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: