# M. Fabi Quintiliani institutionis oratoriae liber decimus

## CHAPTER V.

Book page: https://www.cyberlibrary.org/la/books/m-fabi-quintiliani-institutionis-oratoriae-liber-decimus-21827/index.md

What to Write.

153 Quae scribenda sint praecipue.

V:1 V. Proximum est ut dicamus quae praecipue scribenda sint ἕξιν parantibus. _Non est huius_ quidem operis ut explicemus quae sint materiae, quae prima aut secunda aut deinceps tractanda sint (nam id factum est iam primo libro, quo puerorum, et secundo, quo iam robustorum studiis ordinem dedimus), sed, de quo nunc agitur, unde copia ac facilitas maxime veniat.

§ 1. ἑξιν: v. 1 §1 and note. For the reading see Crit. Notes.

operis: ‘this part of my work,’ viz. the present chapter.

materiae. The plural is especially frequent in Quintilian 1 §62: 5 §22: 7 §25: cp. ii. 4, 12 and 41: 6, 1: 10, 1 and 4: iii. 5, 2: iv. 1, 43: vi. 2, 10: 3, 15: vii. pro. §4: 4, 24 and 40. He is not treating here of the kinds of subjects for a general course of rhetorical training, but limits himself to the point ‘de quo agitur, unde copia ac facilitas maxime veniat.’

primo libro: see ch. 9, where he adds to the office of the grammarian, after _ratio loquendi_ and _enarratio auctorum_, quaedam dicendi primordia quibus aetates nondum rhetorem capientes instituant.

secundo: ch. 4 de primis apud rhetorem exercitationibus, and ch. 10 de utilitate et ratione declamandi.

puerorum ... robustorum: cp. i. 8, 12 priora illa ad pueros magis, haec sequentia ad robustiores pertinebunt: ii. 2, 14 infirmitas a robustioribus separanda est: x. 1 §130 robustis et severiore genere satis firmatis: ii. 5, 2 robusti iuvenes: i. 1, 9 robustum quoque et iam maximum regem ab institutione illa puerili sunt prosecuta: i. 5, 9: 12, 1.

sed: supply _ut explicemus_, or (for an independent clause) _explicandum est_.

de quo nunc agitur: i.e. the avowed object of the tenth book: cp. 1 §1.

copia: 1 §5 opes quaedam parandae ... eae constant copia rerum ac verborum. It is the _copia verborum_ that is specially meant here.

V:2 Vertere Graeca in Latinum veteres nostri oratores optimum iudicabant. Id se L. Crassus in illis Ciceronis de Oratore libris dicit factitasse; id Cicero sua ipse persona frequentissime praecipit, quin etiam libros Platonis atque Xenophontis edidit hoc 154 genere translatos; id Messallae placuit, multaeque sunt ab eo scriptae ad hunc modum orationes, adeo ut etiam cum illa Hyperidis pro Phryne difficillima Romanis subtilitate contenderet. Et manifesta est exercitationis huiusce ratio.

§ 2. Latinum: to be taken substantively, cp. i. 6, 3 and 19: ii. 1, 4: §4 below, _Latinis_: cp. Cicero Tusc. iii. §29 licet, ut saepe facimus, in Latinum illa convertere.

de Oratore i. §155 postea mihi placuit, eoque sum usus adulescens, ut summorum oratorum Graecas orationes explicarem, quibus lectis hoc adsequebar, ut cum ea quae legeram Graece, Latine redderem, non solum optimis verbis uterer et tamen usitatis, sed etiam exprimerem quaedam verba imitando, quae nova nostris essent, dummodo essent idonea. Prof. Wilkins there refers, for the value to be attached to translation at sight, as giving a command over appropriate diction, to Stanhope’s Life of Pitt, vol. i. pp. 8 and 18. Cp. Stanley’s Arnold, i. 120.

sua ipse persona: in his own name, and not merely by the mouth of one of the persons of a dialogue, like Crassus in the De Oratore. There are no passages in Cicero’s extant writings that account for the words _frequentissime praecipit_: cp., however, Brutus §310 Commentabar declamitans ... idque faciebam multum etiam Latine sed Graece saepius: ad Fam. xvi. 21, 5 declamitare Graece apud Cassium institui. The introductions to the De Officiis and De Finibus contain Cicero’s advocacy of the study of Greek. Suet. de Rhet. 1-2 Cicero ad praeturam usque Graece declamavit, Latine vero senior quoque.

libros Platonis atque Xenophontis. Cicero translated, at about the age of 20 154 years (de Off. ii. §87) the Oeconomicus of Xenophon: in early life also the Protagoras of Plato, and later the Timaeus. Quintilian might have included a reference to Cicero’s translation of Aeschines in Ctesiphontem and Demosthenes de Corona, his preface to which survives in the De Optimo Genere Oratorum: §14 Converti enim ex Atticis duorum eloquentissimorum nobilissimas orationes inter se contrarias, Aeschinis Demosthenisque: nec converti ut interpres sed ut orator, &c. His motive was to lay down a standard of ‘Atticism,’ as well as to free himself from the charge of ‘Asianism’: §23 erit regula ad quam eorum dirigantur orationes qui Attice volent dicere. Cp. Quint, xii. 10.

hoc genere: 3 §26: and below §7.

Messallae: v. 1 §22 and §113 with the notes.

Hyperidis pro Phryne: Quintilian refers to the well-known story ii. 15, 9 et Phrynen non Hyperidis actione quamquam admirabili, sed conspectu corporis, quod illa speciosissimum alioqui diducta nudaverit tunica, putant periculo liberatam. Phryne was accused of ἀσέβεια. For Hyperides v. 1 §77, and note.

cum illa ... pro Phryne ... subtilitate. The commentators quote a similar brachyology in Cic. Orator §108 ipsa enim illa pro Roscio iuvenilis redundantia, though the text is not certain.

difficillima Romanis subtilitat. Cp. 1 §100 cum sermo ipse Romanus non recipere videatur illam solis concessam Atticis venerem. For _subtilitas_ cp. 1 §78, 2 §19, Brutus §67 sed ea in nostris inscitia est, quod hi ipsi, qui in Graecis antiquitate delectantur eaque subtilitate quam Atticam appellant, hanc in Catone ne noverunt quidem. Hyperidae volunt esse et Lysiae. Laudo; sed cur nolunt Catones?

V:3 Nam et rerum copia Graeci auctores abundant et plurimum artis in eloquentiam intulerunt, et hos transferentibus verbis uti optimis licet; omnibus enim utimur nostris. Figuras vero, quibus maxime ornatur oratio, multas ac varias excogitandi etiam necessitas quaedam est, quia plerumque a Graecis Romana dissentiunt.

§ 3. auctores: see on 1 §24.

transferentibus: personal dat. after _licet_.

verbis uti optimis: cp. hoc adsequebar ut .... non solum optimis verbis uterer de Oratore i. §155, quoted above.

nostris is predicative = omnia enim quibus utimur nostra sunt. Translation from the Greek leaves us free to choose the best expressions: it is not like translation from Latin (i.e. reproduction or paraphrase), where we must often borrow from our models (optimis occupatis §5.).

figuras. Cp. 1 §12, note on figuramus. In ix. 1, Quintilian discusses the meaning of _figura_, which he defines broadly in §4 as ‘conformatio quaedam orationis remota a communi et primum se offerente ratione.’ Here he refers both to rhetorical and to grammatical figures; the latter require idiomatic rendering, while a rhetorical figure which may be appropriate in the one language may not be allowable in the other. In i. 1, 13 he gives a warning against the exclusive use of Greek in early training: hinc enim accidunt et oris plurima vitia in peregrinum sonum corrupti et sermonis, cui cum Graecae figurae adsidua consuetudine haeserunt, in diversa quoque loquendi ratione pertinacissime durant.

V:4 Sed et illa ex Latinis conversio multum et ipsa contulerit. 155 Ac de carminibus quidem neminem credo dubitare, quo solo genere exercitationis dicitur usus esse Sulpicius. Nam et sublimis spiritus attollere orationem potest, et verba poetica libertate audaciora non praesumunt eadem proprie dicendi facultatem; sed et ipsis sententiis adicere licet oratorium robur et omissa supplere et effusa substringere.

§ 4. ex Latinis conversio. Verbal nouns are often joined with the case governed by the verb from which they are derived: vii. 2, 35 ex causis probatio. In Plautus there are several instances even of the accusative, but the dative is more frequent.

multum et ipsa = ipsa quoque ... multum contulerit, ‘even paraphrase of 155 itself,’ i.e. apart from translation. See on 1 §31 and cp. §20 below, 6 §1: 7 §26.

contulerit: v. on 1 §37. (Cicero uses ipse by itself, or ipse etiam: Livy, ipse quoque.)

de carminibus: Hild wrongly takes this of Greek poetry. Quintilian is commending those exercises in ‘reproduction’ or ‘paraphrase,’ which are substituted in many schools now for English ‘parsing.’

Sulpicius, 1 §116.

sublimis spiritus: cp. 1 §27 in rebus spiritus et in verbis sublimitas: §61 spiritu, magnificentia: §104 elatum abunde spiritum: 3 §22 beatiorem spiritum.

orationem: ‘prose style.’ The fire of the poetry gives elevation to the paraphrase. _Oratio_ is used (without prosa) in Cicero for ‘prose’: Orator §70 saepissime et in poematis et in oratione peccatur: ibid. §§166, 174, 178, 198, &c.

poetica libertate. Cp. Quintilian’s remarks on the study of poetry, 1 §§27-30, esp. §28 libertate verborum ... licentia figurarum.

praesumunt. The use of this verb, with such a nominative as _verba_ (which seems here to be in a way personified), would be hard to parallel either from Quintilian or from any other writer. Elsewhere it is generally used with a personal reference in the sense of to ‘take beforehand’ (προλαμβάνω)),—with derived meanings; e.g. i. 10, 27: i. 1, 19: ii. 4, 7; 17, 28: viii. 6, 23: xii. 9, 9. The passage xi. 1, 27 inviti iudices audiunt praesumentem partes suas is quoted as showing that the meaning is ‘encroach upon,’ but that is secondary: there it simply means ‘anticipating them in the discharge of their functions,’ cp. sumere sibi imperatorias partes Caesar B.C. iii. 51. ‘Forestall’ is the nearest English equivalent: praeripere (Becher), praecidere (Hild), praecipere (sumere aliquid ante tempus) Dosson. Cp. Aen. xi. 18: Ovid Ar. Amat. iii. 757: and praeclusam §7 below.—In what follows eadem is the only reading that will make sense of a very difficult passage: if it is the nom. pl. (agreeing with _verba_), tr. ‘do not at the same time (i.e. in consequence of their being _poet. libert. audac._) exhaust beforehand the power of using the language of ordinary prose: no (sed = ἀλλὰ), we may add to the thought (of the poem) the strength of rhetoric,’ &c. Even if the words are ‘poetica libertate audaciora’ the ‘facultas proprie dicendi’ can secure strength, completeness, and compactness for the reproduction. But _eadem_ is usually taken as the acc. pl. neut.: ‘do not use up beforehand the ability to say the same things in ordinary prose.’ The reading _eandem_ (Halm and Meister) would seem to require a different meaning for _praesumunt_.—See Crit. Notes.

effusa substringere: cp. 4 §1 luxuriantia adstringere. _Substringere_ means to ‘gather up’ as one does with dishevelled (_effusus_) hair, from which the figure may be taken: Tac. Germ. 38 substringere crinem nodo. Burmann quotes from Tertullian de Oration, ch. i. de brevitate orationis dominicae quantum substringitur verbis tantum diffunditur sensibus.

V:5 Neque ego paraphrasin esse interpretationem tantum volo, sed circa eosdem sensus certamen atque aemulationem. Ideoque ab illis dissentio qui vertere 156 orationes Latinas vetant, quia optimis occupatis, quidquid aliter dixerimus, necesse sit esse deterius. Nam neque semper est desperandum aliquid illis quae dicta sunt melius posse reperiri, neque adeo ieiunam ac pauperem natura eloquentiam fecit ut una de re bene dici nisi semel non possit:

§ 5. paraphrasin, subject: cp. conversio §4 above. The paraphrase is not to be a mere word-for-word translation: for interpretatio cp. iii. 5, 17. Among the ‘dicendi primordia’ proper for the training of ‘aetates nondum rhetorem capientes’ Quintilian lays down the practice of paraphrase: tum paraphrasi audacius vertere (Aesopi Fabellas), qua et breviare quaedam et exornare salvo modo poetae sensu permittitur.

circa eosdem sensus. The writer is to endeavour to rival his original in expressing the same idea. For _sensus_ cp. 3 §33: _circa_ again below §6 circa voces easdem. See on 1 §52.

vertere orationes. Till now he has 156 been speaking of _conversio ex carminibus_. It was probably the custom in schools of rhetoric to make pupils give a free rendering (vertere) of passages also from some great oration. Quintilian is defending such practices against the criticism which Cicero, for example, puts in the mouth of Crassus, de Orat. i. §154 equidem mihi adulescentulus proponere solebam illam exercitationem maxime ... ut aut versibus propositis quam maxime gravibus aut oratione aliqua lecta ad eum finem, quem memoria possem comprehendere, eam rem ipsam quam legissem verbis aliis quam maxime possem lectis pronuntiarem: sed post animadverti hoc esse in hoc vitii, quod ea verba quae maxime cuiusque rei propria quaeque essent ornatissima atque optima occupasset aut Ennius, si ad eius versus me exercerem, aut Gracchus, si eius orationem mihi forte proposuissem: ita, si eisdem verbis uterer, nihil prodesse, si aliis, etiam obesse, cum minus idoneis uti consuescerem. So he took to translating from the Greek, as shown in what follows, quoted on §2 above.

una de re. Along with _in eadem materia_ below, this shows what freedom Quintilian would allow in such reproductions: cp. non interpretationem tantum, &c. above. Hild refers to a quotation, on the other hand, from La Bruyère (Ouvrages de l’Esprit 17), which has more of the spirit of the true artist: Entre toutes les différentes expressions qui peuvent rendre une seule de nos pensées, il n’y en a qu’une qui soit la bonne. On ne la rencontre pas toujours en parlant ou en écrivant; il est vrai néanmoins qu’elle existe, que tout ce qui ne l’est pas est faible, et ne satisfait point un homme d’esprit qui veut se faire entendre.

V:6 nisi forte histrionum multa circa voces easdem variare gestus potest, orandi minor vis, ut dicatur aliquid post quod in eadem materia nihil dicendum sit. Sed esto neque melius quod invenimus esse neque par, est certe proximis locus.

§ 6. nisi forte: a formula generally used, as in Cicero, to introduce an ironical argument, e.g. i. §70: 2 §8. For a similar constr. cp. i. 10, 6: nisi forte ἀντιδότους quidem atque alia, quae oculis aut vulneribus medentur, ex multis atque interim contrariis quoque inter se effectibus componi videmus ... et muta animalia mellisillum inimitabilem humanae rationis saporem vario florum ac sucorum genere perficiunt: nos mirabamur si oratio, qua nihil praestantius homini dedit providentia, pluribus artibus egeat. And, with _autem_ in the second clause, ii. 3, 6 Nisi forte Iovem quidem Phidias optime fecit, illa autem alius melius elaborasset. Cp. the use of _an_, _an vero_ with antithetical clauses.—The reasoning is by no means conclusive, the analogy on which it rests having nothing to recommend it except to a teacher of rhetoric. Quintilian may have had in his mind what went on between Cicero and Roscius: Satis constat contendere eum cum ipso histrione solitum, utrum ille saepius eandem sententiam variis gestibus efficeret, an ipse per eloquentiae copiam sermone diverso pronuntiaret,—Macrobius, Saturn. ii. 40.

esto: with acc. and infin. as in Hor. Ep. i. 1, 81 Verum esto aliis alios rebus studiisque teneri: Idem eadem possunt horam durare probantes. The subj. is more common: Cic. pro Sest. 97 esto (est) ... ut sint. Or else _esto_ may be used independently: Hor. Sat. ii. 2, 30. Quint. ix. 2, 84 sed esto, voluerit: Verg. Aen. iv. 35 esto, nulli flexere mariti.

par ... proximis: cp. 1 §127 pares ac saltem proximos illi viro fieri. With _proximis_ understand ‘illis quae dicta sunt.’

V:7 An vero ipsi non bis ac saepius de eadem re dicimus et quidem continuas nonnumquam sententias? Nisi 157 forte contendere nobiscum possumus, cum aliis non possumus. Nam si uno genere bene diceretur, fas erat existimari praeclusam nobis a prioribus viam; nunc vero innumerabiles sunt modi plurimaeque eodem viae ducunt.

§ 7. An vero: see on 3 §29.

et quidem: see on 1 §34, and cp. Plin. Ep. i. 12, 1 decessit Corellius Rufus, et quidem sponte.

157 nisi forte: v. on §6 above. For such repetitions see 2 §23, and note.

uno: supply _tantum_, as in 1 §91 hos nominavimus. For genere (= ratione, modo) cp. 3 §26.

fas erat. With verbs expressing possibility, duty, necessity, convenience, intention, &c. the indicative is often used in the apodosis when the verb in the protasis is subjunctive. Cp. Livy v. 6 Si mediusfidius ad hoc bellum nihil pertineret, ad disciplinam certe militiae plurimum intererat, &c.: Sallust. Iug. 85 ad fin. Quae si dubia aut procul essent, tamen omnes bonos rei publicae subvenire decebat.

plurimae ... ducunt. The expression seems proverbial: cp. ‘All roads lead to Rome.’

V:8 Sua brevitati gratia, sua copiae, alia translatis virtus, alia propriis, hoc oratio recta, illud figura declinata commendat. Ipsa denique utilissima est exercitationi difficultas. Quid quod auctores maximi sic diligentius cognoscuntur? Non enim scripta lectione secura transcurrimus, sed tractamus singula et necessario introspicimus et, quantum virtutis habeant, vel hoc ipso cognoscimus, quod imitari non possumus.

§ 8. oratio recta. See on 1 §44 rectum dicendi genus: the opposite is _oratio figurata_, or _figura declinata_ (1 §12). Cp. ix. 1, 3 Utraque res (figures and tropes) de recta et simplici ratione cum aliqua dicendi virtute deflectitur.

figura is ablative, the phrase being equivalent to _figurata_: 1 §12.

commendat: v. 1 §101.

tractamus: cp. repetamus autem et tractemus 1 §19.

V:9 Nec aliena tantum transferre, sed etiam nostra pluribus modis tractare proderit, ut ex industria sumamus sententias quasdam easque versemus quam numerosissime, velut eadem cera aliae aliaeque formae duci solent.

§ 9. numerosissime: not merely ‘as often as possible’ (saepissime), but ‘in every possible variety’: cp. aliae aliaeque formae, below. Cp. ii. 12, 3 sparsa compositis numerosiora creduntur: viii. pr. §2 difficultate institutionis tam numerosae atque perplexae deterreri: xi. 2, 27 ni forte tam numerosus (locus) ut ipse quoque dividi debeat: vi. 3, 36 neque enim minus numerosi sunt loci ex quibus haec dicta ... ducuntur. But Quintilian also uses it in the Ciceronian sense (‘rhythmically,’ ‘harmoniously’) viii. 6, 64 sermonem facere numerosum: ix. 4, 56: xi. 1, 33.

eadem cera: Cic. de Orat iii. §177 sed ea nos ... sicut mollissimam ceram ad nostrum arbitrium formamus et fingimus: Pliny Ep.