# M. Fabi Quintiliani institutionis oratoriae liber decimus

## xvii. 1 Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα καὶ ες Δία λήγετε

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Μοῖσαι—imitated by Vergil, Ecl. iii. 60 Ab Iove principium musae: cp. Hor. Od. i. 12, 13 quid prius dicam solitis parentis laudibus?—For Aratus see on §55

rite. Cp. §85 ut apud illos (Graecos) Homerus sic apud nos Vergilius auspicatissimum dederit exordium. “Such a commencement will be a sort of consecration of the whole course; it is the solemn and auspicious order of proceeding.”—Mayor.

coepturi ... videmur: sc. nobis: cp. §56: Cic. de Off. i. §§1, 2: ii. §5.—For the participle instead of the fut. inf. cp. v. pr. §5 eius praecepta sic optime divisuri videmur: ib. 7 §13: i. 2, 2: ii. 5, 3: vi. pr. §1 hanc optimam partem relicturus hereditatis videbar: ib. 4, 1: vii. 2, 42. Becher (Quaest. Gramm. p. 16) explains the usage by assuming an ellipse, so that ‘rite coepturi ab Homero videmur’ = ‘nos ab Homero coepturi rite coepisse videmur’; but this is unnecessary, and the collocation of _coepturi_ and _coepisse_ in fact impossible.

ab Homero. So in the schools i. 8, §5 ideoque optime institutum est ut ab Homero atque Vergilio lectio inciperet: cp. Plin. Ep. ii. 14, §2.

ex Oceano. Il. xxi. 195-197 Ὠκεανοῖο ἐξ οὗπερ πάντες ποταμοὶ καὶ πᾶσα θάλασσα καὶ πᾶσαι κρῆναι καὶ φρείατα μακρὰ νάουσιν.—Dion. Hal. uses the same image de Comp. Verb. 24 Κορυφὴ μὲν οὖν ἁπάντων καὶ σκοπός, ἐξ οὗπερ πάντες ποταμοὶ καὶ πᾶσα θάλασσα καὶ πᾶσαι κρῆναι δικαίως ἂν Ὅμηρος λέγοιτο. Cp. Ovid, Amor. iii. 9, 25 Aspice Maeoniden, a quo, ceu fonte perenni, Vatum Pieriis ora rigantur aquis.

omnium fluminum fontiumque. For the reading see Crit. Notes: cp. §78.

omnibus eloquentiae partibus. Eustathius pr. ad Odys. p. 1379 τὸν πάσης τῆς ἐν λόγοις τέχνης καθηγητήν, ἐξ οὗ οἷα τινὸς ὠκεανοῦ πάντες ποταμοῖ καὶ πᾶσαι λογικῶν μεθόδων πηγαί: Manilius, Astr. ii. 8 Cuiusque ex ore profusos Omnis posteritas latices in carmina duxit Amnemque in tenues ausa est diducere rivos Unius fecunda bonis. Cp. the references to Homer in the various departments of literature dealt with by Quintilian: §§62, 65, 81, 85, 86. So xii. 11, 21 in quo (sc. Homero) nullius non artis aut opera perfecta aut certe non dubia vestigia reperiuntur. Cic. Brut. §40 ornatus in dicendo et plane orator. Homer’s influence on all later culture is a common-place in ancient writers. Specially in regard to oratory, the speeches of his three heroes were taken as types of three styles of rhetoric: xii. 10, 64: ii. 17, 8. The eulogy here pronounced on him is systematically arranged with reference to the essential elements of practical oratory. After alluding to (1) the three kinds of oratory (see notes on §44) in the terms _sublimitas_, _proprietas_, _pressus_, _laetus_ (§46), he passes (2) to the two classes of practical speeches, judicial and deliberative (_litium ac consiliorum_) (§47): and then refers to (3) the mastery of the emotions (_adfectus_) (§48): (4) the constituent parts of a regular forensic speech—(_prooemium_, _genera probandi ac refutandi_, _epilogus_) (§§48, 49, 50): (5) well-chosen terms, well-put thoughts, lively figures, and everywhere clear arrangement (_dispositio_) (§50). “In this notice of Homer and in that of Cicero (§105 sqq.) and of Seneca (§125 sqq.) Quintilian introduces more of detail than in his brief remarks on the rest of the authors in his sketch. In general his plan, as indicated above in §§44, 45, is to mention the typical writers of different departments of literature best adapted to the purposes of the orator or forensic advocate, and in a few words to point out their characteristics with particular reference to their fitness as exemplars of oratorical style, or φράσις. As this is his sole aim, so distinctly stated, the strictures of some critics on the brevity and meagreness of these notices show that they have failed to comprehend the purpose of the author.”—Frieze.

48 sublimitate: §27: viii. 6, §11.

proprietate. Here this word furnishes a sort of antithesis to _sublimitas_, and means ‘suitability,’ ‘simplicity,’ ‘naturalness’: cp. the definition given at viii. 2, 1 sua cuiusque rei appellatio. In the same sense §64 sermone proprio, of an easy and unaffected style. A different use of _proprius_ will be found at §6 (where see note): §29: 5 §8.

superaverit. For this subj. of modified assertion cp. on _fuerit_ §37.

laetus, ‘flowery,’ i.e. rich, ornate, exuberant. Cp. 2 §16: xii. 10, 80: xi. 1, 49. This use is akin to that by which the word is employed as a metaphor to denote richness of vegetation: Verg. Georg. i. 1 and 74 (cp. note on 5 §14): and also of the sleek condition of well-fed cattle: Aen. iii. 220. Cp. Cic. de Orat. iii. §155.—There is no need for Francius’s conj. _latus_ or Kraffert’s _latior_ (cp. xii. 10, 23), or Gustaffson’s _elatus_ (4 §1).

pressus, pruned, trimmed down, ‘chaste,’ ‘concise’: see on §44.

iucundus et gravis, ‘sprightly and serious.’ So §119 iucundus et delectationi natus: and iucunditas §§64, 82: 2 §23. Mayor cites Plin. Ep. iv. 3, 2 nam severitatem istam pari iucunditate condire summaeque gravitati tantum comitatis adiungere non minus difficile quam magnum est: ib. v. 17, 2 (of Calpurnius Piso) excelsa depressis, exilia plenis, severis iucunda mutabat.

tum ... tum: a usage (frequent in Cicero) which Quintilian sought to revive. Wölfflin, Archiv f. Lexikogr. ii. p. 241.

I:47 Nam ut de laudibus, exhortationibus, 49 consolationibus taceam, nonne vel nonus liber, quo missa ad Achillen legatio continetur, vel in primo inter duces illa contentio vel dictae in secundo sententiae omnes litium ac consiliorum explicant artes?

§ 47. Nam ut, &c. This sentence contains the proof of Homer’s _oratoria virtus_: he furnishes models of the three recognised styles of rhetoric, (1) genus demonstrativum (ἐπιδεικτικόν) or _laudativum_: (2) genus deliberativum sive suasorium (συμβουλευτικόν): and (3) genus iudiciale (δικανικόν). Cp. iii. 4. Cope Arist. Rhet. introd. 118-123, and the notes on 13 §1: Cic. de Inv. i. §§7, 8, 12: ii. §§12, 13: Orat. Part. §§10-14, 69-138: de Orat. i. §141 and Wilkins’ introd. p. 56.

In the words ut ... taceam, Quintilian passes lightly over the main features of the γένος ἐπιδεικτικόν (set speeches aiming at display—ἐπίδειξις, ‘ostentatio declamatoria’ iv. 3, 2), in order to dwell more specially on the appropriateness of the study of Homer with reference to forensic and legislative debates (litium ac consiliorum). In doing so, he no doubt wishes to indicate the relative importance of the three kinds for the practical training of the orator, just as Cicero (Or. §§37-42) restricts his portraiture of the perfect orator to the _practical_ oratory of public life, i.e. the deliberative and forensic branches, to the exclusion of the γένος ἐπιδεικτικόν.

laudibus. These belong distinctly to the epideictic branch, for which see iii. 4, 12: Tac. Dial. 31 in laudationibus de honestate disserimus. So ἔπαινοι and ἐγκώμια: see Volkmann, Rhet. §33. As examples of _laudationes_ may be cited Cicero’s Eulogy on Cato (Or. §35) and his sister Porcia (ad Att. xiii. 37, 3): and in Greek the Evagoras and Helenae Encomium of Isocrates.

exhortationibus might in itself (like _consolationibus_: cp. xi. 3, 153) be used of the _genus deliberativum_, which included the _suasoriae_ (Tac. Dial. 35)—‘consilium dedimus Sullae privatus ut altum dormiret’, Iuv. i. 16; and in order to find a reference in each of the three items enumerated to the three kinds of rhetoric, Kraffert proposed to read _consultationibus_ for _consolationibus_ (cp. controversiae Tac. Dial. 35), so that _laudibus_ should = laudativum genus, _exhortationibus_ = deliberativum, and _consultationibus_ = iudiciale. But this is a misunderstanding of Quintilian’s meaning. _Exhortatio_ and _consolatio_ may easily enter into a λόγος ἐπιδεικτικός, a speech written for display and not for delivery in public, just as _suasio_ does in the passage of the _Orator_ referred to above: laudationum et historiarum et ... suasionum ... reliquarumque scriptionum formam, quae absunt a forensi contentione, eiusque totius generis, quod Graece ἐπιδεικτικόν nominatur ... non complectar hoc tempore (§37). Cp. Quint. iii. 4, 14 an quisquam negaverit Panegyricos ἐπιδεικτικούς esse? atqui formam suadendi habent, &c.

49 legatio of Odysseus, Aias, and Phoenix: contentio between Achilles and Agamemnon: dictae ... sententiae: the council of war (Agamemnon, Ulysses, Nestor, Thersites) Il. ii. 40-394.—The selection from a poet of such passages as seemed to bear most closely on the training of a student of rhetoric was a familiar process in ancient schools.

litium ac consiliorum. These words contain a distinct reference to the _genus iudiciale_ and the _genus deliberativum_, respectively,—to the exclusion of the _genus demonstrativum_, i.e. the ‘epideictic’ or non-practical kind of speeches. Cp. Cic. de Orat. i. §22 Graecos ... video ... seposuisse a ceteris dictionibus eam partem dicendi quae in forensibus disceptationibus iudiciorum aut deliberationum versaretur: cp. suasoriae et controversiae Tac. Dial. 35. The prominence given to _litium ac consiliorum_ shows that Professor Mayor is wrong in seeing in _exhortationibus_ and _consolationibus_ above a specific reference to the ‘genus deliberativum’: that would involve a duplicate enumeration.

artes: the ‘rules of art,’ or technical precepts of the rhetoricians. See on §15 exempla potentiora ... ipsis quae traduntur artibus.

I:48 Adfectus quidem vel illos mites vel hos concitatos nemo erit tam indoctus qui non in sua potestate hunc auctorem habuisse fateatur. Age vero, non utriusque operis sui ingressu in paucissimis versibus legem prooemiorum non dico servavit, sed constituit? Nam benevolum auditorem invocatione dearum 50 quas praesidere vatibus creditum est, et intentum proposita rerum magnitudine, et docilem summa celeriter comprehensa facit.

§ 48. Adfectus quidem, &c. In the passage which Quintilian may have had in view. Dionysius, after showing, as Quintilian has done, that Homer is admirable in every respect, and not in one only, goes on to say that he is a master in particular of the ἤθη and πάθη, of μέγεθος (rerum magnitudine §48) and of οἰκονομία (in dispositione totius operis §50): τῆς μὲν οὖν Ὁμηρικῆς ποιήσεως οὐ μίαν τινὰ τοῦ σώματος μοῖραν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκτύπωσαι τὸ σύμπαν, καὶ λάβε ζῆλον ἠθῶν τε τῶν ἐκεῖ καὶ παθῶν καὶ μεγέθους, καὶ τῆς οἰκονομίας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν ἁπασῶν εἰς ἀληθῆ τὴν παρὰ σοὶ μίμησιν ἠλλαγμένων: περὶ μιμήσεως 2 (Usener, p. 19). See what Quintilian says of _adfectus_ in vi. 2 §§8-10: esp. adfectus igitur concitatos πάθος, mites atque compositos ἦθος esse dixerunt: and cp. §§73 and 101 below. _Illos ... hos_ indicates what was a well-known antithesis. The former (ἤθη) were habitual and characteristic conditions of individual minds: the latter (πάθη) for the most part occasional (temporale vi. 2, 10), and more moving (perturbatio ib.).

tam ... qui: see on §41.

auctorem: ‘master,’ ‘teacher.’ Cp, on §24.

Age vero: ‘and further,’ a formula of transition generally leading to something more important. Here it introduces the five constituent parts of an oration, exordium (προοίμιον), narratio, probatio, refutatio (διήγησις, πίστις or ἀπόδειξις or κατασκευή, λύσις or ἀνασκευή §49), peroratio (ἐπίλογος). Cp. Cic. Or. §122 and de Orat. ii. §80 with Sandys’ and Wilkins’ notes: de Inv. i. §19: Cornif. ad Herenn. i. §4.

ingressu: see Crit. Notes.

non dico ... sed. So 7 §2: cp. i. 10, 35.

legem prooemiorum ... constituit: iv. 1, 34 docilem sine dubio et haec ipsa praestat attentio, sed et illud, si breviter et dilucide summam rei, de qua cognoscere debeat, iudicaverimus: quod Homerus atque Vergilius operum suorum principiis faciunt: ib. §42 ut sit in principiis recta benevolentiae et attentionis postulatio: Hor. Ars Poet. 140.

benevolum ... intentum ... docilem. The orator’s first task is to gain the good-will of his hearers, and to secure their attention. Cp. iv. i, 5 causa principii (i.e. prooemii, exordii) nulla alia est quam ut auditorem, quo sit nobis in ceteris partibus accommodatior, praeparemus. Id fieri tribus maxime rebus inter auctores plurimos constat, si benevolum attentum docilem fecerimus: iii. 5, 2: xi. 1, 6. Cic. de Orat. ii. §115 and 50 322-3: Brut. §185. Mayor cites Dion. Hal. de Lysia 17 οὔτε γὰρ εὔνοιαν κινῆσαι βουλόμενος, οὔτε προσοχήν, οὔτε εὐμάθειαν, ἀτυχήσειέ ποτε τοῦ σκοποῦ.

invocatione dearum. Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, and Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα.

vatibus: ‘bards,’ instinctis divino spiritu vatibus xii. 10, 24: Verg. Eclog. ix. 32 me fecere poetam Pierides ... me quoque dicunt vatem pastores. Tac. Dial. 9 Saleium nostrum, egregium poetam, vel si hoc honorificentius est, praeclarissimum vatem. _Poeta_, which is sometimes used slightingly of verse-makers (Cic. in Pis. 29 ut assentatorem, ut poetam: Tusc. i. 2 quod in provinciam poetas duxisset), had not the same solemn associations as _vates_.

creditum est: as at 4 §1: cp. ii. 15, 7. The perfect is continuous = νενόμισται. The personal construction occurs at §125. For the impersonal cp. Tac. Ann. ii. 69. ‘Tacitus appears to prefer the personal construction when a single personal subject is spoken of, and the impersonal in other cases, but even this rule is by no means without exceptions’ Furneaux, Introd. to Annals, p. 45.

intentum ... magnitudine. Cic. de Inv. i. §23 attentos autem faciemus si demonstrabimus ea quae dicturi erimus magna nova incredibilia esse.

docilem: ‘receptive’; iv. 1, 34 (cited above on _legem prooemiorum_), ad Herenn. i. §7 dociles auditores habere poterimus, si summam causae breviter exponemus.

comprehensa: cp. xi. 1, 51: ix. 3, 91 comprehensa breviter sententia. So Lucr. vi. 1083 sed breviter paucis praestat comprendere multa: Cic. de Orat. i. §34. So that _celeriter_ here almost = breviter.

I:49 Narrare vero quis brevius quam qui mortem nuntiat Patrocli, quis significantius potest quam qui Curetum Aetolorumque proelium exponit? Iam similitudines, amplificationes, exempla, digressus, signa rerum et argumenta ceteraque _genera_ probandi 51 ac refutandi sunt ita multa ut etiam qui de artibus scripserunt plurima earum rerum testimonia ab hoc poeta petant.

§ 49. narrare: iv. 2, 31 eam (narrationem) plerique scriptores ... volunt esse lucidam, brevem, veri similem: Cic. de Inv. i. §28 brevis, aperta, probabilis.

qui ... nuntiat: Antilochus, Il. xviii. 18. His κεῖται Πάτροκλος seems to have become proverbial: Pliny Ep. iv. 11, 12.

significantius: ‘more graphically,’ or ‘with more force of expression.’ Cp. significantia §121.

qui ... exponit, Phoenix, in Il. ix. 529 sqq.

iam, transitional particle, as often in Cicero: §§98, 111.

similitudines. v. 11, 1 tertium genus ex iis quae extrinsecus adducuntur in causam Graeci vocant παράδειγμα, quo nomine et generaliter usi sunt in omni similium adpositione et specialiter in iis quae rerum gestarum auctoritate nituntur. Nostri fere _similitudinem_ vocare maluerunt quod ab illis παραβολή dicitur, hoc alterum _exemplum_: viii. 3, 72 praeclare ad inferendam rebus lucem repertae sunt similitudines (i.e. the use of simile).

amplificationes = αὐξήσεις (Cic. Or. §125). The various rhetorical means of expanding and developing an idea in expression are discussed in viii. 4, 3 under the heads of _incrementum_, _comparatio_, _ratiocinatio_, and _congeries_. Ad Herenn. ii. 47 amplificatio est res quae per locum communem instigationis auditorum causa sumitur.

exempla: v. 11, 6 potentissimum autem est inter ea quae sunt huius generis exemplum, id est rei gestae aut ut gestae utilis ad persuadendum id quod intenderis commemoratio: ib. 2 §1: Cic. de Inv. i. §49. The stock illustration is that given in Aristotle’s Rhetoric: “if a man has asked for a bodyguard, and the speaker wishes to show that the aim is a tyranny, he may quote the ‘instances’ (παραδείγματα) of Dionysius and Pisistratus.”

digressus, ‘episodes’: cp. on §33.

signa rerum et argumenta: the ‘evidence of material facts’ and ‘inferences.’ In the former we have sensible proof of things (e.g. cruenta vestis, clamor, livor, &c. v. 9, 1); in the latter logical deductions from circumstantial facts: v. 10, 11 cum sit argumentum ratio probationem praestans, qua colligitur aliquid per aliud, et quae quod est dubium per id quod dubium non est confirmat. To distinguish _signa_ from _argumenta_ Quintilian says v. 9, 1 nec inveniuntur ab oratore 51 sed ad eam cum ipsa cansa deferuntur: and again, signa sive indubitata sunt, non sunt argumenta, quia, ubi illa sunt, quaestio non est, argumento autem nisi in re controversa locus esse non potest: sive dubia non sunt argumenta, sed ipsa argumentis egent: Cic. de Inv. §48. For _argumenta_ see v. 10, 1 hoc ... nomine complectimur omnia quae Graeci ἐνθυμήματα, ἐπιχειρήματα, ἀποδείξεις vocant: ib. §§10-12.

ceteraque genera: see Crit. Notes.

probandi. After _narratio_ comes _probatio_ or (as more commonly in Cicero, e.g. de Inv. i. §34) _confirmatio_ (see on 5 §12). So ii. 17, 6 narrent, probent, refutent. Cp. iv. 2, 79 aut quid inter probationem et narrationem interest, nisi quod narratio est probationis continua propositio, rursus probatio narrationi congruens confirmatio? For the _probationes artificiales_ (ἔντεχνοι πίστεις) see v. chs. 8-12: for the _probationes inartificiales_ ἄτεχνοι πίστεις ib. chs. 1-7.

refutandi. For Quintilian’s definition see v. 13, 1 sq., and cp. note on _destructio_ 5 §12. Cicero often uses _refellere_: de Orat. ii. §163 aut ad probandum aut ad refellendum. For _refutare_ cp. ib. §80 nostra confirmare argumentis ac rationibus, deinde contraria refutare: §§203, 307, 312.—In de Prov. Cons. §32 and de Har. Resp. §7 (conatum refutabo) the word is used in the sense of _repellere_.

artibus, the ‘principles of rhetoric’: §§15 and 47.

testimonia, ‘illustrations,’ confirmatory examples. Cp. i. 8, 12. ‘Homerus’ in the index to most Greek and Latin authors will supply evidence of the truth of Quintilian’s statement. Cic. ad Att. i. 16, 1 respondebo tibi ὕστερον πρότερον Ὀμηρικῶς: Plin. Ep. iii. 9, 28 praepostere ... facit hoc Homerus multique illius exemplo.

I:50 Nam epilogus quidem quis umquam poterit illis Priami rogantis Achillen precibus aequari? Quid? In verbis, sententiis, figuris, dispositione totius operis nonne humani ingenii modum excedit? ut magni sit virtutes eius non aemulatione, quod fieri non 52 potest, sed intellectu sequi.

§ 50. nam. See on §12: cp. §§9, 50.

epilogus = peroratio: see note on §107. The advocate will find many pathetic and moving passages in Homer such as will be serviceable for his closing appeal, which is generally addressed to the feelings and hearts of his hearers; vii. 4, 19 epilogi omnes in eadem fere materia versari solent: