Chapter 77

'Quid te vana iuvant miserae ludibria chartae? hoc lege, quod possit dicere vita "Meum est." Non hic Centauros, non Gorgonas, Harpyiasque invenies: hominem pagina nostra sapit.'

Martial satirizes people under manufactured or arbitrarily chosen names.

Cf. i. praef., 'Spero me secutum in libellis meis tale temperamentum, ut de illis queri non possit, quisquis de se bene senserit, cum salva infimarum quoque personarum reverentia ludant.'

Some are tell-tale names, as Vetustilla, 'an old woman,' iii. 93; Dento, 'a gourmand,' v. 45; Eulogus, 'a herald,' vi. 8; but the same names, _e.g._ Zoilus, are often used to denote different types.

The chief forms of verse used are the elegiac distich (most frequent), scazons, and hendecasyllabics. In vi. 65 he apologizes for using the pure hexameter, which is found only four times. Other metres are extremely rare.

QUINTILIAN.

(1) LIFE.

M. Fabius Quintilianus was born at Calagurris in Spain. Auson. _prof._ i. 7, 'Adserat usque licet Fabium Calagurris alumnum.' Cf. Jerome yr. Abr. 2104 (quoted below).

Quintilian came at an early age to Rome, where his father was a rhetorician. Cf. his reminiscences:

x. 1, 86, 'Utar verbis isdem quae ex Afro Domitio (died A.D. 59) iuvenis excepi.'

v. 7, 7, 'a Domitio Afro quem adulescentulus senem colui.'

vi. 1, 14, 'Nobis adulescentibus accusator Cossutiani Capitonis' (A.D. 57), etc.

From the above quotations, Quintilian must have been born somewhere between A.D. 35 and 40. A.D. 35 is usually given as an approximation. For Quintilian's father cf. ix. 3, 73, 'Et cur me prohibeat pudor uti domestico exemplo? Pater meus contra eum qui,' etc. He is possibly the person mentioned by Seneca, _Contr._ x. praef. 2, 'quo modo ... Quintilianus senex declamaverit.'

For Quintilian's teachers of rhetoric, cf. Pliny, _Ep._ ii. 14, 10, 'Narrabat ille [Quintilianus], Adsectabar Domitium Afrum.' Others were Iulius Africanus (Quint. x. 1, 118), Servilius Nonianus (x. 1, 102), Galerius Trachalus (x. 1, 119), Iulius Secundus (x. 1, 120), Vibius Crispus (xii. 10, 11), Remmius Palaemon (Schol. ad Iuv. 6, 452). After his education Quintilian returned to Calagurris, but was brought back to Rome by Galba in A.D. 68.

Jerome yr. Abr. 2084 = A.D. 68, 'M. Fabius Quintilianus Romam a Galba perducitur.'

Quintilian engaged as a pleader at Rome, and makes some references to his cases. Some of his speeches were published without his consent.

vii. 2, 24, 'In causa Naevi Arpiniani ... cuius actionem et quidem solam in hoc tempus emiseram, quod ipsum me fecisse ductum iuvenili cupiditate gloriae fateor. Nam ceterae, quae sub nomine meo feruntur, neglegentia excipientium in quaestum notariorum corruptae minimam partem mei habent.'

iv. 1, 19, 'Ego pro regina Berenice apud ipsam eam causam dixi.'

Cf. also vii. 2, 5; ix. 2, 73-4.

Quintilian was the first person who received an imperial grant as teacher of oratory.

Jerome yr. Abr. 2104 = A.D. 88, 'Quintilianus ex Hispania Calagurritanus primus Romae publicam scholam et salarium e fisco accepit et claruit.' The date given by Jerome is much too late, as it is Quintilian that is alluded to by Sueton. _Vesp._ 18, 'Primus e fisco Latinis Graecisque rhetoribus annua centena constituit.' The appointment must therefore have been made by A.D. 79. The professorship is referred to by Mart. ii. 90, 1,

'Quintiliane, vagae moderator summe iuventae, gloria Romanae, Quintiliane, togae.'

Cf. Pliny, _Ep._ ii. 14, 10, 'Ita certe ex Quintiliano, praeceptore meo, audisse memini.' Quintilian's career as a teacher lasted for twenty years.

i. prooem. 1, 'Post impetratam studiis meis quietem, quae per viginti annos erudiendis iuvenibus impenderam.'

Teuffel thinks that the _Institutio_ was written A.D. 89-91, in which case Quintilian's career as professor was from A.D. 68 to 88; Peterson[91] thinks that Quintilian dated his educational work as from A.D. 70 to 90, and that the _Institutio_ was begun A.D. 92.

Quintilian grew rich by the practice of his profession, from which he ultimately retired. Iuv. 7, 186,

'Hos inter sumptus sestertia Quintiliano, ut multum, duo sufficient; res nulla minoris constabit patri, quam filius. "Unde igitur tot Quintilianus habet saltus?"'

Quint. ii. 12, 12, 'quando et praecipiendi munus iam pridem deprecati sumus et in foro quoque dicendi, quia honestissimum finem putamus, desinere dum desideraremur.'

After his retirement Quintilian was appointed tutor of Domitian's grandnephews, sons of his niece Flavia Domitilla and his cousin Flavius Clemens.

Quint. iv. prooem. 2, 'Cum mihi Domitianus Augustus sororis suae nepotum delegaverit curam.'

Through the influence of Clemens, he obtained the consulship.

Auson. _grat. act._ p. 23 (Schenkl), 'Quintilianus consularia per Clementem ornamenta sortitus honestamenta potius videtur quam insignia potestatis habuisse.'

Cf. Iuv. 7, 197,

'Si Fortuna volet, fies de rhetore consul; si volet haec eadem, fies de consule rhetor.'

His gratitude led him into fulsome flattery of Domitian.