CHAPTER III.

How to Write.

136 136 Quo modo scribendum sit.

III:1 III. Et haec quidem auxilia extrinsecus adhibentur; in iis autem quae nobis ipsis paranda sunt, ut laboris, sic utilitatis etiam longe plurimum adfert stilus. Nec immerito M. Tullius hunc ‘optimum effectorem ac magistrum dicendi’ vocat, cui sententiae personam L. Crassi in disputationibus quae sunt de oratore adsignando, iudicium suum cum illius auctoritate coniunxit.

§ 1. nobis ipsis opp. to _extrinsecus_: what _we_ must provide for _ourselves_, by our own gifts and industry. There is, however, much to be said for Gertz’s conjecture _e nobis ipsis_, which gives a better antithesis to _extrinsecus_: cp. 5 §10 plurimum autem parari facultatis existimo ex simplicissima quaque materia.

stilus: see on 1 §2.

M. Tullius: de Orat. i. §150 caput autem est quod, ut vere dicam, minime facimus; est enim magni laboris, quem plerique fugimus: quam plurimum scribere. stilus optimus et praestantissimus dicendi effector ac magister; neque iniuria: nam si subitam et fortuitam orationem commentatio et cogitatio facile vincit, hanc ipsam profecto adsidua ac diligens scriptura superabit: ibid. §257 stilus ille tuus, quem tu vere dixisti perfectorem dicendi esse ac magistrum, multi sudoris est. Cp. iii. §190: Brutus §96 artifex, ut ita dicam, stilus: ad Fam. vii. 25, 2 is (stilus) est dicendi opifex.

L. Crassi. L. Licinius Crassus, B.C. 140-91, was the most illustrious of Roman orators before Cicero, who in the De Oratore seems to make him the mouthpiece of his own opinions. The other leading character in the dialogue is _M. Antonius_ (B.C. 143-87), grandfather of the triumvir. For a parallel estimate of the two see Brutus §143 sq.

personam ... adsignando: cp. 1 §71 plures subire personas.

III:2 Scribendum ergo quam diligentissime et quam plurimum. Nam ut terra alte refossa generandis alendisque seminibus fecundior fit, sic profectus non a summo petitus studiorum fructus effundit uberius et fidelius continet. Nam sine hac quidem conscientia ipsa illa ex tempore dicendi facultas inanem 137 modo loquacitatem dabit et verba in labris nascentia.

§ 2. alte refossa: see Crit. Notes. The meaning is that just as deep ploughing produces heavy crops, so progress that is not superficial (non a summo petitus) brings forth fruit more abundantly and secures its permanence. For the figure cp. i. 3, 5 non multum praestant, sed cito. Non subest vera vis nec penitus immissis radicibus nititur, ut quae summo solo sparsa sunt semina celerius se effundunt et imitatae spicas herbulae inanibus aristis ante messem flavescunt. For _refodere_ cp. Lucan, iv. 242 tellure refossa: Plin. N. H. xix. 88 solo quam altissime refosso.

profectus: cp. §15 below, ad profectum opus est studio: i. 3, 5 stat profectus (‘growth’). The word does not occur in Cicero, though it is often used in the same sense by Seneca: e.g. Ep. 71, 35-36, nemo profectum ibi invenit ubi reliquerat ... magna pars est profectus velle proficere: 100, 11 ad profectum omnia tendunt. Quintilian frequently insists that it requires diligent and constant practice: e.g. ii. 7, 1 cum profectus praecipue diligentia constet.

a summo, i.e. from the surface, ‘superficial,’ as i. 3, 5 quae summo solo sparsa sunt semina. The opposite is ‘verus ille profectus et alte radicibus nixus,’ i. 1, 28. Cp. 2 §15. Other instances of such expressions are 1 §13 ex proximo: 7 §7 ad ultimum: §10 ex ultimo: 2 §16 in peius. See Introd. p. xlvii.

sine hac conscientia = sine huius rei conscientia, i.e. without the consciousness of diligent application in composition. In such expressions (frequent with words like cura, metus, spes, timor) the pronoun 137 takes the place of a complementary genitive, suggested by what goes before: cp. i. 10, 28 haec ei cura, &c.: and below 7 §19.

verba in labris nascentia. Cp. Sen. Ep. 10, 3 non a summis labris ista venerunt; habent hae voces fundamentum.

III:3 Illic radices, illic fundamenta sunt, illic opes velut sanctiore quodam aerario conditae, unde ad subitos quoque casus, cum res exiget, proferantur. Vires faciamus ante omnia, quae sufficiant labori certaminum et usu non exhauriantur.

§ 3. illic = stilo sive exercitatione scribendi.

sanctiore ... aerario. The reference is to the reserve treasure (aerarium sanctius) that was never touched except in great emergencies. It was kept in a vault in the Temple of Saturn. Caes. B. C. i. 14, 1: Livy xxvii., 10, 11: Macrob. i. 8, 3: Lucan. Phars. iii. 153 sq.

certaminum: so 1 §4 quo genere exercitationis ad certamina praeparandus sit. Certamen = ἀγών. Cp. 1 §§31, 106, &c.

proferantur: for the subj. (consecutive) cp. 1 §30: 3 §33: 5 §10.

et ... non: not _neque_, as the negative really connects only with the verb, while _et_ serves simply to introduce _usu_. Cp. 7 §33.

III:4 Nihil enim rerum ipsa natura voluit magnum effici cito, praeposuitque pulcherrimo cuique operi difficultatem; quae nascendi quoque hanc fecerit legem, ut maiora animalia diutius visceribus parentis continerentur.

Sed cum sit duplex quaestio, quo modo et quae maxime scribi oporteat, iam hinc ordinem sequar.

§ 4. rerum ipsa natura: here of ‘nature’ as a creative agency: cp. §26 below: Munro on Lucretius i. 25.

praeposuitque. When it is clear from the context that there is an opposition, sentences and words of opposite meanings are often coupled (after a negative) not by a disjunctive but by a conjunctive particle, as here: cp. Cic. de Off. i. §22 non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat partem amici: ibid. §86 neque opes aut potentiam consectabitur totamque eam (rempublicam) sic tuebitur ut omnibus consulat: Hor. Car. iii. 30, 6 Non omnis moriar, multaque pars mei Vitabit Libitinam. In each instance, however, the positive clause (que, et, atque) is an explanation of, rather than an antithesis to, the negative: the opposition is formal rather than real.

difficultatem. Cp. Hor. Sat. i. 9, 59 Nil sine magno Vita labore dedit mortalibus: Hesiod ἔργα καὶ ἡμέρ. 289 τῆς δ᾽ ἀρετῆς ἱδρῶτα θεοὶ προπάροιθεν ἔθηκαν: Soph. El. 945 πόνου τοι χωρὶς οὐδὲν εὐτυχεῖ, &c. Frag. 364 οὔτοι ποθ᾽ ἅψει τῶν ἄκρων ἄνευ πόνου: Epicharmus in Xenoph. Mem. ii. 1, 20 τῶν πόνων πωλοῦσιν ἡμῖν πάντα τἀγάθ᾽ οἱ θεοί.

quae maxime, v. ch. 5.

iam hinc ordinem sequar, i.e. ‘I shall now proceed to deal with these questions in their order.’ And so follows _quomodo_ in chs. iii-iv, and _quae maxime scribi_ oporteat in ch. v. The phrase is parallel to iii. 6, 104 nunc, quia in tria genera causas divisi, ordinem sequar: cp. ut ordinem sequar ix. 4, 33. In support of Obrecht’s reading _hunc ordinem_ Kiderlin (Blätter f. d. Bayer, Gymn. 1888, pp. 84-5) urges that in the instances quoted for _iam hinc_ (ii. 11, 1, and iii. 1, 1: add viii. 3, 40 iam hinc igitur ad rationem sermonis coniuncti transeamus, and _hinc iam_ viii. pr. 14: ii. 4, 1) there is always a marked transition to a new subject, whereas here the preceding subordinate clause (cum sit ... oporteat) lays down the order that is afterwards followed.—But all that _iam hinc_ means here is simply that the writer will _now_ take the two questions he has proposed in the order stated.

III:5 Sit primo vel tardus dum 138 diligens stilus, quaeramus optima nec protinus offerentibus se gaudeamus, adhibeatur iudicium inventis, dispositio probatis; dilectus enim rerum verborumque agendus est et pondera singulorum examinanda. Post subeat ratio collocandi versenturque omni modo numeri, non ut quodque se proferet verbum occupet locum.

§ 5. dum diligens, _without a verb_: cp. 1 §94 quamvis uno libro: Cic. Acad. ii. §104 sequentes tantum modo quod ita visum sit, dum sine adsensu: cp. Hirtius in Cic. ad Att. xv. 6, 3 dummodo diligentibus.

138 optima, i.e. both in thought and word.

protinus goes with _gaudeamus_, not with _offerentibus_, which can stand by itself: cp. 1 §§2 and 42. For _offerentibus_ cp. on _eminentibus_ 1 §86.

dilectus ... agendus. This may possibly be one of Quintilian’s military figures: xii. 3, 5 dilectus agere (of an _imperator_); Tac. Hist. ii. 16, 82, Agric. 7. But cp. also ii. 8, 7 studiorum facere dilectum: Tac. Dial. 22 verbis delectum adhibuit: Cic. de Or. iii. §150 in hoc verborum genere propriorum _delectus est habendus quidam_ atque in aurium quodam iudicio _ponderandus est_: de Off. i. §149 habere dilectum civis et peregrini: ib. §49: de Fin. v. §90: Brut. §253 verborum dilectum originem esse eloquentiae.

ratio collocandi. For this periphrastic constr. see Nägelsbach §27 ad fin. (p. 130) and note on _vim dicendi_ 1 §1. Cp. Cic. ad Quint. Fr. i. 1, 6, 18 sed nescio quo pacto ad praecipiendi rationem delapsa est oratio mea: pro Rosc. Amer. 1 §3 ignoscendi ratio ... de civitate sublata est.—Dion. Hal. unites ἐκλογὴ τῶν ὀνομάτων with σύνθεσις τῶν ἐκλεγέντων.

numeri: ix. 4, 45 numeros ῥυθμούς accipi volo. Cp. note on 2 §16.

III:6 Quae quidem ut diligentius exsequamur, repetenda saepius erunt scriptorum proxima. Nam praeter id quod sic melius iunguntur prioribus sequentia, calor quoque ille cogitationis, qui scribendi mora refrixit, recipit ex integro vires et velut repetito spatio sumit impetum; quod in certamine saliendi fieri videmus, ut conatum longius petant et ad illud quo contenditur spatium cursu ferantur, utque in iaculando brachia reducimus et expulsuri tela nervos retro tendimus.

§ 6. repetenda: we must go back on what we have just written.

praeter id quod: cp. 2 §26, and see note on 1 §28.

repetito spatio, i.e. ‘going back to take a spring,’ as is shown by what follows. He passes from the figure involved in calor ... refrixit, and anticipates the idea contained in the next clause: calor ... sumit impetum = calor ... denuo exardescit. Hild compares de Orat. i. §153 for a similar figure: ut concitato navigio, cum remiges inhibuerunt, retinet tamen ipsa navis motum et cursum suum intermisso impetu pulsuque remorum, sic in oratione perpetua, cum scripta deficiunt, parem tamen obtinet oratio reliqua cursum scriptorum similitudine et vi concitata.

quod ... videmus, ut. For a similar instance of the use of the pronoun to anticipate a dependent clause cp. 7 §11. The other two examples commonly given are rather cases of pleonasm, viz. 1 §58 and 5 §18.

conatum longius petant: ‘take a longer run.’ Cp. repetito spatio above.

ad illud quo contenditur spatium, i.e. jump the distance they aim at covering. _Quo contenditur_ = lit. to which their efforts are directed.

retro tendimus. Cp. Verg. Aen. v. 500 Validis flexos incurvant viribus arcus.

III:7 Interim tamen, si feret flatus, danda sunt vela, dum nos indulgentia illa non 139 fallat; omnia enim nostra dum nascuntur placent, alioqui nec scriberentur. Sed redeamus ad iudicium et retractemus suspectam facilitatem.

§ 7. interim = interdum, v. on 1 §9.

danda sunt vela: ‘we must spread our sails before a favouring breeze’ (cp. quo ventus ferebat Caes. B. G. iii. 15, 3). So Ep. ad Tryph. §3 permittamus vela ventis et oram solventibus bene precemur. The figure is frequent in Cicero: quocunque feremur danda nimirum vela sunt Orat. §75: ad id unde aliquis flatus ostenditur vela do (i.e. set my sails to catch the breeze from a particular quarter) de Orat. ii. §187. So Martial (of Nerva’s modesty) Pieriam tenui frontem redimire corona Contentus, famae nec dare vela suae viii. 70.

dum ... non, instead of _ne_, as sometimes 139 in poetry. Here the negative attaches closely to the verb: cp. §3. So xii. 10, §48 dum rem contineant et copia non redundent. Quintilian never uses _dummodo_: only _dum_, or _modo_. Si modo (si quidem), which Meister cites, is different: it expresses the limitation of a hypothesis.

dum nascuntur: cp. 1 §16 excipimusque nova illa velut nascentia cum favore ac sollicitudine.

nec for ne ... quidem: ii. 13, 7 alioqui nec scriberem: v. 10, 119 alioqui nec dixissem: ix. 2, 67 quod in foro non expedit, illic nec liceat (not in Cicero). For other instances see Bonn. Lex. _nec_ η and _neque_ ζ: Roby 2230b: Madvig de Finibus pp. 816-822.

facilitatem: abstract for concrete = quae facilius scripta sunt. Cp. initiis below, and 2 §2.

III:8 Sic scripsisse Sallustium accepimus, et sane manifestus est etiam ex opere ipso labor. Vergilium quoque paucissimos die composuisse versus auctor est Varius.

§ 8. Sallustium: see on 1 §101.

Vergilium: Aul. Gell. N. A. 17, 10 Dicere solitum ferunt parere se versus more atque ritu ursino. Namque ut illa bestia fetum ederet ineffigiatum informemque, lambendoque id postea, quod ita edidisset, conformaret et fingeret; proinde ingenii quoque sui partes recentes rudi esse facie et imperfecta, sed deinceps tractando colendoque reddere iis se oris et vultus lineamenta. So too in the Donatus Life of Vergil ix: Cum Georgica scriberet traditur cotidie meditatos mane plurimos versus dictare solitus, ac per totum diem retractando ad paucissimos redigere, non absurde carmen se ursae more parere dicens et lambendo demum effingere.

die, for _in die_. Cp. Hor. Sat. ii. 1, 3 putat ... mille die versus deduci posse: i. 4, 9 in hora saepe ducentos ... dictabat versus. So bisque die Verg. Ecl. iii. 34: Cic. pro Rosc. Am. 46 §132 in anno: ad Fam. xv. 16, 1 in hora.

Varius, see on 1 §98. His biographical sketch of his lifelong friend was entitled De ingenio moribusque Vergilii. Aul. Gell. (xvii. 10) speaks of the Amici familiaresque P. Vergilii in eis quae de ingenio moribusque eius memoriae tradiderunt.

III:9 Oratoris quidem alia condicio est; itaque hanc moram et sollicitudinem initiis impero. Nam primum hoc constituendum, hoc obtinendum est, ut quam optime scribamus: celeritatem dabit consuetudo. Paulatim res facilius se ostendent, verba respondebunt, compositio sequetur, cuncta denique ut in familia bene instituta in officio erunt.

§ 9. sollicitudinem: 1 §20 scribendi sollicitudinem: and §20, below, scribentium curam.

initiis = incipientibus: cp. 2 §2. So also ii. 4, 13 quatenus nullo magis studia (= studiosi) quam spe gaudent.

compositio: 1 §79: cp. §§44, 46. The three essentials are here enumerated: thought (_res_), language (_verba_), arrangement (_compositio_).

in officio: cp. viii. pr. §30 erunt in officio. As in a well-ordered establishment, he says, everything will be found fulfilling its proper function.

III:10 Summa haec est rei: cito scribendo non fit ut bene scribatur, bene scribendo fit ut cito. Sed tum maxime, cum facultas illa contigerit, resistamus ut provideamus, efferentes 140 _se_ equos frenis quibusdam coerceamus; quod non tam moram faciet quam novos impetus dabit. Neque enim rursus eos qui robur aliquod in stilo fecerint ad infelicem calumniandi se poenam adligandos puto.

§ 10. summa haec. ‘Write quickly and you will never write well: write well and in time you will write quickly.’ The Greek rhetoricians are said to have had a saying ἐκ τοῦ λέγειν τὸ λέγειν πορίζεται, on which Cicero seems to make Crassus found a similar utterance de Orat. i. §150 dicendo homines ut dicant efficere solere, ... perverse dicere homines perverse dicendo facillime consequi.

facultas illa, sc. cito scribendi.

resistamus: ‘let us pause,’ ‘call a halt.’ Cp. §19: 7 §14: xi. 2, 46: 3, 121: ix. 3, 55. Cp. the use of _intersistere_ ix. 4, 33.

ut provideamus: 6 §6 non sollicitos 140 et respicientes et una spe suspensos recordationis non sinant providere: 7 §10 ut donec perveniamus ad finem non minus prospectu procedamus quam gradu: i. 12, 4 nonne alia dicimus, alia providemus. So far from being a gloss, the words seem to be necessary to define the meaning and motive of _resistamus_: it is in order to ‘look ahead’ that we ought to pause from time to time. See Crit. Notes.

efferentes se: ‘running away,’ or rather, ‘trying to make off,’ a _praesens conatus_, as is shown by _non tam moram faciet_, &c. Cp. Hom. Il. 23, 376 ποδώκεες ἔκφερον ἵπποι: Xen. de Re Equestr., 3 §4. In Livy xxx. 20, 3, the figure is taken rather from the ‘prancing and curveting’ of a horse, Neque ... tam P. Scipio exultabit atque efferet sese quam Hanno. (Hild’s parallel βίᾳ φέρουσιν, sc. ἄστομοι πῶλοι from Soph. Electr. 725, cp. Eurip. Hippol. 1224, is more appropriate to the reading _ferentes equos_.) For the omission of _et_ before _efferentes_ (found in no MS.) cp. 7 §1 where a figure is added without any conjunction (auxilium in publicum polliceri ... intrare portum).

neque enim: the ellipse may be supplied as follows,—si moram faceret non suaderem. The meaning is, it is only in cases where it will not cause injurious delay that I recommend this curbing and self-restraint; for neither, again, &c.

robur fecerint: §3 vires faciamus.

infelicem: see on 1 §7 cuiusdam infelicis operae.

calumniandi se: ‘the wretched task of pedantic self-criticism.’ See on 1 §115 nimia contra se calumnia: viii. pr. 31 quibus nullus est finis calumniandi se et cum singulis paene syllabis commoriendi, qui etiam cum optima sunt reperta, quaerunt aliquid quod sit magis antiquum: §11 remotum, inopinatum.

III:11 Nam quo modo sufficere officiis civilibus possit qui singulis actionum partibus insenescat? Sunt autem quibus nihil sit satis: omnia mutare, omnia aliter dicere quam occurrit velint,— increduli quidam et de ingenio suo pessime meriti, qui diligentiam putant facere sibi scribendi difficultatem.

§ 11. officiis civilibus: ‘the duties of a citizen,’ here with special reference to legal practice and the advocacy of cases in courts of law: 7 §1: cp. Suet. Tib. 8 civilium officiorum rudimentis. The phrase in its widest application includes all the ‘civilities’ and attentions which one citizen may be expected to show to another, especially in the relation of patron and client: e.g. _officio_ togae virilis interfui, Plin. Ep. i. 9 §2. Casaubon defines _officium_ ‘cum honoris causa praesentiam nostram alicui commodamus’: for instances of its use in this sense cp. Plin. Ep. i. 5, 11: i. 13, 7: ii. 1, 8: Hor. Epist. i. 7, 8 _officiosaque_ sedulitas et opella forensis: Sat. ii. 6, 24 officio respondeat (‘answer duty’s call,’ Palmer).

velint: potential, as often. The clause stands by itself, and there is no need for supposing the omission of the relative.

increduli quidam: ‘a diffident sort of people,’ ‘somehow afraid of themselves.’ For quidam cp. 1 §76. It is employed, as often by Cicero, to show that the word used is as near the author’s meaning as possible, though sometimes it is joined with an expression that is merely a makeshift: cp. τινες. It indicates an undefined degree of the adjective with which it is connected, and has sometimes a modifying, sometimes an intensifying effect: here the former is not so probable considering the strength of the phrase that follows, ‘sinning grievously against their natural gifts.’

diligentiam is pred.: supply _esse_. The subject is _facere ... difficultatem_.

III:12 Nec promptum est dicere utros peccare validius 141 putem, quibus omnia sua placent an quibus nihil. Accidit enim etiam ingeniosis adulescentibus frequenter, ut labore consumantur et in silentium usque descendant nimia bene dicendi cupiditate. Qua de re memini narrasse mihi Iulium Secundum illum, aequalem meum atque a me, ut notum est, familiariter amatum, mirae facundiae virum, infinitae tamen curae, quid esset sibi a patruo suo dictum.

§ 12. validius. Common in Quintilian: iii. 8, 61 verborum autem magnificentia non validius est adfectanda suasorias declamantibus, sed contingit magis: vi. Prooem. §8 quo me validius cruciaret: ix. 2, 76 quanto validius bonos inhibet pudor quam metus. The superlative is frequent in Pliny: e.g. validissime placere Ep. i. 20, 22: te validissime diligo iii. 15, 2: vi. 8, 9 validissime vereor: ix. 35, 1 141 validissime cupere. Cp. Caelias in Cic. ad Fam. viii. 2, 1 ego quum pro amicitia validissime facerem ei. Horace has valdius oblectat populam A. P. 321: cp. Ep. i. 9, 6.

omnia sua: cp. 1 §130 (of Seneca) si non omnia sua amasset: ibid. §88 (of Ovid) nimium amator ingenii sui.

narrasse: Quintilian always uses the perfect infin. after _memini_, even where the person who recalls the event was a witness of it. The rule is thus stated by Roby §1372 ‘_Memini_ is used with the present (and sometimes the perfect) infinitive of events of which the subject himself was witness, with the perfect infinitive of events of which the subject was not witness.’ On this Dr. Reid has a valuable note de Amic. §2: ‘The rule may be somewhat more precisely stated thus: If the person who recalls an event was a witness of it, he may either (_a_) vividly picture to himself the event and its attendant circumstances so that it becomes really present to his mind’s eye for the moment, in which case he uses the present infinitive, or (_b_) he may simply recall the _fact_ that the event _did_ take place in past time, in which case the perfect infinitive is used. If he was not a witness, he evidently can conceive the event only in the latter of these two ways. As regards (_a_) cp. Verg. Ecl. ix. 52 longos cantando puerum memini me condere soles with Georg. iv. 125 memini me Corycium vidisse senem. Examples like the latter of these two are more numerous than is commonly supposed.’

Iulius Secundus, 1 §120.

III:13 Is fuit Iulius Florus, in eloquentia Galliarum, quoniam ibi demum exercuit eam, princeps, alioqui inter 142 paucos disertus et dignus illa propinquitate. Is cum Secundum, scholae adhuc operatum, tristem forte vidisset, interrogavit quae causa frontis tam adductae?

§ 13. Iulius Florus is generally supposed to be identical with the individual to whom, as one of the _comites_ of Tiberius Claudius in his mission to the East, Horace addresses (B.C. 20) the Third Epistle of the First Book: cp. also ii. 2. Horace indicates his young friend’s ability in the following lines (i. 3, 21) Non tibi parvum Ingenium, non incultum est et turpiter hirtum: Seu linguam causis acuis, seu civica iura Respondere paras, seu condis amabile carmen, Prima feres hederae victricis praemia. The scholiast Porphyrio tells us that he wrote satires: Hic Florus fuit satirarum scriptor, cuius sunt electae ex Ennio, Lucilio, Varrone satirae, ‘by which is meant, doubtless,’ says Prof. Wilkins, ‘that he re-wrote some of the poems of these earlier authors, adapting them to the taste of his own day, much as Dryden and Pope re-wrote Chaucer’s tales.’ There is, however, a chronological difficulty in the identification of the Florus who was a young man in B.C. 20 with the Florus who was the _patruus_ of Iulius Secundus, a contemporary of Quintilian (aequalem meum), who died towards the end of Domitian’s reign before he had completed the natural term of life (si longius contigisset aetas 1 §120). Seneca (Controv.