ad Fam. iv. 5. Cp. 5 §4: 7 §30 and above §22.

meruit = _consecutus est_, as §94. See on §72.

Cassius Severus flourished under Augustus, and was banished on

account of his libellous attacks (_procacibus scriptis_), first to

Crete and then to Seriphos, where he is said to have died A.D. 34, in the twenty-fifth year of his exile; Tac.

Ann. iv. 21: i. 72. He is spoken of as the introducer of the new school

of declamatory eloquence, Tac. Dial. 19 Antiquorum admiratores ...

Cassium Severum ... primum affirmant flexisse ab illa vetere atque

directa dicendi via, &c.: ibid. 26 equidem non negaverim Cassium

Severum ... si iis comparetur qui postea fuerunt, posse oratorem vocari,

quamquam in magna parte librorum suorum plus bilis habeat quam

sanguinis: primus enim contempto ordine rerum, omissa modestia ac pudore

verborum, ipsis etiam quibus utitur armis incompositus et studio

feriendi plerumque detectus, non pugnat sed rixatur; ceterum ... et

varietate eruditionis et lepore urbanitatis et ipsaram virium robore

multum ceteros superat.

colorem: cp. on §59. The word is

not here used in the technical sense which it bears in rhetoric, i.e.

the particular aspect given to a case by a skilful representation of the

facts,—the ‘gloss’ or ‘varnish’ put on them by either the accused

or the accuser. For this sense see iv. 2, 88: Inv. vi. 279 Dic aliquem,

sodes, dic Quintiliane colorem: vii. 155 with Mayor’s note. Here it has

a more general sense. Quintilian is charging Cassius with a want of

proper ‘tone’: cp. omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, above: Cic. de

Or. iii. 96 ornatur oratio genere primum et quasi colore quodam et suco

suo.

gravitatem: Cassius was wanting in dignity, and his wit was

apt to carry him too far. Quintilian gives an instance of this xi. 1,

57; Seneca, Controv. iii. praef. 2 says however ‘gravitas, quae deerat

vitae, actioni supererat.’

I:117

Nam et ingenii plurimum est in eo et acerbitas mira et urbanitas et

fervor, sed plus stomacho quam consilio dedit. Praeterea

115

ut amari sales, ita frequenter amaritudo ipsa ridicula est.

§ 117.

ingenii plurimum: Tacitus (Ann. iv. 21) allows that he was

‘orandi validus’: and Seneca (l.c.) says oratio eius erat valens culta

ingentibus plena sententiis ... non est quod illum ex his quae edidit

aestimetis ... eloquentia eius longe maior erat quam lectio.

acerbitas mira: cp. Tac. Ann. i. 72 commotus Cassii Severi

libidine qua viros feminasque inlustres procacibus scriptis

diffamaverat.

urbanitas, v. on §115. For

examples see vi. 1, 43: viii. 3, 89: xi. 3, 133.

et fervor: see Crit. Notes, and cp.

115

Seneca l.c. habebat ... genus dicendi ... ardens et concitatum.

stomacho: he was full of passionate impulse: cp. the passage

quoted from Dial. 26 above.

praeterea ... ridicula est. Spalding’s interpretation of this

passage is followed by Krüger (2nd ed.) and Hild: the other editors do

not seem to have felt any difficulty. The sentence is taken in

continuation of the _praise_ of Cassius, attaching closely to

‘urbanitas’: the words from _sed plus_ to _dedit_ being then

interjected as the only note of disparagement. The literal translation

would then be ‘while his wit is bitter, the bitterness itself is often

enough to make you laugh.’ ‘He has a caustic wit, but his causticity by

itself will often make you laugh.’ For this sense of _ridicula_

(Sp. ‘risum movet auditorum’) cp. vi. 3, 22 _ridiculum_ ... haec

tota disputatio a Graecis περὶ γελοίου inscribitur: 3 §6 ridiculum (‘funny,’

‘droll’) dictum plerumque falsum est (ad hoc semper humile). Frieze

compares vi. 3, 7: and adds ‘success in exciting the mirth of the court

and the audience is not always a proof of the orator’s wit; but is often

due to mere bitterness of invective, and coarse and rough or droll terms

of abuse.’

One objection to this interpretation is the arrangement of the

sentences: _praeterea ... ridicula est_ connects even more

naturally with _sed plus ... dedit_ than with the eulogy contained

in _urbanitas et fervor_. And it may be doubted if Quintilian or

any other writer who had just been censuring Cassius for

_stomachus_ would immediately go on (using _ridiculus_ in a

good sense) to say that ‘often when he is merely bitter without being

witty (this is the force of _amaritudo ipsa_, cp. note on §45) he makes you laugh.’ Drollery can hardly be

claimed for unrelieved acrimoniousness.

A better sense can be obtained by taking _amaritudo ipsa ridicula

est_ as part not of the praise but of the censure of Cassius, and

interpreting ridicula as ‘silly,’ ‘absurd,’ ‘ridiculous.’ Cicero uses

the word in this sense, and there is abundant authority in Quintilian

himself: cp. sint grandia et tumida, non stulta etiam et acrioribus

oculis intuenti ridicula ii. 10, 6; ridiculum est v. 13, 7; fecit enim

risum sed ridiculus fuit vi. 1, 48; quibus nos ... ridiculi videmur vii.

1, 43: ix. 3, 100; x. 3,

21; xi. 3, 128. The meaning then is ‘while his wit is bitter, yet

bitterness by itself is silly,’ i.e. his wit has a bitter turn, but

where he is (as often) bitter without being witty, the result is poor.

There is undoubtedly something unsatisfactory about _ut amari

sales_ (sc. sunt), which might well have a general reference. See Crit. Notes.

I:118

Sunt alii multi diserti, quos persequi longum est. Eorum quos viderim

Domitius Afer et Iulius Africanus longe

praestantissimi.

116

Verborum arte ille et toto genere dicendi praeferendus et quem in numero

veterum habere non timeas: hic concitatior, sed in cura verborum nimius

et compositione nonnumquam longior et translationibus parum modicus.

Erant clara et nuper ingenia.

§ 118.

diserti here, as in §68 and 3 §13, almost synonymous with

_eloquentes_. In viii. pr. §13, however, Quintilian quotes a saying

of M. Antonius, which was meant to establish a difference: nam et

M. Antonius ... cum a se disertos visos esse multos ait, eloquentem

neminem, diserto satis putat dicere quae oporteat, ornate autem dicere

proprium esse eloquentis. Cp. i. 10, 8 ‘Fuit aliquis sine his disertus’:

‘at ego oratorem volo.’ Cicero gives the same quotation: Orat. §18: de

Orat. i. §94, where the reason for the distinction between the

‘accomplished speaker’ and ‘the eloquent orator’ is given by Antonius

himself,—quod ego eum statuebam disertum, qui posset satis acute

atque dilucide apud mediocres homines ex communi quadam opinione hominum

dicere, eloquentem vero, qui mirabilius et magnificentius augere posset

atque ornare quae vellet, omnesque omnium rerum, quae ad dicendum

pertinerent, fontes animo ac memoria contineret. Cp. Plin. Ep. v.

20 §5. For the derivation of _disertus_ v. Sandys on Orat.

§18.

longum est: the action is spoken of as still possible. Roby

1735. So Cic. pro Sest. 5: Longum est ea dicere: sed hoc breve dicam.

Cp. 2 §§4, 7: 5 §7: 6 §2.

quos viderim: see on §98. In xii.

10, 11 he has ‘in iis etiam quos ipsi vidimus,’ mentioning both Afer and

Africanus. Quintilian’s fondness for the perfect subjunctive is marked:

cp. xii. 5, 5.

Domitius Afer: see on §86: cp. v.

7, 7 quem adolescentulus senem colui.

Iulius Africanus: a native of Gaul, who flourished under Nero.

In xii. 10, 11 he is again named alongside of Afer,—vires

Africani, maturitatem Afri. He is quoted as speaking to Nero in the name

of Gaul viii. 5, 15 Insigniter Africanus apud Neronem de morte matris:

rogant

116

te, Caesar, Galliae tuae, ut felicitatem tuam fortiter feras. He divided

the palm of eloquence with Afer: Tac. Dial. 15, He was a son of the

Iulius Africanus of whom Tacitus speaks (Ann. vi. 7) as e Santonis

Gallica civitate (Saintonge, to the N. of the lower Garonne): a grandson

of his, also an orator, is mentioned by Pliny vii. 6, 11.

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

compositione: v. on §79. If it

has the same meaning here, it must = the euphonious collocation of

words: see Cicero Orat. §147 de verbis enim componendis, &c., and

§149 sq. Quintilian treats of _compositio_ ix. 4, 1: Tr. ‘tedious

in his phraseology’: viii. 3, 52: ix. 4, 144 neque longioribus quam

oportet hyperbolis compositioni serviamus.

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

periods.

translationibus: viii. 6, 4 sq.: esp. 16 sed copia quoque

modum egressa vitiosa est, praecipue in eadem specie.

I:119

Nam et Trachalus plerumque sublimis et satis apertus fuit et

quem velle optima crederes, auditus tamen maior; nam et vocis, quantam

in nullo cognovi, felicitas et pronuntiatio vel scaenis suffectura et

decor, omnia denique ei, quae sunt extra, superfuerunt: et Vibius

Crispus compositus et iucundus et delectationi

117

natus, privatis tamen causis quam publicis melior.

§ 119.

Trachalus, M. Galerius: consul A.D. 68 along with Silius Italicus. Tacitus (Hist.

i. 90) tells us he was supposed to have written the speech delivered by

Otho to an assembly of the people: in rebus urbanis Galerii Trachali

ingenio Othonem uti credebatur. Et erant qui genus ipsum orandi

noscerent, crebro fori usu celebre et ad inplendas populi aures latum et

sonans. After Otho’s death he was fortunate in securing the protection

of Galeria, wife of Vitellius (ibid. ii. 60), who may have been a

relation of his. From viii. 5, 19 we learn that he had published an

oration _Contra Spatalem_, in a case where Vibius Crispus appeared

for the accused. Cp. vi. 3, 78.

velle optima, not ‘well-meaning,’ in a moral sense, but with

reference to qualities of style: cp. below §122 ad optima tendentium: §131 meliora vellet.

auditus maior. In the passage often quoted already (xii. 10,

11) Quintilian singles out his _sonus_ for special

mention,—‘sonum Trachali.’—Gertz suggested _melior_ for

_maior_.

vocis ... felicitas: cp. xii. 5, 5, where, after enumerating

_vox_, _latus_, and _decor_ as the ‘naturalia

instrumenta’ of the orator, he refers specially to the ‘external

advantages’ (cp. omnia ... quae sunt extra, below) of Trachalus: Habuit

oratores aetas nostra copiosiores, sed cum diceret eminere inter

aequales Trachalus videbatur, Ea corporis sublimitas erat, is ardor

oculorum, frontis auctoritas, gestus praestantia, vox quidem non, ut

Cicero desiderat, paene tragoedorum sed super omnes, quos ego quidem

audierim, tragoedos. Certe cum in basilica Iulia diceret primo

tribunali, quattuor autem iudicia, ut moris est, cogerentur, atque omnia

clamoribus fremerent, et auditum eum et intellectum et, quod agentibus

ceteris contumeliosissimum fuit, laudatum quoque ex quattuor

tribunalibus memini. Sed hoc votum est et rara felicitas.

suffectura, conditional, for _quae suffectura fuisset_,

without the protasis _si voluisset_. Cp. note on _habitura_ §99. So _taciturus_ xi. 2, 16. Hor.

Car. iv. 3, 20 donatura, si libeat: and ii. 6, 1 (where there is no

protasis), Septimi Gades aditure mecum—For _pronuntiatio_ see

on §17.

superfuerunt, he had an abundant share of such advantages.

Vibius Crispus, a _delator_ of the age of Nero, who

amassed great wealth by the practice of his profession down to about

A.D. 90. Tac. Hist. ii. 10 Vibius

Crispus, pecunia potentia ingenio inter claros magis quam inter bonos

... Crispum easdem accusationes cum praemio exercuisse meminerant: ibid.

iv. 41, 43. In the Dialogue Tacitus speaks of the fame of his eloquence,

ch. 8 ausim contendere Marcellum Eprium et Crispum Vibium

117

non minores esse in extremis partibus terrarum quam Capuae aut

Vercellis, ubi nati dicuntur; hoc ... illis praestat ... ipsa

eloquentia...; per multos iam annos potentissimi sunt civitatis ac,

donec libuit, principes fori, nunc principes in Caesaris (i.e.

Vespasiani) amicitia agunt feruntque cuncta, &c. And yet (ibid. 13)

Adligati canum adulatione nec imperantibus unquam satis servi videntur

nec nobis satis liberi. That he was still in favour with Domitian

appears from Suet. 3 inter initia principatus quotidie secretum sibi

horarium sumere solebat; nec quidquam amplius quam muscas captare ac

stylo praeacuto configere: ut cuidam interroganti esset ne quis intus

cum Caesare non absurde responsum sit a Vibio Crispo ‘Ne musca quidem.’

His wealth was proverbial: divitior Crispo Mart. iv. 54, 7: he was worth

200,000,000 sesterces, or even 300,000,000 according to Dial. 8. By

its means he was enabled to shelter his brother Vibius Secundus, when

accused of ‘repetundae’ in Mauretania: Tac. Ann. xiv. 28. Juvenal gives

a sketch of his character iv. 81-93 Venit et Crispi iucunda senectus

Cuius erant mores qualis facundia mite Ingenium ... nec civis erat qui

libera posset Verba animi proferre et vitam impendere vero ... Sic

multas hiemes atque octogesima vidit Solstitia his armis illa (of

Domitian) quoque tutus in aula.

compositus: generally applied to style, ‘well-balanced,’ e.g.

§44 lenis et nitidi et compositi generis:

cp. Cicero Orat. §208 composita oratio. Here the epithet is transferred

to the orator in the sense of ‘orderly,’ ‘finished’ in the choice and

combination of words. Cp. Orat. §232 compositi oratoris bene structam

collocationem dissolvere permutatione verborum: 2 §16 below fiunt ... pro ...

compositis exultantes: §66

incompositus.

iucundus, ‘lively, agreeable, entertaining’: cp. Crispi

iucunda senectus, Iuv., quoted above. In xii. 10, §11 Quintilian places

_iucunditatem Crispi_ alongside of the distinguishing

characteristics of other orators: cp. v. 13, 48 Vibius Crispus vir

ingenii iucundi et elegantis.

I:120

Iulio Secundo, si longior contigisset aetas, clarissimum

profecto nomen oratoris apud posteros foret; adiecisset enim atque

adiciebat ceteris virtutibus suis quod desiderari potest, id est autem

ut esset multo magis pugnax et saepius ad curam rerum ab elocutione

respiceret.

§ 120.

Iulius Secundus is highly spoken of 3 §12 below: aequalem meum

atque a me, ut notum est, familiariter amatum, mirae facundiae virum,

infinitae tamen curae: and in xii. 10, 11 he is named as conspicuous for

‘elegantia.’ He is one of the interlocutors in the Dialogue of Tacitus,

where he is made to pose as umpire between the representatives of

Imperial and Republican eloquence: cp. esp. ch. 2 Aper et Iulius

Secundus, celeberrima tum (under Vespasian) ingenia fori nostri ...

Secundo purus et pressus et in quantum satis erat profluens sermo non

defuit: chs. 4 and 14.

adiciebat: he had begun the improvement when death overtook

him. He died about 88 A.D., not long

before Quintilian began his _Institutio_.

curam rerum: he is to care for substance as well as form.

Fabianus in Seneca (Epist. 100) had the opposite fault: visne illum

assidere pusillae rei, verbis?

I:121

Ceterum interceptus quoque magnum sibi vindicat locum: ea est facundia,

tanta in explicando quod velit gratia, tam candidum et lene et speciosum

dicendi genus, tanta verborum etiam quae adsumpta sunt proprietas, tanta

in

118

quibusdam ex periculo petitis significantia.

§ 121.

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

candidum: ‘lucid,’ v. on §73

(Herodotus), and cp. §113 Messalla ...

candidus: §101 clarissimi candoris, of

Livy.

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

adsumpta = _translata_, ‘used figuratively.’ Cp. viii. 3,

43 adsumere ea, quibus inlustrem fieri orationem putat, delecta,

translata, superlata, ad nomen adiuncta, duplicata et idem significantia

atque ab ipsa actione atque imitatione rerum non abhorrentia. When the

process is carried too far the _verba adsumpta_, become

_arcessita_ viii. 3. 56.

proprietas, v. on §46.

118

ex periculo: ii. 12, 5 quod est in elocutione ipsa periculum:

viii. 6, 11 (verba) quae audaci et proxime periculum translatione

tolluntur ... qualis est: pontem indignatus Araxes. Cp. paene

periclitantia xi. 1, 32. For the phrase ex periculo petere cp. ii.

11, 3 sententiis grandibus, quarum optima quaeque a periculo petarur.

Gr. παρακεκινδυνευμένα.

significantia: §49.

I:122

Habebunt qui post nos de oratoribus scribent magnam eos qui nunc vigent

materiam vere laudandi; sunt enim summa hodie, quibus inlustratur forum,

ingenia. Namque et consummati iam patroni veteribus aemulantur et eos

iuvenum ad optima tendentium imitatur ac sequitur industria.

§ 122.

eos qui nunc vigent. Who these were we can infer from the

Dialogue of Tacitus and from Pliny’s Letters, e.g. Aper, Marcellus,

Maternus, Aquilius Regulus, and others. Quintilian must of course have

meant to include Tacitus and Pliny themselves.

consummati: often equivalent to _perfectus_ in

Quintilian: 5 §14. Cp.

above §89. It is combined with

_perfectus_ v. 10, 119 ne se ... perfectos protinus atque

consummates putent.

veteribus. _Aemulari_ occurs elsewhere with the

accusative, §62; 2 §17. So of envious emulation

Cic. Tusc. i. §44: cp. iv. §17 with the dative of the person.

iuvenum ad optima tendentium. Hild refers to the speeches of

Messalla and Maternus in the Dial. (28-30, 34-36) as indicating the

oratorical aspirations of the youth of Rome when Quintilian wrote.

I:123

Supersunt qui de philosophia scripserint, quo in genere paucissimos

adhuc eloquentes litterae Romanae tulerunt. Idem igitur

M. Tullius, qui ubique, etiam in hoc opere Platonis

aemulus

119

extitit. Egregius vero multoque quam in orationibus praestantior

Brutus suffecit ponderi rerum: scias eum sentire quae

dicit.

§ 123.

philosophia. For the attitude of the Romans to philosophy see

Teuffel, §40 sq. Abstract speculation, leading to no practical end, was

not held in honour by them: like Neoptolemus, in the play of Ennius,

they said ‘philosophari est mihi necesse, at paucis (i.e. ‘only a

little’: Roby, §1237) nam omnino haud placet,’—Cicero de Orat. ii.

§156: de Repub. i. 18, 30: Pacuvius too (in Gell. xiii. 8) had made

one of his characters exclaim: ego odi homines ignava opera et

philosopha sententia. The Romans disliked the unsettling tendencies

which seemed to accompany the study of philosophy: hence e.g. their

treatment of the Athenian ambassadors in the middle of the second

century B.C. The prejudice against

such studies had by no means entirely disappeared even in the time of

Cicero, who constantly apologises for and seeks to justify his leanings

to philosophy: de Off. ii. 1, 2 sqq.: de Fin. i. 1, 1. Tacitus,

Agricola 4, tells us that Agricola used to say ‘se prima in iuventa

studium philosophiae acrius, ultra quam concessum Romano ac senatori,

hausisse, ni prudentia matris incensum ac flagrantem animum

coercuisset.’ About the time when Quintilian was writing, Domitian

banished the philosophers from Rome: ibid. ch. 2. For the help

which philosophy can give to oratory see xii. 11, which contains (§7) an

expression of the Roman ideal: atqui ego illum quem instituo Romanum

quendam velim esse sapientem, qui non secretis disputationibus, sed

rerum experimentis atque operibus vere civilem virum exhibeat. Cp.

Cicero’s boast in regard to himself and Cato of Utica: nos philosophiam

veram illam et antiquam, quae quibusdam otii esse ac desidiae videtur,

in forum atque in rempublicam atque in ipsam aciem paene deduximus. See

on §84.

paucissimos ... eloquentes. The addition of an adj. to another

adj. used as a subst. is rare in Quintilian. Hirt (Subst. des Adj.

p. 17) cites only five exx. besides this one: e.g. iii. 8, 31

antiquis nobilibus ortos.

qui ubique. The sense is clear: it is a repetition of the

claim made in §108 mihi videtur

M. Tullius ... effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam Platonis,

iucunditatem Isocratis. But it was not _ubique_ that Cicero

rivalled Plato: it was only in Plato’s own domain (sc. in hoc opere).

The expression

119

was adopted for brevity’s sake: Spalding says it is equivalent to ‘ut

ubique Graecorum praestantissimi cuiusque, ita in hoc opere Platonis.’

For Cicero’s philosophical writings cp. Teuffel, §173 sq.

Brutus: cp. §23. He is not

included in Quintilian’s list of orators; and though Cicero uses towards

him the language of extravagant eulogy (v. esp. Brut. §22) in many of

his works, yet we know from a passage in the Dialogue already quoted

that he sometimes found him ‘otiosum atque disiunctum’ ch. 18. Cp.

ch. 21 Brutum philosophiae suae relinquamus. Nam in orationibus minorem

esse, fama sua etiam admiratores eius fatentur. A reference follows

to his speech ‘Pro rege Deiotaro,’ which the speaker (Aper) considers

‘dull and tedious’—_lentitudo_ and _tepor_ being the

words used. A fragment of a declamation by him is quoted ix. 3

§95–. On his philosophical works see Cic. Acad. i. 3, 12 (with

Reid’s note). He was an adherent of the Stoico-academic school, whose

tenets he had studied under Aristus and Antiochus: cp. Tusc. v. 21:

Brut. 120, 149, 332: de Fin. v. 8. There was a treatise _de

Virtute_ addressed to Cicero, one περὶ καθήκοντος, and one _de Patientia_:

Teuffel, 209 §§2 and 3.

suffecit ponderi rerum: Quint. xii. 10, 11 names

_gravitas_ as his distinguishing quality: cp. gravior Brutus, Tac.

Dial. ch. 25.

sentire quae dicit. The intensity and sincerity of his nature

can be inferred from ad Att. xiv. 1, 2, where Caesar is quoted as saying

of him _magni refert hic quid velit, sed quicquid vult valde vult_.

For his devotion to study see 7 §27 below.

I:124

Scripsit non parum multa Cornelius Celsus, Sextios secutus, non

sine cultu ac nitore. Plautus in Stoicis rerum cognitioni

utilis. In Epicureis levis quidem, sed non iniucundus tamen

120

auctor est Catius.

§ 124.

non parum multa: litotes, as at vi. 2, 3 semper fuerunt non parum

multi.—Becher compares also non parum multi Cic. in Verr. iii. 9,

22: Phil. vii. 6, 18: pro Quinctio 3, 11: in Verr. iv. 12, 29: parum

saepe de Fin. ii. 4, 12. The opposite of _non parum_ is _non

nimis_: cp. Liv. xxii. 26, 4 haud parum callide with Cic. de Nat.

Deor. i. 25, 70 nihil horum nimis callide.

Cornelius Celsus: a celebrated encyclopaedist under Augustus

and Tiberius, who wrote on rhetoric, jurisprudence, farming, medicine,

military art, and practical philosophy. Only eight books on medicine

have come down to us. He survived into the reign of Nero. Cp. §23 above. Of his philosophy Augustine writes as

follows (de Haeres. Prol.): opiniones omnium philosophorum qui sectas

varias condiderunt usque ad tempora sua ... sex non parvis voluminibus

... absolvit; nec redarguit aliquem, sed tantum quid sentirent aperuit,

ea brevitate sermonis ut tantum adhiberet eloquii quantum ... aperiendae

iudicandaeque sententiae sufficeret. In xii. 11, 24 Quintilian refers to

the universality of his knowledge, though he speaks of him as mediocri

vir ingenio. “In other passages also Quintilian often expresses his

disagreement from this predecessor of his, e.g. ii. 15, 22, 32: iii. 6,

13 sq.: viii. 3, 47: ix. 1, 18 ... Even when he agrees with him he does

so with reserve, e.g. vii. 1, 10.—It may be that Quintilian

was vexed that a subject to which he had devoted an entire life was

merely cursorily treated by Celsus, and besides an encyclopaedia might

easily be open to technical objections. At all events, Celsus’

rhetorical manual was obscured by that of Quintilian. It is mentioned

only by Fortunat. iii. 2 (p. 121, 10 H)”—Teuffel, 275.

Sextios. The Sextii, father and son, were contemporary with

Caesar and Augustus, and belonged to the Pythagorean school, though not

without a leaning to the Stoics (Seneca, Ep. 64 §2–). Seneca

speaks frequently of the elder Sextius in his letters: e.g.

59 §7– ‘virum acrem, Graecis verbis, Romanis moribus

philosophantem.’ In the Nat. Quaest. vii. 32, 2 we are told how their

following—‘Sextiorum nova et Romani roboris secta’—soon fell

away: ‘inter initia sua extincta est,’ v. Teuffel 261.

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

Plautus. The text is not certain (see Crit. Notes), but as Quintilian

elsewhere (ii. 14, 2 and iii. 6, 23) refers to a philosopher

120

of this name as employing the unusual words _queentia_ and

_essentia_, it may as well be retained. (In ii. 14, 2 however

Meister reads Flavi: cp. Teuffel, 261, §9.)

levis: ‘of no weight.’

Catius, an Insubrian by birth, contemporary with Cicero, who

speaks of his recent death ad Fam. xv. 16, 1; cp. 19, 2 Epicurus, a quo

omnes Catii et Amafinii, mali verborum interpretes (referring to their

faithful transcripts of Greek terminology) proficiscuntur. The scholiast

on Hor. Sat. ii. 4 tells us that he wrote ‘quattuor libros de rerum

natura et de summo bono.’

I:125

Ex industria Senecam in omni genere eloquentiae distuli propter

vulgatam falso de me opinionem, qua damnare eum et invisum quoque habere

sum creditus. Quod accidit mihi dum corruptum et omnibus vitiis fractum

dicendi genus revocare ad severiora iudicia contendo; tum autem solus

hic fere in manibus adulescentium fuit.

§ 125.

Seneca: A.D. 2-65. For his life

and works see Teuffel 282 sqq., Bernhardy p. 871 sq. Martha gives

an estimate of the moral teaching of his well-known Letters in

‘Moralistes sous l’Empire Romain.’ Quintilian’s criticism of Seneca is

subjected to a searching examination by M. Samuel Rocheblave in a

pamphlet De M. Fabio Quintiliano L. Annaei Senecae Judice

(Paris, 1890): see esp. chs. iii. and iv. Introduction, pp. xxiv.

sqq.

opinionem. Quintilian worked hard to recall the Romans to a

more temperate and classical style. He aimed too at a partial ‘return to

Cicero,’ and considered Seneca a dangerous model for the youth of the

day. See Introduction, pp. xxxix. sqq. Fronto and others used

stronger language: e.g. p. 155 N eloquentiam ... Senecae mollibus

et febriculosis prunuleis insitam subvertendam censeo radicitus ...

neque ignoro copiosum sententiis et redundantem hominem esse, verum

sententias eius tolutares video, quatere campum quadripedo concita

cursu, tenere nusquam, pugnare nusquam ... dicteria potius eum quam

dicta continere. Cp. Aul. Gell. xii. 2, 1 de Annaeo Seneca partim

existimant ut de scriptore minime utili, cuius libros attingere nullum

pretium operae sit, quod oratio eius vulgaris videatur et protrita, res

atque sententiae aut inepto inanique impetu sint aut levi et quasi

dicaci argutia, eruditio autem vernacula et plebeia nihilque ex veterum

scriptis habens neque gratiae neque dignitatis. Alii vero elegantiae in

verbis parum esse non infitias eunt, sed et rerum quas dicat scientiam

doctrinamque ei non deesse dicunt et in vitiis morum obiurgandis

severitatem gravitatemque non invenustam. So too Caligula (Suet. 53) had

called Seneca’s productions arena sine calce, commissiones merae.

damnare ... invisum habere. There is nothing in this of a

moral judgment, though some of Quintilian’s contemporaries, notably

Tacitus, disliked Seneca, probably because they could not acquit him

from blame in regard to his pupil Nero’s excesses, and other matters.

The only parallel to _et invisum quoque_ in classical Latin is said

by Becher to be Cic. pro Domo §47 quoniam iam dialecticus es et haec

quoque liguris. It does not occur in Caesar, seldom in Livy, but

frequently in Quintilian. Cp. on §20.

corruption ... genus. He is not speaking of the false taste of

Seneca’s style exclusively, but of the general deterioration that

prevailed: cp. §43 recens haec

lascivia.

dum contendo: ‘through the efforts I made’: the _tum_

which follows shows that it refers to past time.

solus hic fere in manibus. Tac. Ann. xiii. 3 fuit illi viro

ingenium amoenum et temporis eius auribus adcommodatum. In his

endeavours to introduce a purer taste Quintilian naturally made so

popular an author as Seneca the peg on which to hang his discourse.

I:126

Quem non equidem omnino conabar excutere, sed potioribus praeferri non

sinebam, quos ille non destiterat incessere, cum diversi sibi conscius

121

generis placere se in dicendo posse _iis_ quibus illi placerent

diffideret. Amabant autem eum magis quam imitabantur, tantumque ab illo

defluebant quantum ille ab antiquis descenderat.

§ 126.

excutere: sc. e manibus adulescentium.

incessere. At the close of the passage quoted above, Gellius

goes on to quote, with much indignation, Seneca’s disparaging criticism

of Ennius, Cicero, and Vergil, from Book xxii of the Letters to Lucilius

(no longer extant). In Ep. 114 we find

121

him censoring Sallust and those who imitated him. Sueton. Ner. 52 a

cognitione veterum oratorum Seneca praeceptor, quo diutius in

admiratione sui detineret (Neronem avertit). For _iis_, see Crit. Notes.

defluebant = degenerabant, i. 8, 9 quando nos in omnia

deliciarum vitia dicendi quoque ratione defluximus.

I:127

Foret enim optandum pares ac saltem proximos illi viro fieri. Sed

placebat propter sola vitia et ad ea se quisque dirigebat effingenda,

quae poterat; deinde cum se iactaret eodem modo dicere, Senecam

infamabat.

§ 127.

Foret ... optandum, of a wish that is considered

impossible,—which shows how high was Quintilian’s opinion of

Seneca: cp. _ac saltem proximus_. So velles §130. For the infin. see Introd. p. lvi.

ad ea ... effingenda: cp. Cic. Orat. §9 ad illius

similitudinem artem et manum dirigebat. For _effingenda_ cp. §108.

quae poterat, sc. effingere: cp. Caesar, B.C. 37 quam

celerrime potuit (comparare).

infamabat, ‘brought reproach on.’

I:128

Cuius et multae alioqui et magnae virtutes fuerunt, ingenium facile et

copiosum, plurimum studii, multa rerum cognitio, in qua tamen aliquando

ab his quibus inquirenda quaedam mandabat deceptus est.

§ 128.

alioqui: see Introd. p. li.

quibus ... mandabat. Especially for physical science he must

have been greatly indebted to external aid. His VII Books ‘Naturalium

Quaestionum,’ with the addition of moral meditations, were used as a

text-book in the Middle Ages.

I:129

Tractavit etiam omnem fere studiorum materiam; nam et orationes eius et

poemata et epistulae et dialogi feruntur. In philosophia parum diligens,

egregius tamen vitiorum insectator

122

fuit. Multae in eo claraeque sententiae, multa etiam morum gratia

legenda, sed in eloquendo corrupta pleraque atque eo perniciosissima,

quod abundant dulcibus vitiis.

§ 129.

orationes. None survive. Quintilian refers (viii. 5, 18) to

the speech he made for Nero on the occasion of his mother’s funeral:

Tac. Ann. xiii. 3, cp. 11. It is probable also that Seneca wrote the

speeches mentioned by Suet. Ner. 7, the ‘gratiarum actio’ in the Senate,

‘pro Bononiensibus latine, pro Rhodiis atque Iliensibus graece.’ He also

pleaded with success in the law-courts (Dion Cass. 59, 19, 7.).

poemata. That Seneca wrote poetry is evident from Tacitus Ann.

xiv. 52, where his accusers, in order to prejudice him in the eyes of

Nero (who was jealous of his reputation as a poet and an

orator),—obiiciebant etiam eloquentiae laudem uni sibi adsciscere

et carmina crebrius factitare postquam Neroni amor eorum venisset: cp.

Suet. Ner. 52. He is said also to have written epigrams, and other forms

of verse.—His tragedies are not referred to here, though

Quintilian quotes from the Medea ix. 2, 8: see for them Teuffel 285;

Bernhardy, note 322.

epistulae. The Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, as we have them

now (see 3rd vol. of Teubner edition), are 124 in number, arranged in

twenty books. There were more however originally, and Priscian speaks of

Book x of the letters to Novatus (in decimo epistularum ad Novatum),

while Martial (vii. 45, 3) refers to letters to Caesonius Maximus,

of which we know nothing more.

dialogi, i.e. the works called by this name in the Milan MS.,

not his tragedies, though these were written to be read rather than to

be acted. There are twelve of them (v. Teuffel 284 §4–), and

each is dedicated to some particular individual. There is besides the De

Clementia ad Neronem, and a Dialogus de Superstitione (no longer extant

except in the fragment given in Augustine’s C.D. vi. 10) directed

against the anthropomorphism of popular superstition.

feruntur: §23.

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

rather than a student of thought.

vitiorum insectator: cp. Lactantius,

122

Inst. Div. v. 9 morum vitiorumqne publicorum et descriptor verissimus et

accusator acerrimus.

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

ingenuos habeat ... parentes.

I:130

Velles eum suo ingenio dixisse, alieno iudicio; nam si _ob_liqua

contempsisset, si parum _recta_ non concupisset, si non omnia sua

amasset, si rerum pondera minutissimis sententiis non fregisset,

consensu potius eruditorum quam puerorum amore comprobaretur.

§ 130.

iudicio, ‘taste,’ as §127 above:

cp. M. Seneca (of Capito) ‘habebat in sua potestate ingenium, in

aliena modum.’

obliqua. For this apt conjecture (in place of the traditional

_aliqua_), see Crit. Notes.

si parum recta. On the assumption that a word has fallen out

of the MSS. after _parum_, _recta_ is preferable to Halm and

Meister’s _sana_. For _rectum_ as abstr. cp. ii. 13, 11: xii.

1, 12. See Crit.

Notes.

omnia sua amasset, §88 of Ovid,

nimium amator ingenii sui. Cp. below 3 §12 utros peccare validius

putem, quibus omnia sua placent...

rerum pondera ... fregisset: contrast §123 suffecit ponderi rerum. Seneca ‘weakened the

force of his matter by striving after epigrammatic brevity.’

amore, of an ill-considered attachment (§94: 2 §19), whereas _studio_

would have indicated mature taste, vi. 2, 12 amor πάθος, caritas ἦθος.

I:131

Verum sic quoque iam robustis et severiore genere satis firmatis

legendus vel ideo quod exercere potest utrimque iudicium. Multa enim, ut

dixi, probanda in eo, multa etiam admiranda sunt; eligere modo curae

sit, quod utinam ipse fecisset. Digna enim fuit illa natura, quae

meliora vellet: quod voluit effecit.

§ 131.

sic quoque = καὶ

οὕτως.

robustis, opp. to _pueris_: cp. 5 §1 below. Cp. Tac. Dial. 35

‘controversiae robustioribus adsignantur,’ while ‘suasoriae pueris

delegantur.’

firmatis. So occupatos 3 §27: exercitatos 5 §17. Introd.

pp. xlviii-ix.

vel ideo quod: §86: 5 §16.

utrimque, i.e. laudantium et vituperantium, ‘for and against

him.’ So 5, 20: 6, 7: and cp. 1, 22. Introd. p. lii.

Multa enim ... digna enim, another instance of the want of

care that has been already noted, 2 §23.

natura: cp. §86.