Of Revision.
De Emendatione.
IV:1
IV. Sequitur emendatio, pars studiorum longe utilissima; neque enim sine
causa creditum est stilum non minus agere, cum delet. Huius autem operis
est adicere, detrahere, mutare. Sed facilius in iis simpliciusque
iudicium quae replenda vel deicienda sunt; premere vero tumentia,
humilia extollere, luxuriantia adstringere, inordinata digerere, soluta
componere, exultantia coercere duplicis operae; nam et damnanda sunt
quae placuerant et invenienda quae fugerant.
§ 1.
creditum est: 1 §48. The perfect indicates that
the opinion was adopted and is still maintained. Hor. Ep. i. 2, 5 cur
ita crediderim (= credam): cp. credidi 2 §20 above.
non minus, sc. quam cum scribit. Hild sees a similar ellipse
in 1 §30 potius habenti
periculosus, sc. quam utilis. But see note _ad loc._
replenda ... deicienda correspond to adicere ...
detrahere. This use is suggested by the idea of _levelling_.
Cp. Digest xlii. 1, 4 lege repletur quod sententiae deest: Ovid, Her. x.
37 quod voci deerat plangore replebam.
premere, ‘prune’: v. on _pressus_ 1 §§44, 46: Hor. Sat. i. 10, 69 Detereret sibi
multa, recideret omne quod ultra Perfectum traheretur.
luxuriantia, ‘exuberance’: Hor. Ep. ii. 2, 122 luxuriantia
compescet, where Wilkins cites this passage, also de Orat. ii. 96
luxuries quaedam quae stilo depascenda est, i.e. must be kept down by
the practice of writing.
inordinata: of expression, viii. 2, §23 nam si ... neque plura
neque inordinata aut indistincta dixerimus, erunt dilucida et
neglegenter quoque audientibus aperta: ix. 4, 27 felicissimus tamen
sermo est cui et rectos ordo et apta iunctura et cum his numerus
opportune cadens contigit.
soluta componere = numeris adstringere verba: ‘reducing to
metre what is unrhythmical.’ Cp. carmen solutum 1 §31. For _componere_, see
on 1 §44.
exultantia: cp. 2 §15,
where the opposition of _compositi_ and _exultantes_ shows
that the latter denotes the extreme,—the excess of that of which
_solutus_ is the defect. Cp. Cic. Orat. §195. The three terms might
be arranged in a series: soluta, composita, exultantia,—the last
denoting ‘combinations of words producing an undignified, skipping, or
dancing movement’ (Frieze).
IV:2
Nec dubium est optimum esse emendandi genus, si scripta in aliquod
tempus reponantur, ut ad ea post intervallum velut nova atque aliena
redeamus, ne nobis scripta nostra tamquam recentes fetus
blandiantur.
§ 2.
emendandi genus. Like _vis_ and _ratio_ (see on 1 §1), _genus_ is used with
the gerund to supply the place of a noun (here _emendatio_): cp.
ix. 3, 35 est et illud repetendi genus (‘this too is repetition’): Cic.
pro Rab. Post. neque solum hoc genus pecuniae capiendae turpe sed etiam
nefarium esse arbitrabatur: and even with the perf. part. pass. in Verr.
ii. §141 non mihi praetermittendum videtur ne illud quidem genus
pecuniae conciliatae: Nägelsbach, p. 130.
in aliquod tempus. Hor. A. P. 388 nonumque prematur in annum:
advice to which Quintilian alludes in his dedicatory letter to Tryphon,
dabam iis otium ut refrigerato inventionis amore diligenter repetitos
tamquam lector perpenderem.
recentes fetus: 1 §16 nova illa velut
152
nascentia: 3 §7 omnia nostra dum
nascuntur placent.
IV:3
Sed
152
neque hoc contingere semper potest praesertim oratori, cui saepius
scribere ad praesentes usus necesse est, et ipsa emendatio finem habet.
Sunt enim qui ad omnia scripta tamquam vitiosa redeant et, quasi nihil
fas sit rectum esse quod primum est, melius existiment quidquid est
aliud, idque faciant quotiens librum in manus resumpserunt, similes
medicis etiam integra secantibus. Accidit itaque ut cicatricosa sint et
exsanguia et cura peiora.
§ 3.
finem habet: there must be a limit. Cp. §4.
sunt enim: the _increduli_ of 3 §11: quibus nihil sit satis, &c.
medicis. This is not flattering to the profession in
Quintilian’s day: he may have owed the doctors a grudge. Dion. Hal. ad
Cn. Pomp. vi. (p. 785 R.) has a similar figure.
accidit itaque. Livy sometimes has itaque in the second place,
Cicero never.
cicatricosa, ‘covered with sutures’: ‘patchwork.’
exsanguia: cp. 1 §115, where he says of Calvus
‘nimia contra se calumnia verum sanguinem perdidisse.’
cura peiora: cp. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxv. 10 nocere saepe nimiam
diligentiam: Plin. Ep. ix. 35, 2 nimia cura deterit magis quam
emendat.
IV:4
Sit ergo aliquando quod placeat aut certe quod sufficiat, ut opus poliat
lima, non exterat. Temporis quoque esse debet modus. Nam quod Cinnae
Smyrnam novem annis accepimus scriptam, et Panegyricum Isocratis, qui
parcissime, decem annis dicunt elaboratum, ad oratorem nihil pertinet,
cuius nullum erit, si tam tardum fuerit, auxilium.
§ 4.
lima: Hor. A. P. 291 limae labor et mora: Plin. Ep. v. 10, §3
perfectum opus absolutumque est, nec iam splendescit lima sed
atteritur.
nam: cp. 1 §§9, 50. quod: see on 1 §60.
Cinnae Smyrnam. C. Helvius Cinna, a friend of Catullus, was
the author of a poem entitled Smyrna (Zmyrna), in which he described the
incestuous love of Myrrha for her father Cinyras, the subject being
treated in the fashion of the Alexandrian poets. (Cp. Teuffel, Rom. Lit.
210 §§2-3.) Vergil seems to have admired him (Ecl. ix. 35): but the
elaborate care he spent over his poem, which was after all not a long
one, resulted in obscurity: fuit autem liber obscurus adeo ut et
nonnulli eius aetatis grammatici in eum scripserint magnamque ex eius
enarratione sint gloriam consecuti. Quod obscurus fuerit etiam Martialis
ostendit in illo versu (x. 21, 4): iudice te melior Cinna Marone
fuit,—Philargyrius, quoted by Teuffel. Cp. Catullus xcv Zmyrna mei
Cinnae nonam post denique messem Quam coeptast nonamque edita post
hiememst. Horace’s nonum ... prematur in annum is believed to contain a
direct reference to the Smyrna.
Panegyricum Isocratis. This speech received its name from the
fact that it was written for recitation at one of the great πανηγύρεις or festal assemblies,
such as the Panhellenic festival at Olympia. It was probably published
in the latter part of the summer of B.C. 380, and consisted of an appeal to the Greeks
to join in an expedition against Persia, under the joint command of
Athens and Sparta.
parcissime, sc. dicunt: cp. 1 §101 ut parcissime dicam.
Quintilian seems here to be following Dion. Hal. de Comp. Verb. c. 25
(Reiske v. p. 208) ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὸν πανηγυρικὸν
λόγον, ὡς οἱ τὸν ἐλάχιστον χρόνον γράφοντες ἀποφαίνουσιν, ἐν ἔτεσι δέκα
συνετάξατο. Plutarch says that some mentioned 15 years: τὸν πανηγυρικὸν ἔτεσι δέκα συνέθηκεν, οἱ δὲ
δεκαπέντε λέγουσιν Dec. Orat. p. 837 F: cp. Mor. 350 E,
where he speaks of ‘almost three Olympiads.’ The writer of the treatise
‘On the Sublime’ (ch. 4) gives ten years as the period.
elaboratum: 7 §32. Cp.
Cic. Brutus §312 deinceps inde multae (causae) quas nos diligenter
elaboratas et tamquam elucubratas adferebamus.
nullum erit, ‘will be of no avail’ = non dignum erit cuius
ulla ratio habeatur.
153
Cp. Cic. in Vatin. xii. §30 Dices supplicationes te illas non probasse.
Optime. Nullae fuerint supplicationes.