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 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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.
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. vii. 9, 11 Ut laus est cerae mollis cedensque sequatur Si doctos digitos iussaque fiat opus, &c.
aliae aliaeque, ‘first one and then another’: of a continuous succession: cp. quam numerosissime, above. Cp. Cels. iii. 3 extr. febres ... aliae aliaeque subinde oriuntur. With this exception, Quintilian consistently prefers the Ciceronian atque in such expressions, instead of the enclitic. Krüger cites Tibull. iv. 1, 16, sq. ut tibi possim Inde alios aliosque memor componere versus.
duci: 3 §18: ii. 4, 7 si non ab initio tenuem nimium laminam duxerimus.
V:10 Plurimum autem parari facultatis existimo ex simplicissima quaque materia. Nam illa multiplici personarum, causarum, temporum, locorum, dictorum, factorum diversitate facile delitescet infirmitas, tot se undique rebus, ex quibus aliquam adprehendas, offerentibus.
§ 10. illa ... diversitate: xii. 10, 15 umbra magni nominis delitescunt. The less complicated the subject, the more will the orator have to depend on his own resources: with the diversitas that characterises actual pleading, where the speaker must have regard to every feature of the case, want of original talent or poverty of invention (infirmitas) can easily shelter itself behind a crowd of details.
causarum, ‘circumstances’: opp. to personarum, as loca, to tempora, and facta to dicta. So personis causisque iii. 5, 11: rerum is used in a similar enumeration iii. 5, 7. So Krüger, of the ‘points of law’ involved in particular cases: for causa in the wider sense cp. iii. 5, 18 with Cic. Top. §80.
V:11 Illud virtutis indicium est, fundere quae natura contracta sunt, augere parva, varietatem similibus, voluptatem expositis dare et bene dicere multa de paucis.
In hoc optime facient infinitae quaestiones, quas vocari theses diximus, quibus Cicero iam princeps in re publica exerceri solebat.
§ 11. fundere ... contracta: cp. ii. 13, 5 constricta an latius fusa narratio: fusus 1 §73. The word = dilatare (cp. Cic. de Fin. iii. 15), copiosius et latius efferre. So latum atque fusum is opp. to contractum atque submissum xi. 3, 50. Cp. Cicero Orat. §125 tum se latius fundet orator,—a phrase which Quintilian reproduces in many places.
augere parva. Cp. Plato, Phaedrus 267 A (of Tisias and Gorgias) τά τε αὖ σμικρὰ μεγάλα καὶ τὰ μεγάλα σμικρὰ φαίνεσθαι ποιοῦσι διὰ ῥώμην λόγου. Isocrates is said to have defined rhetoric as that which τά τε μικρὰ μεγάλα, τὰ δὲ μεγάλα μικρὰ ποιεῖ—Pseudo-Plutarch 838 F. See too the Exordium of the Panegyricus of Isocrates §8 ἐπειδὴ δ᾽ οἱ λόγοι τοιαύτην ἔχουσι τὴν φύσιν ὥσθ᾽ οἷον τ᾽ εἶναι περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν πολλαχῶς ἐξηγήσασθαι (varietatem similibus) καὶ τά τε μεγάλα ταπεινὰ ποιῆσαι καὶ τοῖς μικροῖς μέγεθος περιθεῖναι κ.τ.λ.
expositis: ‘commonplace,’ ‘trite.’ Iuv. vii. 53 Sed vatem egregium, cui non sit publica vena, Qui nil expositum soleat deducere, nec qui Communi feriat carmen triviale moneta. Introd. p. xlvii.
In hoc: cp. 2 §5. It denotes the end or aim, like ad hoc. For this use of facere cp. 1 §33 bene ad forensem pulverem facere: 7 §4 quid porro multus stilus ... facit?
infinitae quaestiones quas vocari theses diximus: iii. 5, 5 sq. Item convenit quaestiones esse aut infinitas aut finitas. Infinitae sunt quae remotis personis et temporibus et locis ceterisque similibus in utramque partem (i.e. affirmatively and negatively) tractantur, quod Graeci θέσιν dicunt, Cicero propositum, alii quaestiones universales civiles, alii quaestiones philosopho convenientes, Athenaeus partem caussae appellat. Hoc genus Cicero scientia et actione distinguit (speculative and practical), ut sit scientia ‘an providentia mundus regatur,’ actionis ‘an accedendum ad rempublicam administrandam.’ ... Finitae autem sunt ex complexu rerum, personarum, temporum, ceterorumque quae ὑποθέσεις a Graecis dicuntur, causae a nostris. In his omnis quaestio videtur circa res personasque consistere. Amplior est semper infinita, inde enim finita descendit. Quod ut exemplo pateat, infinita est ‘an uxor ducenda,’ finita ‘an Catoni ducenda.’—The division of the subject-matter of oratory into questions of the universal kind, ‘general problems,’ and questions of a special kind, ‘particular problems,’ is familiar in ancient rhetoric. The former were abstract, and had no specified relation to individual persons or circumstances: the latter were concrete, involving a reference to actual persons and circumstances. In the ad Herenn. the quaestiones infinitae (θέσεις), proposita (Top. §79) or consultationes (Part. Or. §61) are subdivided, as above, into quaestiones scientiae or cognitionis, ‘theoretical questions’ (e.g. ecquid bonum sit praeter honestatem), and quaestiones actionis ‘questions of practical life,’ (e.g. an uxor ducenda). The quaestiones finitae, on the other hand, ὑποθέσεις, causae, controversiae (de Orat. iii. §109), are those concerning individuals: cum personarum certarum interpositione, de Inv. i. 6, 8. The θέσις is thus defined in Hermogenes, Sp. ii. 17: ἐπίσκηψίν τινος πράγματος θεωρουμένου, ἀμοιροῦσαν πάσης ἰδικῆς περιστάσεως: cp. res posita in infinita dubitatione, de Orat. ii. §78. The quaestio finita on the other hand is res posita in disceptatione reorum et controversia (ibid.): προστεθείσης περιστάσεως τελεία ὑπόθεσις γίνεται (Nicolaus Soph. Progym. Sp. iii. 493). The passages to compare in Cicero are the following:—de Orat. i. §138: ii. §41, §78, and §133: iii. §109-§111: Orat. §45: Top. §79: de Invent. i. 6, §8: Part. Orat. §61, §106.
Cicero. It was considered one of his strong points that he could rise from the special instance to the higher ground of the general principle: Brutus §322 dicam de ceteris quorum nemo erat qui ... dilatare posset atque a propria ac definita disputatione hominis ac temporis ad communem quaestionem universi generis orationem traducere. He writes to Atticus in 49 B.C. (ix. 4, 1) Ne me totum aegritudini dedam, sumpsi mihi quasdam tanquam θέσεις: cp. ib. 9, 1 θέσεις meas commentari non desino. Aristotle recognised the importance of the practice of the θέσις: in hac A. adulescentes, non ad philosophorum morem tenuiter disserendi, sed ad copiam rhetorum in utramque partem ut ornatius et uberius dici posset, exercuit. Cp. Tusc. Disp. ii. 3 §9: de Orat. iii. §107: Quint. xii. 2, 25. Among his θέσεις we may probably reckon the Paradoxa.
V:12 His confinis est destructio et confirmatio sententiarum. Nam cum sit sententia decretum quoddam atque praeceptum, quod de re, idem de iudicio rei quaeri potest. Tum loci communes, quos etiam scriptos ab oratoribus scimus. Nam qui haec recta tantum et in nullos flexus recedentia copiose tractaverit, utique in illis plures excursus recipientibus magis abundabit eritque in omnes causas paratus; omnes enim generalibus quaestionibus constant.
§ 12. confinis: frequent in this figurative sense in Quintilian: not in Cicero.
destructio ... confirmatio correspond respectively to ἀνασκευή (refutatio) and κατασκευή (probatio). Cp. ii. 4, 18 Narrationibus non inutiliter subiungitur opus destruendi confirmandique eas, quod ἀνασκευή et κατασκευή vocatur. Hermog. Sp. ii. 8 ἀνασκευή ἐστιν ἀνατροπὴ τοῦ προτεθέντος πράγματος, κατασκευὴ δὲ τοὐναντίον βεβαίωσις. For confirmatio v. Cic. de Invent. i. 24: de Orat. ii. 331: Part. Or. 1, 4: 8, 27: Cornif. ad Her. i. 3: Quint. iv. 3, 1: v. 13, 1. Quintilian here transfers to judicial findings the language applicable to narratio, as above: sententia = a judicial sentence, and is synonymous with iudicium. “In sententia, quae est de re iudicium, fieri potest idem quod in facto narrato, quod est res ipsa.”—Spalding. That is to say, sententia and iudicium “pertain to individual cases (res): but the particular sentence or judgment is also a kind of (general) decree and prescription, or general rule of law; because, to be sustained or refuted, it must be put into a general form or statement like such a general decree. Thus the special sentence is argued (quaeritur) on the same grounds as the case itself (res) on which it has been pronounced. See the case of Milo, quoted below, ii §13. Of course no specific question of fact will come into such a discussion; only a general one of right or wrong, of legal precedent, or of law in general.” Frieze.
loci communes: ‘general arguments,’ ‘commonplaces,’ i.e. topics for argument on all sorts of matters. Cicero defines them de Invent. ii. 48 sq. haec argumenta, quae transferri in multas causas possunt, locos communes nominamus ... distinguitur autem oratio atque illustratur maxime raro inducendis locis communibus et aliquo loco iam certioribus illis argumentis confirmato ... omnia autem ornamenta elocutionis, in quibus et suavitatis et gravitatis plurimum consistit, in communes locos conferuntur: de Or. iii. §106 consequentur etiam illi loci, qui quamquam proprii causarum et inhaerentes in earum nervis esse debent, tamen quia de universa re tractare solent, communes a veteribus nominati sunt, quorum partim habent vitiorum et peccatorum acrem quandam cum amplificatione incusationem aut querelam ... quibus uti confirmatis criminibus oportet...; alii autem habent deprecationem aut miserationem; alii vero ancipites disputationes, in quibus de universo genere in utramque partem disseri copiose licet: Orat. §§46-7: §126: Part. Orat. §115. Quint. ii. 4, 22 communes loci ... quibus citra personas in ipsa vitia moris est perorare, ut in adulterum, aleatorem, petulantem: ii. 1, 9-11. “Any subject or topic of a general character that is capable of being variously applied and constantly introduced on any appropriate occasion is a locus communis; any common current maxim or alternative proposition, such as suspitionibus credi [oportere] non oportere et contra suspitionibus credi oportere, testibus credi oportere et non oportere. Again invidia, avaritia, testes inimici, potentes amici (Quint. v. 12 §§15, 16) may furnish loci communes; or they may be constructed de virtute, de officio, de aequo et bono, de dignitate, utilitate, honore, ignominia, and on other moral topics” (Cope’s Intr. to Ar. Rhet. p. 130).
ab oratoribus: e.g. Cicero and Hortensius. ii. 1, 11 Communes loci, sive qui sunt in vitia directi, quales legimus a Cicerone compositos, seu quibus quaestiones generaliter tractantur, quales sunt editi a Q. quoque Hortensio, ut: ‘Sitne parvis augmentis credendum?’ et pro testibus et in testes. Aristotle made loci communes the subject of his τοπικά, in eight books, and it was the substance of this treatise that Cicero reproduced in his ‘Topica.’
haec recta ... in illis, &c. The opposition here is between the simple themes (cp. ex simplicissima quaque materia, §10) which deal with the general and abstract and do not diverge into the special (ii. 1, 9 citra complexum rerum personarumque), and the digressions involved in the ‘multiplex personarum causarum temporum locorum dictorum factorum diversitas,’ referred to in §10. With the former cp. Cic. de Orat. ii. §67 vaga et libera et late patens quaestio: iii. §120 orationes eae quae latissime vagantur et a privata ac singulari controversia se ad universi generis vim explicandam conferunt: Brutus §322 nemo qui dilatare posset atque a propria ac definita disputatione hominis ac temporis ad communem quaestionem universi generis orationem traducere. The two form the duo genera causarum of de Orat. ii. §133 unum ... in quo sine personis atque temporibus de universo genere quaeratur; alterum, quod personis certis et temporibus definiatur. For recta tantum et in nullos flexus recedentia cp. v. 13, 2 inde recta fere ... est actio, hinc mille flexus et artes desiderantur: §8 above, oratio recta ... figura declinata.
utique, ‘without fail’: common in this sense in Cicero’s letters. In Quintilian it is very frequent, especially in stating a consequence: cp. 1 §24 and note.
in illis, i.e. the great majority of causes.
plures excursus recipientibus, i.e. that admit of various digressions, and are susceptible of various applications according to circumstances, persons, place, time, &c.
in omnes causas paratus: for the constr. cp. Tac. Dial. xli. inter bonos mores et in obsequium regentis paratos. A similar expression occurs ibid. xxxiv. solus statim et unus cuicunque causae par erat. So too x. 1, 2, above, paratam ad omnes casus ... eloquentiam.
generalibus quaestionibus. Cp. iii. 5, 9 Hae autem, quas infinitas voco, et generales appellantur: quod si est verum, finitae speciales erunt. In omni autem speciali utique inest generalis, ut quae sit prior: xii. 2, 18 omnis generalis quaestio speciali potentior, quia universo pars continetur, non utique accedit parti quod universum est: ii. 4, 22 ab illo generali tractatu ad quasdam deduci species. Cp. v. 7, 35.
V:13 Nam quid interest ‘Cornelius tribunus plebis, quod codicem legerit, reus sit,’ an quaeramus ‘violeturne maiestas, si magistratus rogationem suam populo ipse recitarit’: ‘Milo Clodium rectene occiderit’ veniat in iudicium, an ‘oporteatne insidiatorem interfici vel perniciosum rei publicae civem, etiamsi non insidietur’: ‘Cato Marciam honestene tradiderit Hortensio,’ an ‘conveniatne res talis bono viro’? De personis iudicatur, sed de rebus contenditur.
§ 13. C. Cornelius was tribune in B.C. 67, when he tried to do some useful work. In order to check the bribery and corruption that were rife at the time, he proposed a law to make all loans that should be lent to foreign ambassadors non-actionable. The rejection of this proposal prompted the tribune to bring forward the rogation here referred to,—ne quis nisi per populum legibus solveretur. The senate had usurped the power of giving dispensations in particular cases, without any reference whatever to the people, though constitutionally such dispensations lay with the people and not the senate. When the bill was to be read, a colleague, P. Servilius Globulus, acting in the interests of the senate, interposed his veto, and forbade the herald to make the proclamation which he would otherwise have done in the form dictated by the clerk. Thereupon Cornelius himself read the draft of the proposed law (codicem). A riot ensued, and the meeting was broken up. Cornelius was afterwards successful in securing the enactment of a law which provided that 200 senators should be present when any dispensation was granted. On the expiry of his term of office Cornelius was impeached by P. Cominius for having disregarded the veto of his colleague, and though the case was suppressed it came on again in the following year (65). Cornelius was defended by Cicero (Brutus §271), who delivered the two speeches of which we have a few important fragments, along with the interesting Argumentum of Asconius. Cornelius was evidently a fighting character: Asconius calls him ‘pertinacior,’ and says ‘per ... contentiones totus prope tribunatus eius peractus est.’ Another of his laws was ‘ut praetores ex edictis suis perpetuis ius dicerent’: “what had hitherto been understood as matter of course was now expressly laid down as a law, that the praetors were bound to administer justice in conformity with the rules set forth by them, as was the Roman use and wont, at their entering on office.” Mommsen.—For the reference in the text cp. iv. 4, 8: v. 13, 26: vi. 5, 10: vii. 3, 35 (maiestas est in imperii atque in nominis populi Romani dignitate): vii. 3, 3.
reus sit. The subjunctive is motived only by the double interrogation, so there is no need for Halm’s conjectural emendation (see Crit. Notes). In the direct speech the finita, or specialis causa would run: C. Cornelius ... reus est: cp. vii. 1, 34 accusatur Milo, quod Clodium occiderit: iii. 5, 10. It is put in the form of a positive statement. The infinita causa on the other hand is stated in the form of a question, and this form is maintained in both the finitae and the infinitae quaestiones that follow.
violeturne maiestas. Asconius: Cicero quia non poterat negare id factum esse, eo confugit ut diceret non ideo quod lectus sit codex a tribuno imminutam esse tribunitiam potestatem. Cicero in Vatin. ii. §5 Codicem legisse dicebatur: defendebatur, testibus collegis suis, non recitandi causa legisse, sed recognoscendi. Constabat tamen Cornelium concilium illo die dimisisse, intercessioni paruisse.
oporteatne ... interfici. This is the line taken in the Pro Milone, for which cp. 1 §23. Also iii. 6, 93: iv. 3, 17: vii. 1, 34.
Cato Marciam, &c. This remarkable episode is referred to also iii. 5, 11. Marcia lived with Hortensius from 56 to 50 with the consent both of her husband and her father, and then went back on the death of Hortensius to Cato. Lucan says of Cato ii. 388 Urbi pater est urbique maritus. Cp. Meyer’s Orat. Rom. Fragm. p. 377: Strab. xi. p. 515: Hild also cites Tertullian (Apol. 39), St. Augustine (de Bono Conj. 18), as protesting against such an instance of pagan corruption.
rebus = rebus generalibus, i.e. general questions, principles. Oporteatne and conveniatne above give the special questions treated as quaestiones infinitae.
V:14 Declamationes vero, quales in scholis rhetorum dicuntur, si modo sunt ad veritatem accommodatae et orationibus similes, non tantum dum adulescit profectus sunt utilissimae, quia inventionem et dispositionem pariter exercent, sed etiam cum est consummatus ac iam in foro clarus; alitur enim atque enitescit velut pabulo laetiore facundia et adsidua contentionum asperitate fatigata renovatur.
§ 14. Declamationes, 2 §12. Quintilian defines them ii. 4, 41 fictas ad imitationem fori consiliorumque materias apud Graecos dicere circa Demetrium Phalerea institutum fere constat. Cp. iv. 2, 28-9. This sense of the word came in about the end of Augustus’s reign, though the thing was known to Cicero, de Orat. i. §149. Cp. M. Seneca Controv. praef. xi. sqq.: and see note on declamatoribus 1 §71.
ad veritatem accommodatae. That they were by no means always so may be seen from Tac. Dial. 35 Quales per fidem et quam incredibiliter compositae! Sequitur autem ut materiae abhorrenti a veritate declamatio quoque adhibeatur. Cp. Quint. ii. 20, 4 qui in declamationibus, quas esse veritati dissimillimas volunt, aetatem multo studio ac labore consumunt. See the whole of ch. 10, ibid. esp. §4 declamatio imitetur eas actiones, in quarum exercitationem reperta est, and §12 declamatio iudiciorum consiliorumque imago: iv. 2, 29 cum sit declamatio forensium actionum meditatio.
orationibus, real speeches made in court.
profectus: abstract for concrete: cp. facilitatem 3 §7: initiis 2 §2. So too i. 2, §26 firmiores in litteris profectus alit aemulatio. See Crit. Notes.
pariter: i.e. simul cum elocutione, this last being the most important element in such rhetorical exercises. Dispositio is defined Cic. de Invent. i. §9 rerum inventarum in ordinem distributio.
consummatus: sc. adulescens, or rather iuvenis: as though adulescit profectus above had been adulescens proficit. For consummatus see on 1 §89.
velut pabulo laetiore. Livy has in the ordinary language of prose ‘ut quiete et pabulo laeto reficeret boves’ i. 7, 4: for the figure cp. Quint. viii. Prooem. §23 velut laeto gramine sata. Laetus is frequently used in Vergil of rich vegetation: e.g. Georg. iii. 385 fuge pabula laeta, where, however, as also in 494, the word means ‘luxuriant,’ in the sense of rankness rather than richness. In Lucretius ‘pabula laeta’ occurs six or seven times with armenta, arbusta, vineta: e.g. i. 14.—Hortensius is a case in point: nullum enim patiebatur esse diem quin aut in foro diceret aut meditaretur extra forum; saepissime autem eodem die utrumque faciebat Brut. §302.
V:15 Quapropter historiae nonnumquam ubertas in aliqua exercendi stili parte ponenda et dialogorum libertate gestiendum. Ne carmine quidem ludere contrarium fuerit, sicut athletae, remissa quibusdam temporibus ciborum atque exercitationum certa necessitate, otio et iucundioribus epulis reficiuntur.
§ 15. historiae ubertas. Cp. 1 §31. Pliny, Epist. vii. 9, 8 Volo interdum aliquem ex historia locum adprehendas ... nam saepe in orationes quoque non historica modo sed prope poetica descriptionum necessitas incidit.
in aliqua ... ponenda: ‘should be introduced in some part of our written exercises.’ Becher (Quaest. gramm.) compares Cic. Tusc. Disp. iv. §42 aegritudines susceptae continuo in magna pestis parte versantur, i.e. magnam partem continent. He renders ‘Es mache einen Theil der Stilübung aus, die Fülle der geschichtlichen Darstellung in Anwendung zu bringen.’
dialogorum libertate gestiendum: ‘we should indulge (‘let ourselves out’) in the easy freedom of dialogue.’ The same abl. occurs in Livy vi. 36, 1 gestire otio: secundis rebus xlv. 19, 7: in Cicero it is generally voluptate or laetitia. For gestio c. inf. see Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 175: A. P. 159.
Ne carmine quidem &c. Cp. Pliny l.c. Fas est et carmine remitti ... Lusus vocantur. Ludere is used of poetry in all the Latin poets, especially of love poetry: e.g. Ovid. Tr. i. 9, 61 scis vetus hoc iuveni lusum mihi carmen: Catullus l. 2 multum lusimus in meis tabellis: Hor. Car. i. 32 Poscimur: si quid vacui sub umbra Lusimus tecum. Even in prose it is used of light writings thrown off in sport: Cic. Parad. pr. illa ipsa ludens conieci in communes locos: especially, as here, where a contrast is implied between sport and serious business, e.g. videant ... ad ludendumne an ad pugnandum arma sint sumpturi (of military exercises) de Orat. ii. §84. So too ‘ludicra’: pueri etiam cum cessant exercitatione aliqua ludicra (‘in sport’) delectantur de Nat. Deor. i. §102: exercitatione quasi ludicra praediscere ac meditari de Orat. i. §147. ‘Res ludicra,’ the drama (Hor. Ep. ii. 1, 180), introduces another set of associations.
contrarium = alienum, inconsistent with one’s aim, ‘inapposite.’ So Tacitus, speaking of the unpractical character of the rhetorical theses in the schools of declamation, says ‘ipsae vero exercitationes magna ex parte contrariae’ Dial. 35: cp. ‘ubi nemo impune stulte aliquid aut contrarie dicit’ ibid. 34.
sicut athletae: for this frequently recurring comparison see on 1 §4.
ciborum ... certa necessitate. Epictetus uses ἀναγκοφαγέω and ἀναγκοτροφέω for eating by regimen like athletes in training.—The chiasmus may be noted.
V:16 Ideoque mihi videtur M. Tullius tantum intulisse eloquentiae lumen, quod in hos quoque studiorum secessus excurrit. Nam si nobis sola materia fuerit ex litibus, necesse est deteratur fulgor et durescat articulus et ipse ille mucro ingenii cotidiana pugna retundatur.
§ 16. studiorum secessus: the ‘by-ways’ of study, remote from the adsidua contentionum asperitas referred to above. Cp. 3 §§23 and 28. So Tacitus contrasts the ‘securum et quietum Vergilii secessum’ with the ‘inquieta et anxia oratorum vita’ Dial. 13: cp. secedit animus in loca pura atque innocentia 12.
durescat articulus keeps up the figure of athletic contests. Articulus is properly a little limb: then esp. the finger. Cp. ii. 12, 2 excipit adversarii mollis articulus (of the gladiator handling his sword with flexible fingers, which like xi. 1, 70 (quam molli articulo tractavit Catonem) points to a proverbial expression.
cotidiana pugna retundatur: cp. 1 §27 velut attrita cotidiano actu forensi ingenia optime rerum talium blanditia reparantur with the passage from pro Archia §12 quoted there. Pliny, Epist. vii. 9, 7 Scio nunc tibi esse praecipuum studium orandi: sed non ideo semper pugnacem et quasi bellatorium stilum suaserim. Ut enim terrae variis mutatisque seminibus, ita ingenia nostra nunc hac nunc illa meditatione recoluntur.
quem ad modum ... sic. Cp. iii. 6, 33: v. 10, 125: ix. 2, 46, and (with ita) ii. 5, 1. In the instance in the text, however, there is no comparison between two different subjects: the two clauses are parallel. Ut ... ita would have been more usual: 3 §28: sicut ... ita 1 §1.
V:17 Sed quem ad modum forensibus certaminibus exercitatos et quasi militantes reficit ac reparat haec velut sagina dicendi, sic adulescentes non debent nimium in falsa rerum imagine detineri, et inanibus simulacris usque adeo ut difficilis ab his digressus sit adsuescere, ne ab illa, in qua prope consenuerunt, umbra vera discrimina velut quendam solem reformident.
§ 17. forensibus certaminibus exercitatos: Petron. 118 forensibus ministeriis exercitati frequenter ad carminis tranquillitatem tamquam ad portum feliciorem refugerunt.
quasi militantes: 1 §§29, 31, 79.
haec velut sagina dicendi: ‘this rich food of eloquence.’ Cp. iucundioribus epulis §15 above: gladiatoria sagina Tac. Hist. ii. 88.
falsa rerum imagine, i.e. the declamations, which in contrast with the reality of ‘forenses actiones’ are mere shams: cp. note on ad veritatem accommodatae §14: xii. 11, 15 quid attinet tam multis annis ... declamitare in schola et tantum laboris in rebus falsis consumere, cum satis sit modico tempore imaginem veri discriminis et dicendi leges comperisse. Cp. ii. 10, 4: Tac. Dial. 35 quidquid in scholis cotidie agitur, in foro vel raro vel nunquam: 34 nec praeceptor deerat ... qui faciem eloquentiae non imaginem praestaret. Cp. 2 §12 above.
inanibus simulacris: ii. 10 §8 quibusdam pugnae simulacris ad verum discrimen aciemque iustam consuescimus. For the reading see Crit. Notes.
ab illa ... umbra: i.e. in coming out of it. Juvenal vii. 173 ad pugnam qui rhetorica descendit ab umbra. For ab in sense of post cp. Livy xliv. 34 ab his praeceptis contionem dimisit: Introd. p. lii.
in qua prope consenuerunt: xii. 6, 5 non nulli senes in schola facti stupent novitate cum in iudicia venerunt.
umbra ... solem. The shady retreat of the school is constantly compared with the dust and sun of real life. Cicero, de Leg. iii. 6, 14 a Theophrasto Phalereus ille Demetrius ... mirabiliter doctrinam ex umbraculis eruditorum otioque non modo in solem atque in pulverem, sed in ipsum discrimen aciemque produxit: Brut. §37 processerat in solem et pulverem non ut e militari tabernaculo sed ut e Theophrasti doctissimi hominis umbraculis: de §64 (umbratilis—‘cloistral’). So ‘umbraticavita’ Quint. i. 2, 18: ‘studia in umbra educata’ Tac. Ann. xiv. 53: ‘umbraticas litteras’ Pliny, Epist. ix. 2, 3-4, opp. to ‘arma castra cornua tubas sudorem pulverem soles’: M. Seneca Contr. ix. pr. §4 itaque velut ex umbroso et obscuro prodeuntes loco clarae lucis fulgor obcaecat, sic istos a scholis in forum transeuntes omnia tanquam nova et inusitata perturbant. For analogies in Greek cp. Plat. Phaedrus 239 c. οὐδ᾽ ἐν ἡλίῳ καθαρῷ τεθραμμένον ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὸ συμμιγεῖ σκιᾷ, with Thompson’s note.
V:18 Quod accidisse etiam M. Porcio Latroni, qui primus clari nominis professor fuit, traditur, ut, cum ei summam in scholis opinionem obtinenti causa in foro esset oranda, impense petierit uti subsellia in basilicam transferrentur. Ita illi caelum novum fuit ut omnis eius eloquentia contineri tecto ac parietibus videretur.
§ 18. Quod ... ut. The pronoun is here used pleonastically, to lead up to the dependent clause. Cp. 1 §58.
M. Porcius Latro, a celebrated rhetorician in the reign of Augustus, the friend and compatriot of the elder Seneca, who praises him greatly (Controv. i. pr. §13 sq.). Of his pupils Ovid was the most distinguished. ‘In his school he was accustomed to declaim himself, and seldom set his pupils to declaim, whence they received the name of auditores, which word came gradually into use as synonymous with discipuli.’ (Smith, Dict.)
professor is post-Augustan: it was used of a public teacher of rhetoric, and then acquired a more extended sense: Quint. xii. 11, 20 geometrae et musici et grammatici ceterarumque artium professores: ii. 11, 1 exemplo magni quoque nominis professorum. Profiteri with acc. is quite Ciceronian: Tusc. ii. §12 quod in eo ipso peccet cuius profitetur scientiam: ibid., artemque vitae professus delinquit in vita. The introduction of professor was helped by the fact that the verb came to be used absolutely (ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι): Plin. Ep. iv. 11, 1 audistine Valerium Licinianum in Sicilia profiteri? ibid. 14 translatus est in Siciliam ubi nunc profitetur: cp. Plin. ii. 18, 3.
opinionem = existimationem, famam, with which it is often joined. For this absolute use cp. 7 §17 below: fructu laudis opinionisque: i. 2, 4 exempla ... conservatae opinionis: ii. 12, 5 adfert et ista res opinionem: xii. 9, 4 cupidissimis opinionis. So too Tac. Dial. 10 ne opinio quidem et fama, cui soli serviunt. In Cicero and Caesar, who also use the word absolutely, there is always an implied reference to those who have the opinio: a man’s ‘esteem’ and ‘reputation’ depend on the ‘estimate’ and ‘opinion’ formed of him by others. Cp. Videor enim non solum studium ad defendendas causas, verum opinionis aliquid et auctoritatis afferre, pro Sulla iii. §10, with opinione fortasse non nulla quam de meis moribus habebat, de Amic. §30: detracta opinione probitatis (‘character for’ high principle) de Off. ii. §34, and opinio iustitiae (character for justice), ibid. §39, with quorum de iustitia magna esset opinio multitudinis ibid. §42. So too de Orat. ii. §156 opinionem istorum studiorum et suspicionem artificii apud eos qui res iudicent oratori adversariam esse arbitror. The passages in Caesar are all reducible to this ‘passive’ sense,—the estimate entertained by others: B.G. ii. 8 propter eximiam opinionem virtutis: ii. 24 Treviri quorum inter Gallos virtutis opinio est singularis: iv. 16 uti opinione et amicitia populi Romani tuti esse possint: vi. 24 quae gens ... summam habet iustitiae et bellicae laudis opinionem: cp. vii. 59 and 83. Cp. Introd. p. xliv.
subsellia ... transferrentur, ‘that the court should remove.’ For this general sense of subsellia cp. Cic. Brutus §289 subsellia grandiorem et pleniorem vocem desiderant: de Orat. i. §32 and §264 (habitare in subselliis, to ‘haunt the law-courts’). The word sometimes means the bench of judges, sometimes the seats of the lawyers, suitors, witnesses, &c., and sometimes both: Cic. in Vatin. §34, pro Rosc. Amer. §17 (accusatorum subsellia), ad Fam. xiii. 10, 2 (versatus in utrisque subselliis). In Quintilian the word is never used except of the law-courts.
basilicam. The basilicae erected in or near the forum served as courts of justice as well as places for merchants and business people to meet in. See Rich. Dict. Antiq.—For the incident cp. Sen. Controv. iv. pr. Narratur ... declamatoriae virtutis Latronem Porcium unicum exemplum, cum pro reo in Hispania Rustico Porcio propinquo suo diceret, usque eo esse confusum ut a soloecismo inciperet nec ante potuisse confirmari, tectum ac parietes desiderantem, quam impetravit ut iudicium ex foro in basilicam transferretur. Usque eo ingenia in scholasticis exercitationibus delicate nutriuntur ut clamorem silentium risum caelum denique pati nesciant.
V:19 Quare iuvenis qui rationem inveniendi eloquendique a praeceptoribus diligenter acceperit (quod non est infiniti operis, si docere sciant et velint), exercitationem quoque modicam fuerit consecutus, oratorem sibi aliquem, quod apud maiores fieri solebat, deligat, quem sequatur, quem imitetur: iudiciis intersit quam plurimis, et sit certaminis cui destinatur frequens spectator.
§ 19. inveniendi eloquendique covers briefly the whole field of theoretical rhetoric.
apud maiores: xii. 11, 5 frequentabunt vero eius domum optimi iuvenes more veterum et vere dicendi viam velut ex oraculo petent. Tac. Dial. 34 Ergo apud maiores nostros iuvenis ille qui foro et eloquentiae parabatur, imbutus iam domestica disciplina, refertus honestis studiis, deducebatur a patre vel a propinquis ad eum oratorem qui principem in civitate locum obtinebat. Hunc sectari, hunc prosequi, huius omnibus dictionibus interesse, sive in iudiciis sive in contionibus, adsuescebat, ita ut altercationes quoque exciperet et iurgiis interesset utque sic dixerim pugnare in proelio disceret. So Cicero tells us in Brut. ch. 89 how he sought every opportunity of hearing the distinguished speakers of his day: §305 reliquos frequenter audiens acerrimo studio tenebar cotidieque et scribens et legens et commentans oratoriis tantum exercitationibus contentus non eram.
iudiciis intersit: Cic. Brut. §304 cui (iudicio) frequens aderam.
V:20 Tum causas, vel easdem quas agi audierit, stilo et ipse componat, vel etiam alias, veras modo, et utrimque tractet et, quod in gladiatoribus fieri videmus, decretoriis exerceatur, ut fecisse Brutum diximus pro Milone. Melius hoc quam rescribere veteribus orationibus, ut fecit Cestius contra Ciceronis actionem habitam pro eodem, cum alteram partem satis nosse non posset ex sola defensione.
§ 20. et ipse: frequent in Livy, like ipse quoque = καὶ αὐτός. Cicero uses ipse, ipse etiam (etiam ipse). Cp. on §4: 7 §26.
utrimque: 1 §22.
in gladiatoribus: xi. 3, 66 nutus ... in mutis pro sermone sunt. Cp. Caes. B.C. i. 61 Caesaris erat in barbaris nomen obscurius.
decretoriis, sc. armis, ‘decisive’ or ‘real weapons’: Seneca, Ep. 117, 25 Renove ista lusoria arma, decretoriis opus est. Cp. vi. 4, 6 pugnamque illam decretoriam imperitis ac saepe pullatae turbae relinquunt. Suet. Calig. 54 has ‘pugnatoria,’ sc. arma: opp. to ‘rudes,’ as Tac. Dial. 34 adversarii et aemuli ferro, non rudibus dimicantes, and Cic. de Opt. Gen. Orat. vi. 17 non enim in acie versatur et ferro, sed quasi rudibus eius eludit oratio. Quint. v. 12, 17 declamationes quibus ad pugnam forensem velut praepilatis exerceri solebamus.
diximus: 1 §23, where see note.
rescribere: ἀντιγράφειν. Tac. Ann. iv. 34, of Caesar’s ‘Anticato,’ Ciceronis libro ... dictator Caesar ... rescripta oratione velut apud iudices respondit. The word is common in this sense in Suetonius: Caes. 73, Calig. 53, Gram. 19; cp. Aug. 85.
Cestius: Sen. Contr. iii. pr. 13 (Ciceronis) orationes non legunt nisi eas quibus Cestius rescripsit. L. Cestius Pius taught rhetoric at Rome towards the end of the Republic and in the beginning of the Empire. Seneca has preserved several passages of his declamations. His hostile criticisms of Cicero were avenged on him by Cicero’s son: Sen. Suas. §7, 13. See Teuffel, 263 §6.
V:21 Citius autem idoneus erit iuvenis, quem praeceptor coegerit in declamando quam simillimum esse veritati et per totas ire materias, quarum nunc facillima et maxime favorabilia decerpunt. Obstant huic, quod secundo loco posui, fere turba discipulorum et consuetudo classium certis diebus audiendarum, nonnihil etiam persuasio patrum numerantium potius declamationes quam aestimantium.
§ 21. per totas ire materias. This use of the prep. after ire with an acc. of extent over which speech, thought, or feeling travels, is poetical (Aen. i. 375) and post-classical. Cp. vii. 1, 64: Tac. Dial. 32.
favorabilia, ‘popular’; frequent in Quintilian, who also has favorabiliter. The word is first found in Velleius, also in Tacitus and Pliny.
quod secundo loco posui, i.e. the practice of treating a subject thoroughly: per totas ire materias. What he recommends primo loco is given in §§19-20. For the formula cp. vii. 2, 9: ix. 2, 6.
classium: not used in this sense before the Silver Age; i. 2, 23 Non inutilem scio servatum esse a praeceptoribus morem, qui cum pueros in classes distribuerant, ordinem dicendi secundum vires ingenii dabant, et ita superiore loco quisque declamabat ut praecedere profectu videbatur. Huius rei iudicia praebebantur: ea nobis ingens palma, ducere vero classem multo pulcherrimum.
persuasio: frequent in this sense in Quintilian; for exx. see Bonnell’s Lex. Tac. Agric. 11. superstitionum persuasione. The interference of parents is commented on also in ii. 7, 1 Illud ex consuetudine mutandum prorsus existimo in iis, de quibus nunc disserimus, aetatibus, ne omnia quae scripserint ediscant et certa, ut moris est, die dicant: quod quidem maxime patres exigunt atque ita demum studere liberos suos, si quam frequentissime declamaverint, credunt, cum profectus praecipue diligentia constet.
V:22 Sed, quod dixi primo, ut arbitror, libro, nec ille se bonus praeceptor maiore numero quam sustinere possit onerabit et nimiam loquacitatem recidet, ut omnia quae sunt in controversia, non, ut quidam volunt, quae in rerum natura, dicantur; et vel longiore potius dierum spatio laxabit dicendi necessitatem vel materias dividere permittet.
§ 22. primo ... libro: i. 2, 15 neque praeceptor bonus maiore se turba quam ut sustinere eam possit oneraverit.
recidet. Hor. A. P. 447 ambitiosa recidet ornamenta: Sat. I. 10, 69 recideret omne quod ultra Perfectum traheretur.
laxabit &c.: ‘he will either extend the period within which speaking is compulsory, or allow the pupil to distribute his matter over several days.’
dicendi necessitatem: cp. remissa ... ciborum atque exercitationum certa necessitate §15, above. This would break in on the ‘consuetudo classium certis diebus andiendarum’ referred to in §21.
materias dividere, i.e. he will allow the subject to be treated of in parts on successive declamation days.
V:23 Diligenter effecta plus proderit quam plures inchoatae et quasi degustatae. Propter quod accidit ut nec suo loco quidque ponatur, nec illa quae prima sunt servent suam legem, iuvenibus flosculos omnium partium in ea quae sunt dicturi congerentibus; quo fit ut timentes ne sequentia perdant priora confundant.
§ 23. effecta. There is the same antithesis v. 13, 34 ut ... pro effectis relinquant vixdum inchoata.
inchoatae: Cic. de Off. i. §153 cognitio manca atqne inchoata (‘imperfect’): de Nat. Deor. ii. §33 a primis inchoatisque naturis ad ultimas perfectasque procedere: de Orat. i. §5 inchoata ac rudia.
degustatae: cp. genera degustamus 1 §104; the word means ‘dip into,’ ‘skim over.’
Propter quod: see on 1 §66, The idea contained in the relative is the superficial methods alluded to in degustatae: cp. facillima et maxime favorabilia decerpunt §21. When such methods are adopted, says Quintilian, everything is sure to go wrong.
servent suam legem: the commencement (illa quae prima sunt: cp. priora below) is not what it should be: it goes beyond reasonable limits, as the young men crowd together in the part each is to deliver the embellishments that would naturally be distributed throughout the whole (omnium partium), if the production were diligenter effecta and not merely inchoata et quasi degustata.
flosculos: ii. 5, 22 recentis huius lasciviae flosculis capti. The word is always used in a depreciatory sense: xii. 10, 73: vi. pr. §9: (opp. to certos fructus). Cp. Seneca, Ep. 33 §1 and §7 viro captare flosculos turpe est.
timentes: the fear that they will not be able to finish makes them introduce into the earlier parts inapposite and confusing embellishments.
priora confundant = permisceant ea rebus alienis, i.e. with the ornamentation that would have been more appropriate later on.
VI:1 VI. Proxima stilo cogitatio est, quae et ipsa vires ab hoc accipit et est inter scribendi laborem extemporalemque fortunam media quaedam et nescio an usus frequentissimi. Nam scribere non ubique nec semper possumus, cogitationi temporis ac loci plurimum est. Haec paucis admodum horis magnas etiam causas complectitur; haec, quotiens intermissus est somnus, ipsis noctis tenebris adiuvatur; haec inter medios rerum actus aliquid invenit vacui nec otium patitur.
§ 1. stilo: see on 1 §2.
cogitatio, ‘premeditation’: cp. commentatio (‘preparation’) and meditatio. So ii. 6, 3: and below, 7 §8. Cic. de Orat. ii. §103 ita adsequor ut alio tempore cogitem quid dicam et alio dicam ... sed certe eidem illi melius aliquanto dicerent si aliud sumendum sibi tempus ad cogitandum aliud ad dicendum putarent: cp. id. i. §150 etsi utile est etiam subito saepe dicere, tamen illud utilius sumpto spatio ad cogitandum paratius atque adcuratius dicere ... nam si subitam et fortuitam orationem commentatio et cogitatio facile vincit, hanc ipsam profecto adsidua ac diligens scriptura superabit. Cp. Brutus §253.
et ipsa: ‘likewise,’ i.e. as well as the facultas ex tempore dicendi, which, as stated in 3 §§1-4, derives its strength mainly from the pen. See on 1 §31.
extemporalemque fortunam: ‘the chances of improvisation,’ which depends so much on the inspiration of the moment (fortunam opp. to laborem): = ‘fortunam quam ex tempore dicentes experimur’ (Krüger). Cp. §§5, 6: and 7 §13 successum extemporalem.
media quaedam: cp. xi. 2, 3 memoria ... quasi media quaedam manus.
nescio an: see on 1 §65.
somnus: cp. 3 §25.
rerum actus, as inter ipsas actiones xii. 3, 2, ‘in the midst of legal proceedings,’ and so rather more special than actum rei 1 §31, where see note. Cp. esp. Plin. Ep. ix. 25, 3 Nunc me rerum actus modice sed tamen distringit: and Suet. Aug. 32 triginta amplius dies ... actis rerum accommodavit. In xi. 1, 47 actus is again quite general: in ceteris actibus vitae.
otium: ‘inactivity.’ A good advocate will be able to think out a speech even while a trial is going on.
VI:2 Neque vero rerum ordinem modo, quod ipsum satis erat, intra se ipsa disponit, sed verba etiam copulat totamque ita contexit orationem ut ei nihil praeter manum desit; nam memoriae quoque plerumque inhaeret fidelius quod nulla scribendi securitate laxatur.
Sed ne ad hanc quidem vim cogitandi perveniri potest aut subito aut cito.
§ 2. satis erat: see on 5 §7 fas erat.
intra se ipsa, ‘by itself’: there is no need for any recourse to writing. This is quite parallel to such expressions as ‘virtus per se ipsa placet,’ and ‘medici ipsi se curare non possunt,’ where the tendency is to keep ipse in the nominative so as to emphasise the subject. Cp. 5 §2: 3 §30.
scribendi securitate. Cp. the story of Theuth and Thamus, Phaedrus 274 sq., esp. 275 A τοῦτο γὰρ τῶν μαθόντων λήθην μὲν ἐν ψυχαῖς παρέξει, μνήμης ἀμελετησίᾳ, κ.τ.λ.: xi. 2, 9 quamquam invenio apud Platonem obstare memoriae usum litterarum: videlicet quod illa quae scriptis reposuimus velut custodire desinimus, et ipsa securitate dimittimus. Reliance on written memoranda, he says, may in the end make the mind incapable of retaining by a special effort what can be at any time recalled by a glance at the paper.
vim cogitandi: see on vim dicendi 1 §1. For the thought cp. 3 §9.
VI:3 Nam primum facienda multo stilo forma est, quae nos etiam cogitantes sequatur: tum adsumendus usus paulatim, ut pauca primum complectamur animo, quae reddi fideliter possint: mox per incrementa tam modica ut onerari se labor ille non sentiat augenda vis et exercitatione multa continenda est, quae quidem maxima ex parte memoria constat. Ideoque aliqua mihi in illum locum differenda sunt.
§ 3. forma, a pattern, model, or ideal: we must ‘form our style’ by constant writing, and attain to the ease described in 3 §9 verba respondebunt, compositio sequetur, cuncta denique ut in familia bene instituta in officio erunt. For facere formam cp. 3 §28 faciendus usus.
onerari: the labour is not perceptibly increased. So xi. 2, 41, of exercising the memory, turn cotidie adicere (decet) singulos versus, quorum accessio labori sensum incrementi non adferat.
in illum locum: memory is treated in xi. 2.
VI:4 Eo tandem pervenit ut is cui non refragetur ingenium acri studio adiutus tantum consequatur ut ei tam quae cogitarit quam quae scripserit atque edidicerit in dicendo fidem servent. Cicero certe Graecorum Metrodorum Scepsium et Empylum Rhodium nostrorumque Hortensium tradidit quae cogitaverant ad verbum in agendo rettulisse.
§ 4. pervenit, sc. vis, just as in 7 §19 facilitas extemporalis is generally supplied.
ei ... fidem servent: ‘keep their faith with him,’ i.e. are as much at his command when he comes to speak as, &c.
certe: see Introd. p. li.
Metrodorus of Scepsis in Mysia, a philosopher of the Academic school, and a pupil of Carneades. Cic. de Orat. ii. §360 vidi enim ego summos homines et divina prope memoria, Athenis Charmadam, in Asia, quem vivere hodie aiunt, Scepsium Metrodorum, quorum uterque tamquam litteris in cera, sic se aiebat imaginibus in eis locis quos haberet quae meminisse vellet perscribere. Cp. Tusc. i. §59.
Empylus is nowhere else mentioned.
Hortensium: Brut. §301 memoria (erat) tanta quantam in nullo cognovisse me arbitror, ut quae secum commentatus esset ea sine scripto verbis eisdem redderet quibus cogitavisset: hoc adiumento ille tanto sic utebatur ut sua et commentata et scripta et nullo referente omnia adversariorum dicta meminisset. Cp. xi. 2, 24.
ad verbum. Cp. Plin. Ep. ix. 36, 1 cogito ad verbum scribenti emendantique similis.
VI:5 Sed si forte aliqui inter dicendum offulserit extemporalis color, non superstitiose cogitatis demum est inhaerendum. Neque enim tantum habent curae ut non sit dandus et fortunae locus, cum saepe etiam scriptis ea quae subito nata sunt inserantur. Ideoque totum hoc exercitationis genus ita instituendum est ut et digredi ex eo et redire in id facile possimus.
§ 5. si ... aliqui: see on 2 §23.
extemporalis color, a sudden inspiration, or ‘happy thought’: the notion of suddenness being contained in offulserit. Color must carry the idea here of something that ‘sets off’ the subject,—an unpremeditated turn of expression, embodying a thought which suddenly flashes on the speaker’s mind. In the Bonnell-Meister edition it is said to denote the particular complexion given to the style by happy improvisation: but this seems too wide for what may be only an occasional divergence from the written word. Krüger takes it as the abstract for ‘id quod habet colorem extemporalem’ (dictorum ex tempore): a thought or expression which suddenly occurs, and which has on it the mark of improvisation. Cp. ‘extemporalem fortunam’ §1, and ‘scriptorum color’ 7 §7, which presents a sort of antithesis to ‘extemporalis color’: also 1 §§59, 116 with the notes.
superstitiose: i. 1, 13 non tamen hoc adeo superstitiose fieri velim.
demum: see on 1 §44: Introd. p. li. Traian. ad Plin. Ep. 10, 33 Nobis autem utilitas demum spectanda est.
habent, sc. cogitata. What we premeditate is not so accurately thought out as to leave no room for extemporary chance (fortuna, cp. on §1).
scriptis: even in written speeches, on which a greater degree of cura has been bestowed, sudden inspirations (subito nata) are often introduced during delivery.
VI:6 Nam ut primum est domo adferre paratam dicendi copiam et certam, ita refutare temporis munera longe stultissimum est. Quare cogitatio in hoc praeparetur, ut nos fortuna decipere non possit, adiuvare possit. Id autem fiet memoriae viribus, ut illa quae complexi animo sumus fluant secura, non sollicitos et respicientes et una spe suspensos recordationis non sinant providere: alioqui vel extemporalem temeritatem malo quam male cohaerentem cogitationem.
§ 6. domo adferre: ‘bring from the study’; cp. 7 §30 quae domo adferunt: Cicero, Orat. §89 domo adlata quae plerumque sunt frigida.
refutare = repudiare, ‘reject,’ ‘despise,’ the inspirations of the moment (temporis munera). Cic. Tusc. ii. §55 inprimisque refutetur ac reiciatur Philocteteus ille clamor: pro Rab. Post. §44 quam ... bonitatem ... non modo non aspernari ac refutare sed complecti etiam et augere debetis.
in hoc: see on 5 §11.
decipere: ‘nonplus’ or embarrass us: make us to stumble. The chance opening must not find us unequipped with well-shaped thoughts: we must be ready to improve our opportunity.
non ... non sinant. The double negative hampers the clause, though it is simplified by making non sinant = prohibeant. Krüger compares ix. 3, 72. After the first non the words fiet ut illa must be repeated, or simply ut. Tr. ‘It is by our powers of memory that we must secure the easy flow of what we have formulated in thought, instead of letting it keep us from looking ahead by anxious backward glances and the consciousness of being absolutely dependent on what we can recall to mind.’ The last phrase describes a familiar style of oratory, referring as it does to those speakers ‘qui apprennent par cœur et sont paralysés par la crainte de rester court.’—Fénelon, quoted by Hild.
extemporalem temeritatem, ‘the rashness of improvisation’: cp. §1 above. Tac. Dial. §6 Sed extemporalis audaciae atque ipsius temeritatis vel praecipua iucunditas est.—For alioqui, see Introd. p. li.
VI:7 Peius enim quaeritur retrorsus, quia, dum illa desideramus, ab aliis avertimur, et ex memoria potius res petimus quam ex materia. Plura sunt autem, si utrimque quaerendum est, quae inveniri possunt quam quae inventa sunt.
§ 7. Peius enim quaeritur retrorsus: ‘we are at a disadvantage in looking back.’ It would be better to throw over our premeditated ideas altogether: while we are at a loss for them (illa) we miss others.
utrimque, i.e. ex memoria and ex materia: cp. 1 §131 and 5 §20. To the former corresponds chiastically quae inventa sunt, to the latter quae inveniri possunt.
VII:1 VII. Maximus vero studiorum fructus est et velut praemium quoddam amplissimum longi laboris ex tempore dicendi facultas; quam qui non erit consecutus mea quidem sententia civilibus officiis renuntiabit et solam scribendi facultatem potius ad alia opera convertet. Vix enim bonae fidei viro convenit auxilium in publicum polliceri quod praesentissimis quibusque periculis desit, intrare portum ad quem navis accedere nisi lenibus ventis vecta non possit,—
§ 1. civilibus officiis: see note on 3 §11.
renuntiabit ... convertet: the future as a mild imperative. Cp. 1 §§41, 58: 3 §18. For this use of renuntiare cp. Plin. Ep. ii. 1, 8.
in publicum, ‘for general use,’ ‘for the common good,’ ‘for the benefit of all and sundry.’ The phrase is formed on the analogy of such expressions as ‘in publicum,’ ‘in commune consulere,’—for the benefit of the state and the citizen. Cp. vi. 1, 7 in commune profutura. Introd. p. xlvii.
intrare portum. The infin. depends on convenit. For a similarly abrupt introduction of a figure in connection with, or to illustrate, the preceding thought cp. 1 §4: 3 §10 (omitting Burmann’s et before efferentes). The meaning is generally understood to be that the advocate who undertakes legal business, though he has no power of extempore speaking, is as unconscionable as the pilot (cp. the simile in §3) who engages to steer a ship into a harbour that can only be approached in mild weather. The one forgets that sudden emergencies may arise, calling for a power which he does not possess; the other does not take into consideration the sudden storms which may render his poor skill of no avail.—Hirt however (Jahr. des philol. Vereins zu Berlin 1888, p. 54) points out that this is to strain intrare: Quintilian cannot have meant to say that it ‘shows bad faith to enter a harbour which can only be approached in good weather,’—for once you are in the harbour all is well. Intrare may be corrupt: see Crit. Notes.
VII:2 siquidem innumerabiles accidunt subitae necessitates vel apud magistratus vel repraesentatis iudiciis continuo agendi. Quarum si qua, non dico cuicumque innocentium civium, sed amicorum ac propinquorum alicui evenerit, stabitne mutus et salutarem petentibus vocem, statimque si non succurratur perituris, moras et secessum et silentium quaeret, dum illa verba fabricentur et memoriae insidant et vox ac latus praeparetur?
§ 2. siquidem, εἴγε, εἴπερ, §27 below, and often in Quintilian: ‘iam apud Cicero nem perinde atque quoniam invenitur causam omnibus notam significans’ (Günther).
apud magistratus: ‘in virtue of some extraordinary procedure, and without the day having been appointed for the parties to the suit,’ Hild.
repraesentatis: ‘when a trial is suddenly brought on.’ Cp. pecuniam repraesentare = ante diem solvere. Caes. B. G. i. 40, 14 se, quod in longiorem diem collaturus esset, repraesentaturum: Sen. Ep. 95 petis a me ut id quod in diem suam dixeram debere differri repraesentem.
cuicumque. See on 1 §12 quocunque.
petentibus ... perituris: dat. of interest, after quaeret. For the sense cp. Cic. de Orat. i. §251 Hoc nos si facere velimus ante condemnentur ei quorum causas receperimus quam totiens quotiens praescribitur Paeanem aut hymnum recitarimus.
statimque. Statim goes with succurratur, rather than with perituris: its position gives it emphasis. Cp. continuo agendi.
secessum et silentium: 3 §28.
illa verba, ironical: illa tam egregia verba.
vox ac latus (‘lungs’): often conjoined. Cp. Cic. Verr. iv. 30, 67 quae vox, quae latera: Brut. §316. So xii. 11, 2 neque enim scientia modo constat orator, ... sed voce, latere, firmitate. For latus cp. Hor. Ep. i. 7, 26: xii. 5: Sat. i. 9, 32.
VII:3 Quae vero patitur hoc ratio, ut quisquam possit orator aliquando omittere casus? Quid, cum adversario respondendum erit, fiet? Nam saepe ea quae opinati sumus et contra quae scripsimus fallunt, ac tota subito causa mutatur; atque ut gubernatori ad incursus tempestatium, sic agenti ad varietatem causarum ratio mutanda est.
§ 3. ratio: ‘theory’ of eloquence. Cp. 3 §15, where it is opposed to exercitatio.—Others explain as = ratio non patitur, like ratio non est, nulla ratio est, there is no reason or sense in doing, &c.: Cic. Acad. ii. §74 ironiam enim alterius perpetuam praesertim, nulla fuit ratio persequi: ib. §17: in Verr. Act. i. 24: Caec. §15: Tac. Hist. i. 32: iii. 22: and ad Herenn. iv. 18 ei rationi ratio non est fidem habere.
quisquam ... orator: see on 2 §6.
omittere casus: ‘to leave sudden issues out of consideration,’ i.e. to conduct his case strictly according to the lines of a written or premeditated speech, without allowing for the emergence of some unexpected fact in the evidence, or some difficulty suddenly raised by the other side. For casus cp. 1 §2 paratam ad omnes casus eloquentiam: 3 §3 unde ad subitos quoque casus ... proferantur (opes), and below §30: vi. 1, 42 at qui a stilo non recedunt aut conticescunt ad hos casus aut frequentissime falsa dicunt: xii. 9, 20 licet tamen praecogitare plura et animum ad omnes casus componere.
fallunt: when the opposing counsel does not pursue the line of argument we had anticipated, and against which we had prepared a written speech.
ad incursus: see on 2 §1 ad exemplum.
VII:4 Quid porro multus stilus et adsidua lectio et longa studiorum aetas facit, si manet eadem quae fuit incipientibus difficultas? Perisse profecto confitendum est praeteritum laborem, cui semper idem laborandum est. Neque ego hoc ago ut ex tempore dicere malit, sed ut possit. Id autem maxime hoc modo consequemur.
§ 4. longa studiorum aetas: i.e. longum tempus in studiis consumptum. Cp. i. 8, 8: Hor. Sat. i. 4, 132.
malit ... possit: sc. orator. For such omissions see note on congregat 1 §7: and cp. quaerant §6 and dicat §25 below.
VII:5 Nota sit primum dicendi via; neque enim prius contingere cursus potest quam scierimus quo sit et qua perveniendum. Nec satis est non ignorare quae sint causarum iudicialium partes, aut quaestionum ordinem recte disponere, quamquam ista sunt praecipua, sed quid quoque loco primum sit, quid secundum ac deinceps: quae ita sunt natura copulata ut mutari aut intervelli sine confusione non possint.
§ 5. dicendi via: the method, pathway, or track of the argument.
neque enim &c. The reason is given in the form of a simile: we cannot run a race without knowing the goal and the track, and it is the same with eloquence. For a similar figure cp. 3 §10.
partes: i.e. prooemium, narratio, probatio, refutatio, epilogus. Cp. iii. 9, 1.
disponere: vii. 10, 5 quaestio omnis ac locus habet suam dispositionem.
primum ... secundum: vii. 10, 5 Non enim causa tantum universa in quaestiones ac locos diducenda est, sed hae ipsae partes habent rursus ordinem suum. Nam et in prooemio primum est aliquid et secundum ac deinceps, &c.
intervelli: cp. xii. 9, 17.
VII:6 Quisquis autem via dicet, ducetur ante omnia rerum ipsa serie velut duce, propter quod homines etiam modice exercitati facillime tenorem in narrationibus servant. Deinde quid quoque loco quaerant scient, nec circumspectabunt nec offerentibus se aliunde sensibus turbabuntur nec confundent ex diversis orationem velut salientes huc illuc nec usquam insistentes.
§ 6. via dicet: ‘methodically’, ‘systematically,’ cp. dicendi via §5. So ii. 17, 41 via id est ordine. Cic. Brut. §46 (ait Aristoteles) antea nominem solitum via nec arte, sed adcurate tamen et de scripto plerosque dicere: Orat. §§10, 116 ratione et via disputare, docere: de Fin. ii. §3 (oratio) quae via quadam et ratione habetur. Roby 1236. See Crit. Notes.
velut: see on 1 §5. It softens the expression serie ... duce, being equivalent to ‘ut ita dicam.’ The collocation ducetur ... duce is to be classed among the rather negligent repetitions of which a list is given on 2 §23. Becher compares Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii. §135 depulsum et quasi detrusum cibum accepit depellit (where J. B. Mayor however reads delapsum): cp. ib. §145. For ‘serie ducere’ cp. xi. 2, 39 etiam quae bene composita erunt memoriam serie sua ducent.
propter quod: see on 1 §66: 5 §23.
quaerant, ‘look for as matter of discourse,’ as 6 §7. The occurrence of homines in the interval leads up from the singular quisquis to the plural.
sensibus: see on 3 §33.
confundent ex diversis: ‘make it a jumble of incongruities.’
huc illuc: Cic. ad Att. ix. 9, 2 ne ... cursem huc illuc via deterrima.
VII:7 Postremo habebunt modum et finem, qui esse citra divisionem nullus potest. Expletis pro facultate omnibus quae proposuerint, pervenisse se ad ultimum sentient.
Et haec quidem ex arte, illa vero ex studio: ut copiam sermonis optimi, quem ad modum praeceptum est, comparemus, multo ac fideli stilo sic formetur oratio ut scriptorum colorem etiam quae subito effusa sint reddant, ut cum multa scripserimus etiam multa dicamus.
§ 7. citra: see on 1 §2.
divisionem: ‘here the distribution of the matter of the speech both into the general divisions and subordinate heads, and also into the minuter passages and sentences; their order constituting the via dicendi.’ Frieze.
Expletis ... quae proposuerint: ‘when they have overtaken all the points advanced,’ exhausted the various heads of their discourse, v. 10, 109 nec minus in hoc curae debet adhiberi quid proponendum quam quomodo sit quod proposueris probandum.
haec quidem &c. The meaning is that while the observance of the foregoing precepts (haec) depends on knowledge of theory (ars), as embodied in specific rules and directions, what is now to come (illa) demands studium, i.e. scientific exercise, applied to reading, imitation, writing, and the practice of speaking (cp. 1 §1). The sentence is an awkward one: it is best explained by making the ut before copiam co-ordinate with the ut before cum multa scripserimus, and supplying a corresponding ut with formetur. Illa then introduces all three clauses, the first referring mainly to legere, the second to scribere, and the third to dicere. The precepts in regard to reading and imitation (quemadmodum praeceptum est) are found in chs. i and ii: writing is covered by chs. iii, iv and v: while speech is dealt with in the present chapter.
fideli stilo, the ‘conscientious practice of composition.’
scriptorum colorem: see 6 §5.
effusa sint: cp. 3 §17 componunt quae effuderant.
cum multa scripserimus. The practice of speaking (including extempore utterance) is to come after writing: cp. 1 §3 sq.
VII:8 Nam consuetudo et exercitatio facilitatem maxime parit: quae si paulum intermissa fuerit, non velocitas illa modo tardatur, sed ipsum os coit atque concurrit. Quamquam enim opus est naturali quadam mobilitate animi, ut, dum proxima dicimus, struere ulteriora possimus semperque nostram vocem provisa et formata cogitatio excipiat;
§ 8. consuetudo et exercitatio, referring only to the last-mentioned precept, ut multa dicamus.
velocitas illa. The demonstr. is vivid,—‘the requisite rapidity,’ that which we either have acquired or hope to acquire.
os coit atque concurrit. Cp. xi. 3, 56 est aliis concursus oris et cum verbis suis colluctatio: viii. 3, 45 littera quae exprimi nisi labris coeuntibus non potest: xi. 3, 121 his accedunt vitia non naturae, sed trepidationis, cum ore concurrente rixari. “Os concurrit cum prae anxietate dicentis musculi oris invitis etiam trahuntur et convelluntur ut labia et lingua quasi trepident.” Wolff.
mobilitate animi: cp. §22. His mind must be quick of movement in order to express properly what is to be said on the instant (proxima corresponding to nostram vocem), and at the same time be shaping (struere) what is further on (ulteriora corresponding to provisa et formata cogitatio). Tr. proxima, ‘what we are about to say’: nostram vocem, ‘what has just been said.’ For provisa cp. on 3 §10.
VII:9 vix tamen aut natura aut ratio in tam multiplex officium diducere animum queat ut inventioni, dispositioni, elocutioni, ordini rerum verborumque, tum iis quae dicit, quae subiuncturus est, quae ultra spectanda sunt, adhibita vocis, pronuntiationis, gestus observatione, una sufficiat.
§ 9. ratio, cp. note on §3.
quae dicit, sc. ‘orator,’ as with sufficiat ‘animus’ must be supplied. Cp. on §4.
vocis ... gestus. See 1 §17 for a similar enumeration, and cp. the note.
una = simul, which indeed Halm substitutes for it in his text.
VII:10 Longe enim praecedat oportet intentio ac prae se res agat, quantumque dicendo consumitur, tantum ex ultimo prorogetur, ut, donec perveniamus ad finem, non minus prospectu procedamus quam gradu, si non intersistentes offensantesque brevia illa atque concisa singultantium modo eiecturi sumus.
§ 10. intentio: cp. intendunt animum 1 §24.
prae se res agat. The mind must pursue or chase, as it were, the ideas that are still in front of it, and have them available in advance.
consumitur ... prorogetur: expressions derived from banking transactions. ‘In proportion as the speaker pays out, must he make advances to himself out of what is to come later.’ For this use of prorogare see the Lexx. Ex ultimo was understood by Wolff to mean ex eo quod modo dictum est: but Becher (Quaest. Quint. p. 9) pointed out that it = ‘vom Ende aus,’ and correctly rendered the whole sentence ‘so viel im Reden drauf geht, so viel muss er sich im Voraus vom Ende aus flüssig machen und so gewissermassen seine Zahlungsfähigkeit länger hinausschieben,’—ut ne in inopiam redactus bonam copiam eiuret. The speaker is to be continually drawing from his reserve funds (ex ultimo, i.e. from the part of his subject-matter that remains) just so much as he is expending in delivery.
prospectu procedamus: cp. xi. 2, 3 nam dum alia dicimus, quae dicturi sumus intuenda sunt: ita cum semper cogitatio ultra eat, id quod est longius quaerit, quidquid autem repperit quodam modo apud memoriam deponit, quod illa quas media quaedam manus acceptum ab inventione tradit elocutioni.
si non ... eiecturi sumus: ‘if we want to avoid coming to a standstill, stuttering, and giving forth our short, broken phrases, like persons gasping out what they have to say.’—For offensantes cp. offensator 3 §10: and for brevia illa 2 §17 illud frigidum et inane.
VII:11 Est igitur usus quidam inrationalis, quam Graeci ἄλογον τριβήν vocant, qua manus in scribendo decurrit, qua oculi totos simul in lectione versus flexusque eorum et transitus intuentur et ante sequentia vident quam priora dixerunt. Quo constant miracula illa in scaenis pilariorum ac ventilatorum, ut ea quae emiserint ultro venire in manus credas et qua iubentur decurrere.
§ 11. inrationalis: ‘mechanical,’ ‘unscientific.’ Cp. ii. 15, 23 quidam eam neque vim neque scientiam neque artem putaverunt, sed Critolaus usum dicendi (nam hoc τριβή significat).... For the opposition between τέχνη and τριβή (‘knack’) see Plato, Phaedrus 260 E οὐκ ἔστι τέχνη ἄλλ᾽ ἄτεχνος τριβή: Gorgias 501 A κομιδῇ ἀτέχνως ... ἔρχεται ... ἀλόγως τε παντάπασιν, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ... τριβὴ καὶ ἐμπειρία: ib. 463 B.
manus ... decurrit. Cp. Cic. de Orat. ii. §130 neque enim quotiens verbum aliquod est scribendum nobis, totiens eius verbi litterae sunt cogitatione conquirendae; nec quotiens causa dicenda est, totiens ad eius causae seposita argumenta revolvi nos oportet, sed habere certos locos, qui ut litterae ad verbum scribendum, sic illi ad causam explicandam statim occurrant.
versus: see on 1 §38.
flexus ... et transitus. These words are generally taken in their literal sense; but the rendering ‘turns and transitions’ (‘Wendungen and Uebergänge’) seems not sufficiently to explain the passage. May flexus not refer here to the modulation of the voice, as frequently in Quintilian (v. Bonn. Lex.), and transitus to the punctuation which marks the passage from one clause to another? In reading the eye takes in all this in advance. Tr. ‘observe the intonations and the stops.’ On the other hand Frieze (who alone of the commentators seems to have felt any difficulty): ‘the action of the eye itself in reading is ascribed to the lines of the manuscript. Flexus seems to refer to the turning of the eye from the end of a line to the beginning of the next, and transitus the passing from one column of the manuscript to the next.’ But this explanation of transitus can hardly be right.
dixerunt, sc. lectores,—before the reader has articulated (to himself) what comes first, the eye runs on to what follows. For the change of subject cp. §9.
miracula = θαύματα, ‘conjuring-tricks.’
pilariorum ac ventilatorum: ‘jugglers and professors of legerdemain.’ For the former (who resembled the Indian juggler) see Rich’s Dict. Ant. s.v., where a figure is shown from a Diptych in the Museum at Verona exhibiting dexterous feats with a number of balls, ‘throwing them up with both hands, catching them on, and making them rebound from, the inner joint of the elbow, leg, forehead, and instep, so that they kept playing in a continuous circle round his person without falling to the ground, as minutely described by Manilius (Astron. 169-171).’ The ventilator was one who winnowed grain with the ventilabrum (see Rich. s.v.), and so is generally taken here of a juggler ‘tossing his balls into the air as the winnower does his corn’; but looking to the use of ventilare for to ‘conjure away’ (magicis artibus vitas insontium et manibus accitis ventilare, Imp. Constant. cod. 9, 18, 6 and cod. Th. 9, 16, 5), I prefer Professor Key’s explanation of the word, ‘a juggler, as affecting to toss things away with an οἴχεται, or with a puff of breath’: cp. Prudent. Peristeph. x. 78 tu ventilator urbis et vulgi levis procella.—The genitives are to be referred to scaenis, not miracula.
ut ea: for this constr. see on 1 §58.
in manus: Krüger and Dosson are wrong in taking this of the hands of the spectators. The balls return to the hands of the performers themselves. For qua (sc. via) cp. ii. 20, 2 multos video qua vel impudentia vel fames duxit ruentes: ix. 1, 19: xii. 10, 61.
VII:12 Sed hic usus ita proderit, si ea de qua locuti sumus ars antecesserit, ut ipsum illud quod in se rationem non habet in ratione versetur. Nam mihi ne dicere quidem videtur nisi qui disposite, ornate, copiose dicit, sed tumultuari.
§ 12. ita ... si, in a limiting sense (= ita demum si), ‘only so far as.’ Cp. xi. 3, 130 ambulantem loqui ita demum oportet si in causis publicis, &c. In Brut. §195 Cicero has cum ita heres institutus esset si pupillus ante mortuus esset. In this restrictive sense ita is more commonly followed by ut (Verr. iv. §150): sometimes by cum (Brut. §222). In Top. §44 we have agens de eo qui testamento sic heredem instituisset ut si filius natus esset, &c.
locuti sumus, i.e. in §§5-7.
quod ... non habet: cp. §11 usus inrationalis, where there is no consciousness of method.
in ratione versetur = arte, artis et rationis praeceptis contineatur. Though mechanical, through habit it should be based on method and rational principle.
nisi qui &c. Cp. Cic. de Orat. i. §48 Sin oratoris nihil vis esse nisi composite ornate copiose loqui, &c. The first refers to collocatio, the second to elocutio, and the third to inventio.
tumultuari, to ‘rant.’ Cp. vii. pr. §3 oratio carens hac virtute (sc. ordine) tumultuetur necesse est: ii. 12, 11 cum interim non actores modo aliquos invenias, sed, quod est turpius, praeceptores etiam qui brevem dicendi exercitationem consecuti omissa ratione, ut tulit impetus, passim tumultuentur, eosque qui plus honoris litteris tribuerunt ineptos et ieiunos et tepidos et infirmos, ut quodque verbum contumeliosissimum occurrit, appellent.
VII:13 Nec fortuiti sermonis contextum mirabor umquam, quem iurgantibus etiam mulierculis superfluere video, cum eo quod, si calor ac spiritus tulit, frequenter accidit ut successum extemporalem consequi cura non possit.
§ 13. fortuiti sermonis, ‘random talk.’
contextum = continuam orationem, cp. §26. The word denotes mere continuity of speech, a mere train of words.
superfluere video: see Crit. Notes.
cum eo quod, ‘with this consideration that,’ connects in a loose manner with what goes before: ‘and this I say with the addition that,’ &c. The usual explanation is ‘with the exception or limitation that,’ &c.: so Günther ‘postquam sese mirari nunquam fortuiti sermonis contextum dixit, hoc enuntiato a “cum eo quod” pendente orationi moderatur et concedit frequenter, si calor ac spiritus tulerit, curam consequi non posse successum extemporalem’: cp. Cic. ad Att. vi. 1, §4 sit sane, quoniam ita tu vis, sed tamen cum eo, credo, quod sine peccato meo fiat. But Quintilian is not ‘taking back’ what he has said in ‘nec mirabor’: he is going on to add what is really an independent statement. Other uses of cum eo quod occur ii. 4, 30 cum eo quidem, quod vix ullus est tam communis locus, qui possit cohaerere cum causa nisi aliquo propriae quaestionis circulo copulatus: xii. 10, 47 cum eo quod, si non ad luxuriam ac libidinem referas, eadem speciosiora quoque sint quae honestiora. See Introd. p. liii.
spiritus: see on 1 §27.
tulit. For ferre used absolutely: cp. 3 §7 si feret flatus, and such phrases as ‘si occasio tulerit.’ Krüger supplies aliquem, comparing 1 §110.—For the perfect, used like the Greek aorist to denote repeated occurrence, cp. refrixit 3 §6, and accessit ... restitit §14 below.
ut ... possit—that the success of such impromptu speaking is not attained by study and premeditation (cura).
VII:14 Deum tunc adfuisse, cum id evenisset, veteres oratores, ut Cicero, dictitabant. Sed ratio manifesta est. Nam bene concepti adfectus et recentes rerum imagines continuo impetu feruntur, quae nonnumquam mora stili refrigescunt et dilatae non revertuntur. Utique vero, cum infelix illa verborum cavillatio accessit et cursus ad singula vestigia restitit, non potest ferri contorta vis; sed, ut optime vocum singularum cedat electio, non continua sed composita est.
§ 14. ut Cicero. No such saying can be found in Cicero’s extant works: cp. however de Orat. i. §202. For the reading see Crit. Notes.
ratio manifesta est: cp. 5 §3.
bene concepti adfectus, ‘emotion profoundly felt’: v. on §15 and cp. vi. 2, 30 has (imagines rerum) quisquis bene conceperit is erit in adfectibus potentissimus.
recentes rerum imagines: ‘fresh,’ ‘vivid’ conceptions, or ideas: a lively imagination.
continuo impetu feruntur: ‘sweep along in uninterrupted course.’
refrigescunt, cp. 3 §6, and §33.
utique: see on 1 §20.
infelix ... verborum cavillatio: of the morbid carping self-criticism spoken of in 3 §10: 1 §115. For infelix see on 1 §7.
non potest ferri contorta vis: ‘there can be no energy in the swing,’ a figure taken from the discharge of missile weapons, such as the sling and the javelin. Vis contorta fertur = the vis (of the speech) is ‘whirled and sped onward’: for ferri cp. ix. 4, 112 oratio quae ferri debet et fluere. For the whole expression cp. Cic. Orator §234 Demosthenes! cuius non tam vibrarent fulmina illa, nisi numeris contorta ferrentur, (Quint. ix. 4, 55,) where contorquere describes the whirling action which imparts to the missile that rotating movement by which (as with our rifled guns) it is made more certain to hit the mark: see Sandys ad loc. Quintilian has a similar figure in ix. 4, 9 mihi compositione velut amentis quibusdam nervisve intendi et concitari sententiae videntur.
ut = though.
continua ... composita, ‘the style is not all of one pattern, but rather a patchwork,’—it does not flow on spontaneously, but is elaborately put together. The subject oratio must be supplied out of the context: cp. §26, and 1 §§7 and 29. Becher renders ‘nicht aus ganzem Holze (geschnitten) sondern geleimt,’—not all of one piece but glued together: and compares ‘corpora continua’ and ‘composita’ in Sen. Epist. xvii. 2, 6 (102),—‘organisms’ and mechanical fabrics.
VII:15 Quare capiendae sunt illae, de quibus dixi, rerum imagines, quas vocari φαντασίας indicavimus, omniaque, de quibus dicturi erimus, personae, quaestiones, spes, metus, habenda in oculis, in adfectus recipienda; pectus est enim, quod disertos facit, et vis mentis. Ideoque imperitis quoque, si modo sunt aliquo adfectu concitati, verba non desunt.
§ 15. de quibus dixi. Cp. vi. 2, 29 Quas φαντασίας Graeci vocant (nos sane visiones appellemus) per quas imagines rerum absentium ita repraesentantur animo ut eas cernere oculis ac praesentes habere videamur, has quisquis bene conceperit is erit in adfectibus potentissimus. So of the creations of the painter’s fancy, xii. 10, 6 concipiendis visionibus, quas φαντασίας vocant, praestantissimus Theon Samius.
dicturi erimus. The careful selection of the tense is to be noted: cp. Cic. de Orat. i. §223 eorum apud quos aliquid aget aut erit acturus mentes sensusque degustet, where agit is contemporaneous with degustet, while erit acturus is regarded as still future.—There is negligence in the juxtaposition of dixi and dicturi erimus.
in adfectus recipienda, sc. that emotions may thereby be excited which shall find expression in what we say. The intensity of these emotions will depend on the vividness of the images in the mind.
pectus: ‘feeling.’ The sentence is carefully arranged: besides the chiasmus above (habenda in oculis, in adfectus recipienda) pectus now takes up in adfectus recipienda, while vis mentis refers to habenda in oculis, and denotes accordingly force or clearness of conception.
VII:16 Tum intendendus animus, non in aliquam rem unam, sed in plures simul continuas, ut si per aliquam rectam viam mittamus oculos simul omnia quae sunt in ea circaque intuemur, non ultimum tantum videmus, sed usque ad ultimum. Addit ad dicendum etiam pudor stimulos, mirumque videri potest quod, cum stilus secreto gaudeat atque omnes arbitros reformidet, extemporalis actio auditorum frequentia, ut miles congestu signorum, excitatur.
§ 16. Tum, if allowed to stand (see Crit. Notes), does not introduce a help to oratory, like pectus above (cp. si modo sunt aliquo adfectu concitati), and addit ad dicendum etiam pudor stimulos in the following sentence. The words from pectus est enim to verba non desunt form a parenthesis, and tum intendendus resumes the previous recommendation, omniaque de quibus dicturi erimus ... recipienda. This is clear from the correspondence of participles, capiendae ... habenda ... recipienda ... intendendus.
continuas, here of things that ‘hang together’: tr. ‘in an orderly sequence.’
circa, ‘on either side.’
pudor = ‘amour-propre,’ sense of honour as (possibly) to be compromised by failure.
stilus secreto: 3 §23 sq.
congestu signorum: the ‘crowded standards,’—of the moment when the legion is about to advance, and the standard of every company is set in motion at the same time. This is better than to take it of the assembling of the standard-bearers with their ensigns round the general’s tribunal, while he addresses the army on the eve of battle.
VII:17 Namque et difficiliorem cogitationem exprimit et expellit dicendi necessitas, et secundos impetus auget placendi cupido. Adeo pretium omnia spectant ut eloquentia quoque, quamquam plurimum habeat in se voluptatis, maxime tamen praesenti fructu laudis opinionisque ducatur.
§ 17. difficiliorem: thought that labours, is slow to find utterance.
expellit, stronger than exprimit: cp. 3 §6.
secundos impetus, ‘the favourable glow,’—the ‘élan’ so helpful for the expression of thought.
pretium, like praemium in a parallel passage, Tac. Dial. 36: ita ad summa eloquentiae praemia magna etiam necessitas accedebat, et quo modo disertum haberi pulchrum et gloriosum sic contra mutum et elinguem videri deforme habebatur.
quamquam, with subj. 1 §33.
opinionis, ‘reputation,’ the favourable estimate which others form of us: see on 5 §18 and cp. §24 below: Cic. pro Arch. §26. Introd. p. xliv.
VII:18 Nec quisquam tantum fidat ingenio ut id sibi speret incipienti statim posse contingere, sed, sicut in cogitatione praecepimus, ita facilitatem quoque extemporalem a parvis initiis paulatim perducemus ad summam, quae neque perfici neque contineri nisi usu potest.
§ 18. id, i.e. ut ex tempore dicere possit: the faculty of improvisation.
praecepimus: 6 §3.
contineri, 6 §3 augenda vis et exercitatione multa continenda est.
VII:19 Ceterum pervenire eo debet ut cogitatio non utique melior sit ea, sed tutior, cum hanc facilitatem non in prosa modo multi sint consecuti, sed etiam in carmine, ut Antipater Sidonius et Licinius Archias (credendum enim Ciceroni est)— non quia nostris quoque temporibus non et fecerint quidam hoc et faciant. Quod tamen non ipsum tam probabile puto (neque enim habet aut usum res aut necessitatem) quam exhortandis in hanc spem, qui foro praeparantur, utile exemplum.
§ 19. debet. The subject which the editors generally say is to be supplied is ‘facilitas extemporalis’: cp. 6 §4. But Becher is probably right in supplying a personal subject (as 1 §7: 2 §24: 7 §§4, 25),—‘the orator,’ ‘the budding rhetorician,’ or even τις: cp. nec quisquam.* If extemporalis facilitas were the subject of the sentence, ipsa would have been expected instead of ea. See Critical Notes.* recte: nec quisquam fidat, above.
non utique: ‘not of course,’ ‘not necessarily.’ See on 1 §20: cp. xii. 2, 18.
in prosa: see on 1 §81.
Antipater of Sidon, an Alexandrine poet, cir. B.C. 135. Cic. de Orat. iii. §194 quod si Antipater ille Sidonius ... solitus est versus hexametros aliosque variis modis atque numeris fundere ex tempore, tantumque hominis ingeniosi ac memoris valuit exercitatio ut, cum se mente ac voluntate coniecisset in versum, verba sequerentur, quanto id facilius in oratione, exercitatione et consuetudine adhibita, consequemur!
Archias. Cic. pro Arch. 8 §18 quotiens ego hunc vidi, cum litteram scripsisset nullam, magnum numerum optimorum versuum de iis ipsis rebus quae tum agerentur dicere ex tempore.
non quia ... non. For the subjunctive, see Introd. p. liv: cp. §31, below. Becher rightly explains (Bursian’s Jahresb.) that credendum enim Ciceroni est is to be bracketed as a parenthesis of the writer’s to Antipater Sidonius and Licinias Archias,—examples which give the motive for the half apology non quia, &c. Tr. ‘though I do not wish to be understood to mean that,’ &c. Others explain the sentence as elliptical: ‘I do not quote Cicero’s authority because we have not abundant examples in our own times, but because his authority, at any rate, will be unquestioned,’ Frieze.
quidam. Hild thinks the reference must be particularly to Statius: Silv. 1 pr. hos libellos qui mihi subito calore et quadam festinandi voluptate fluxerunt: and iii. pr. libellos ... subito natos. Possibly also to Remmius Palaemon, the teacher of Quintilian: Suet. Gram. 23 poemata faciebat ex tempore.
quod ... ipsum. ‘This accomplishment in itself,’ viz. facilitas ex tempore carmina fingendi.
in hanc spem = huius in rei spem. Cp. 3 §2 sine hac conscientia.
VII:20 Neque vero tanta esse umquam debet fiducia facilitatis ut non breve saltem tempus, quod nusquam fere deerit, ad ea quae dicturi sumus dispicienda sumamus, quod quidem in iudiciis ac foro datur semper; neque enim quisquam est qui causam quam non didicerit agat.
§ 20. non ... saltem: see on 2 §15.
didicerit. In acquainting himself with the facts of a case, and considering (however briefly) the principles applicable to it, the judicial pleader has always some little time to think over his speech.
VII:21 Declamatores quosdam perversa ducit ambitio ut exposita controversia protinus dicere velint, quin etiam, quod est in primis frivolum ac scaenicum, verbum petant quo incipiant. Sed tam contumeliosos in se ridet invicem eloquentia, et qui stultis videri eruditi volunt, stulti eruditis videntur.
§ 21. Declamatores: see on 1 §71.
ambitio: see Introd. p. xliv.
exposita controversia, ‘as soon as the question is stated.’
frivolum, ‘in bad taste,’ a word characteristic of the Silver Age.
scaenicum, ‘theatrical.’ On the stage, actors often start off with such a ‘cue.’ Cp. i. 11, 3 plurimum ... aberit a scaenico: xi. 3, 57 modulatio scaenica: ib. §123 nam et complodere manus scaenicum est et pectus caedere. We may also recall ‘nedum ille scaenicus (Nero)’: Tac. Ann. xv. 59.
VII:22 Si qua tamen fortuna tam subitam fecerit agendi necessitatem, mobiliore quodam opus erit ingenio, et vis omnis intendenda rebus et in praesentia remittendum aliquid ex cura verborum, si consequi utrumque non dabitur. Tum et tardior pronuntiatio moras habet et suspensa ac velut dubitans oratio, ut tamen deliberare, non haesitare videamur.
§ 22. vis omnis intendenda rebus. Cp. Cato’s golden rule for the speaker, rem tene verba sequentur: Cic. de Orat. ii. §146: iii. §125: Hor. A. P. 311.
non dabitur, cp. §29: Verg. Aen. i. 408 cur dextrae iungere dextram non datur?
tardior pronuntiatio. The opposite is citata xi. 3, 111 aliis locis citata aliis pressa conveniet pronuntiatio.
habet, ‘secures.’ Krüger (3rd ed.) would prefer to read habebit.
suspensa ... dubitans: a ‘slow and undecided style of speaking,’ in which one is, as it were, feeling one’s way. Tac. Ann. i. 11 of Tiberius, suspensa semper et obscura verba.
VII:23 Hoc, dum egredimur e portu, si nos nondum aptatis satis armamentis aget ventus; deinde paulatim simul euntes aptabimus vela et disponemus rudentes et impleri sinus optabimus. Id potius quam se inani verborum torrenti dare quasi tempestatibus quo volent auferendum.
§ 23. hoc, sc. fieri potest. For the ellipse cp. vi. 4, 10 hoc, dum ordo est et pudor: xi. 1, 76 hoc et apud eos.
dum egredimur, &c. As in §1 the simile takes the place of the main thought without any word of introduction: cp. athleta 1 §4.
simul. The juxtaposition of simul and euntes reminds us of the Greek constr. of ἅμα with a participle = ἅμα πορευόμενοι.
aptabimus ... optabimus. The assonance is surely an example of Quintilian’s negligent style, rather than (as Krüger thinks) an intentional pun. So aptatis ... aptabimus, in this passage.
VII:24 Sed non minore studio continetur haec facultas quam paratur. Ars enim semel percepta non labitur, stilus quoque intermissione paulum admodum de celeritate deperdit: promptum hoc et in expedito positum exercitatione sola continetur. Hac uti sic optimum est ut cotidie dicamus audientibus pluribus, maxime de quorum simus iudicio atque opinione solliciti; rarum est enim ut satis se quisque vereatur. Vel soli tamen dicamus potius quam non omnino dicamus.
§ 24. ars: cp. on §7.
non labitur. The sense is clear, though the reading is very uncertain: ‘la connaissance théorique une fois acquise ne se perd pas,’ Hild, who suspects that animo or mente has fallen out. Cp. de Orat. ii. §109 ante enim praeterlabitur (sc. definitio) quam percepta est. Labi by itself well expresses the gradual ‘oozing away’ of anything from the mind. Verg. Ecl. i. 63 quam nostro illius labatur pectore vultus. It might however be preferable to read nunquam instead of non. See Crit. Notes.
deperdit. Cic. Verr. ii. 2, 30 ut ne quid de libertate deperderit.
promptum hoc et in expedito positum: ‘this promptitude and readiness for action.’ The neuter of the adj. and the part. are used along with the demonstrative in place of abstract nouns, in which Latin is not strong. Cp. Livy vii. 8, 5 diu non perlitatum tenuerat dictatorem: Tac. Ann. iii. 80 Capito insignitior infamia fuit quod ... egregium publicum et bonas domi artes dehonestavisset; v. Nägelsbach, Lat. Stil. p. 98 sq. and 140 sq.: Introd. p. xlviii.
rarum est ut = raro fit ut. Cp. primum est ut 2 §18.
non omnino. The adverb strengthens the negative (cp. οὐ πάνυ), instead of the negative being employed for the negation of the adverb. So often prorsus and sane.
VII:25 Est alia exercitatio cogitandi totasque materias vel silentio (dum tamen quasi dicat intra se ipsum) persequendi, quae nullo non et tempore et loco, quando non aliud agimus, explicari potest, et est in parte utilior quam haec proxima;
§ 25. est alia exercitatio cogitandi ... persequendi. There is a similar transition at ix. 2, 57 est alia non quidem reticentia. The sequence of thought is as follows: the best method of acquiring and maintaining the facultas ex tempore dicendi is to discourse daily before competent hearers: if that is not possible soli tamen dicamus; this is better than not speaking at all. There is another exercitatio (i.e. as a help to keeping up the facultas ex tempore dicendi), viz. the going over our subject-matter in silent thought, as we can do always and everywhere. Cogitandi and persequendi are genitives of definition, or epexegetic genitives standing in the place of appositional infinitives): cp. exitus mortis, τέλος θανάτοιο, and (cited by Krüger) Cic. de Fin. iii. 14, 45 denique ipsum bonum quod in eo positum est ut naturae consentiat, crescendi accessionem ( = accessionem quae fit crescendo) nullam habet: de Orat. 1 §90 quod consuetudo exercitatioque et intellegendi prudentiam (= prudentiam quae cernitur in intellegendo, or prudentiam ad intellegendum) acueret et eloquendi celeritatem incitaret. With exercitatio, supply ‘continendi facultatem ex tempore dicendi.’
totasque materias ... persequendi: cp. 5 §21 per totas ire materias.
tamen: i.e. even though it be silentio.
dicat. Again the subject (sc. orator) is to be supplied out of the context. Cp. 1 §7.
explicari potest: ‘can have full scope given to it,’ an exercise in which we can indulge freely.
in parte, often in Quintilian. See on 1 §88.
haec proxima: viz. that recommended in §24 ut cotidie dicamus audientibus pluribus: to which illa and prior in §26 refer.
VII:26 diligentius enim componitur quam illa, in qua contextum dicendi intermittere veremur. Rursus in alia plus prior confert, vocis firmitatem, oris facilitatem, motum corporis, qui et ipse, ut dixi, excitat oratorem et iactatione manus, pedis supplosione, sicut cauda leones facere dicuntur, hortatur.
§ 26. diligentius enim componitur quam illa: ‘it (i.e. discourse thus premeditated) is more accurately put together.’ The grammatical subject of componitur is exercitatio cogitandi, &c., but the verb is chosen with reference to the train of thought which the mind is exercised in pursuing. The virtual subject is thus rather oratio quam cogitando persequimur, or tacita oratio (as shown by dum tamen quasi dicat intra se ipsum). Illa (like proxima) refers to the practice of extempore speaking, either alone or in the presence of others. Grammatically the exercitatio of §24 must be understood along with it: logically the oratio which is the result of that exercitatio.—Krüger (3rd ed.) takes componitur as used impersonally, but that would seem to be impossible without some reference to exercitatio cogitandi. The sentence, though grammatically awkward, is quite consistent with Quintilian’s loose style of writing, so that there seems no necessity for such a device about componitur, or for Gertz’s conjecture in illa: see Crit. Notes.
contextum dicendi: cp. §13.
veremur, with infin. as 1 §101, and even in Cicero: cp. the striking instance de Fin. ii. §39 quos non est veritum in ... voluptate ... summum bonum ponere.
Rursus, ‘on the other hand.’
in alia ... confert. See on 1 §1 for the constr. of conferre (συμφέρειν): cp. 5 §11 in hoc facient.
prior, viz. speaking.
firmitatem. In such enumerations Quintilian does not repeat the prep.: cp. 2 §16.
oris facilitatem = ‘ease of utterance.’
ut dixi, 3 §21.
pedis supplosione. Cp. xi. 3, 128 pedis supplosio ut loco est opportuna, ut ait Cicero, in contentionibus aut incipiendis aut finiendis, ita crebra et inepti est hominis et desinit iudicem in se convertere: Sen. Epist. 75 §2: Cic. Brut. §141.
sicut cauda leones. Hom. Il. xx. 170 οὐρῇ δὲ πλευράς τε καὶ ἰσχία ἀμφοτέρωθεν Μαστίεται, ἑὲ δ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐποτρύνει μαχέσασθαι: Hesiod, Shield of Herc. 430 γλαυκιόων δ᾽ ὄσσοις δεινὸν πλευράς τε καὶ ὤμους οὐρῇ μαστιόων ποσσὶ γλάφει. Plin. Nat. Hist. viii. 16, 19 leonum animi index cauda ... immota ergo placido, clemens blandienti, quod rarum est: crebrior enim iracundia, eius in principio terra verberatur, incremento terga ceu quodam incitamento flagellantur.
studendum, 3 §29. Cp. note on studiosis 1 §45.
VII:27 Studendum vero semper et ubique. Neque enim fere tam est ullus dies occupatus, ut nihil lucrativae, ut Cicero Brutum facere tradit, operae ad scribendum aut legendum aut dicendum rapi aliquo momento temporis possit: siquidem C. Carbo etiam in tabernaculo solebat hac uti exercitatione dicendi.
§ 27. tam est ... occupatus. The order supports the traditional reading at 1 §83, where see note.
lucrativae operae. Cic. ad Att. vii. 11, 1 unam mehercule tecum apricationem in illo lucrativo tuo sole malim quam omnia istius modi regna: Fronto, ad Anton. imp. 2, 2 lucrativa tua in tantis negotiis tempora. Tr. ‘a few precious moments’: lucrativa opera means an occupation which profitably occupies our spare time. The adjective is properly a legal term, applied to things acquired by gift or bequest: e.g. species possessionis Gai. 2, 56: usucapio 2, 60: adquisitio Ulp. Dig. xliv. 4, 4, 31. Krüger refers to the special meaning of lucrum, ‘an unexpected gain’: Hor. Car. i. 9, 14 quem fors dierum cumque dabit, lucro adpone. Spalding says: “operam lucrativam a Qu. dici potuisse censeo quidquid operae iniunctis et necessariis laboribus negotiisque velut surriperetur et dilectis studiis accederet.” Cp. i. 12, 13 quibus potius studiis haec temporum velut subsiciva donabimus? Cic. de Orat. ii. 364 quae cursim adripui, quae subsicivis operis, ut aiunt.
Cicero. The reference seems to be to the remark addressed to Brutus in the Orator §34 iam quantum illud est quod in maximis occupationibus numquam intermittis studia doctrinae, semper aut ipse scribis aliquid aut me vocas ad scribendum. So in the Brutus §332 he praises his perennia studia, and §22 his singularis industria. Cp. Plutarch, Brutus, §4 and §36. See Crit. Notes.
siquidem, see on §2, above.
C. Carbo. In the Brutus §§103-105 Cicero eulogises his eloquence and industry: industrium etiam et diligentem et in exercitationibus commentationibusque multum operae solitum esse ponere: cp. de Orat. i. §154.—Carbo, who had originally been a supporter of Ti. Gracchus, but had afterwards gone over to the optimates, became consul in B.C. 120; and it was in connection with his prosecution in the year following, on some charge not distinctly specified, that Crassus made his first public appearance. Carbo was driven to commit suicide.
VII:28 Ne id quidem tacendum est, quod eidem Ciceroni placet, nullum nostrum usquam neglegentem esse sermonem: quidquid loquemur ubicumque, sit pro sua scilicet portione perfectum. Scribendum certe numquam est magis quam cum multa dicemus ex tempore. Ita enim servabitur pondus et innatans illa verborum facilitas in altum reducetur, sicut rustici proximas vitis radices amputant, quae illam in summum solum ducunt, ut inferiores penitus descendendo firmentur.
§ 28. Ciceroni. The reference cannot be traced.
ubicumque: see on 1 §5.
pondus, ‘solidity.’
innatans, sc. in superficie: ‘floating’ and so ‘superficial.’ Cp. vii. 1, 44 haec velut innatantia videbunt: Persius i. 104-5 summa delumbe saliva Hoc natat in labris, where Conington cites Gell. i. 15 qui nullo rerum pondere innixi verbis humidis et lapsantibus diffluunt, eorum orationem bene existimatum est in ore nasci non in pectore: so 3 §2 verba in labris nascentia, where see note.
in altum reducetur = in profundum, giving the antithesis to the figure (‘the shallows’) involved in innatans. Tr. ‘will gain in depth.’ For such combinations of the prep. with the acc. or abl. neuter of adj. see Introd. p. xlvii.
proximas, the uppermost roots, which protrude from the surface of the ground. By paring these away, the taproots (inferiores) are forced to strike deeper.
VII:29 Ac nescio an si utrumque cum cura et studio fecerimus, invicem prosit, ut scribendo dicamus diligentius, dicendo scribamus facilius. Scribendum ergo quotiens licebit; si id non dabitur, cogitandum; ab utroque exclusi debent tamen sic dicere ut neque deprehensus orator neque litigator destitutus esse videatur.
§ 29. nescio an = fortasse, as at 6 §1; see on 1 §65. Tr. ‘and I rather think that there is this reciprocal advantage, viz. that,’ &c.
utrumque, i.e. dicere and scribere, both in the way of exercitatio.
Scribendum ergo, &c. This is Quintilian’s summing up. If the advocate has time to elaborate his speech in writing, that is best (as a rule); if writing is impossible, he must have recourse to cogitatio (ch. vi). If there is time for neither the one nor the other, the discipline which is being recommended ought nevertheless (tamen, i.e. in spite of the fact that there has been no opportunity for either writing or reflection) to enable him to “speak in such a way that no one will think either that the pleader has been taken aback or that the client has been left in the lurch.” The emendation sic dicere, which I venture to introduce in the text (see Crit. Notes), seems in harmony not only with the tradition of the MSS. but also with the whole context. There is the same sequence immediately below (§30) scribant ... cogitatione complectantur ... subitis extempore occurrant. The busy advocate will make use of all three methods: but in most cases writing, according to Quintilian, is to be recommended, and, failing it, meditation,—not that the latter is better than off-hand speech, but safer (tutior §19). Lastly, even such subitae necessitates as are referred to in §2 ought to find the advocate prepared to make a creditable extempore appearance: cp. §4 neque ego hoc ago ut extempore dicere malit sed ut possit.
deprehensus: cp. xii. 9, 20: Seneca Ep. xi. 1 non enim ex praeparato locutus est, sed subito deprehensus.
VII:30 Plerumque autem multa agentibus accidit ut maxime necessaria et utique initia scribant, cetera, quae domo adferunt, cogitatione complectantur, subitis ex tempore occurrant; quod fecisse M. Tullium commentariis ipsius apparet. Sed feruntur aliorum quoque et inventi forte, ut eos dicturus quisque composuerat, et in libros digesti, ut causarum, quae sunt actae a Servio Sulpicio, cuius tres orationes extant; sed hi de quibus loquor commentarii ita sunt exacti ut ab ipso mihi in memoriam posteritatis videantur esse compositi.
§ 30. utique, ‘especially,’ or ‘at all events’: see on 1 §20.
domo adferunt: cp. 6 §6.
subitis: ‘emergencies,’ unforeseen developments, e.g. questions and objections by the other side. Cp. Plin. Ep. iii. 9, 16 vir exercitatus et quamlibet subitis paratus.
commentariis: ‘note-books,’ memoranda containing jottings, outlines, &c. Cp. iv. 1, 69.
feruntur: see note on ferebantur 1 §23.
et ... et = ‘some ... others.’ In the one case the actual jottings have been found, just as they were originally set down for the guidance of the speaker: in the other they have been put together in book form, for the benefit of later readers.
causarum: sc. commentarii: outlines of cases.
Servio Sulpicio: see on 1 §116. He left only three written speeches, but his friends had edited his notes of the numerous cases in which he had appeared.
hi. The memoranda, as opposed to the finished speeches (orationes).
exacti: see on 2 §14.
in memoriam posteritatis: see on 1 §31.
VII:31 Nam Ciceronis ad praesens modo tempus aptatos libertus Tiro contraxit: quos non ideo excuso quia non probem, sed ut sint magis admirabiles. In hoc genere prorsus recipio hanc brevem adnotationem libellosque, qui vel manu teneantur et ad quos interim respicere fas sit.
§ 31. Nam: see on 1 §12. The meaning is as follows: I make special mention of the finished character of Sulpicius’s outline speeches, as written out by himself: for in Cicero’s case it is different: his commentarii ‘non sunt ab ipso compositi in memoriam posteritatis.’ Moreover they are not now in their original form: by Cicero they were prepared only for the occasion (ad praesens tempus aptati), and were afterwards abridged (contraxit) by Tiro. But even in this shorter form they are of great value.
contraxit, ‘abbreviated.’ The context shows, on the whole, that this is the proper sense to attach to this word. Sulpicius’s memoranda had been put together (in libros digesti) by his friends, but so finished are they that one might think he had intended them to survive. This gives two points of contrast with Cicero. The first (cp. exacti with ad praesens modo tempus aptatos) would hardly be enough by itself, as Quintilian rather insinuates than asserts that Sulpicius intended his jottings to go down to posterity: the second is that in Cicero’s case we have his sketches in a still briefer form than that in which they were originally composed. The contrast would not be so striking if contraxit were practically synonymous with in libros digesti. Becher is strongly, however, in favour of contraxit = collected: cp. Tac. Dial. 37.—For Tiro see esp. Teuffel’s Rom. Lit. §178.
quos ... probem. The meaning is this: I do not make this apology or explanation (excuso) as to the character of Tiro’s abridgment of Cicero’s memoranda, compared with the studied elaboration of Sulpicius, with any idea of implying inferiority, but in order that—even in their present form—they may excite even greater admiration of Cicero’s genius.—Quintilian is conscious that in giving prominence to the two points of contrast in regard to Cicero’s remains, as compared with those of Sulpicius, he may be in danger of being misunderstood.—For non quia with subj. cp. §19 above: Introd. p. liv.
In hoc genere, i.e. in this extemporalis actio. The opposite is ‘in his quae scripserimus’ §32.
recipio: ‘I allow, admit,’ δέχομαι: cp. Cic. de Off. iii. §119 non recipit istam coniunctionem honestas, aspernatur repellit: Introd. p. xliii.
hanc seems to indicate what was a common practice in Quintilian’s time.
VII:32 Illud quod Laenas praecipit displicet mihi, et in his quae scripserimus velut summas in commentarium et capita conferre. Facit enim ediscendi neglegentiam haec ipsa fiducia et lacerat ac deformat orationem. Ego autem ne scribendum quidem puto quod non simus memoria persecuturi; nam hic quoque accidit ut revocet nos cogitatio ad illa elaborata nec sinat praesentem fortunam experiri.
§ 32. Laenas, Popilius, a rhetorician who flourished under Tiberius. He is mentioned as a contemporary of Cornelius Celsus, iii. 1, 21 and xi. 3, 183.
et in his quae scripserimus. See Crit. Notes. The reference obviously is to speeches carefully written out before delivery, (contrast in hoc genere above, of the extempore kind). Quintilian says that he cannot approve of Laenas’s recommendation that, after we have written out a speech in this way, we should proceed to prepare an abstract. Dependence on this abstract will make us careless about learning off what we have written, and this will check the flow of our eloquence, and mar and disfigure our discourse. Iwan Müller points out that in the sentence in his quae scripserimus ... conferre, Quintilian is probably quoting from some rhetorical treatise of Laenas.
velut summas in ... conferre. The reading is very uncertain: see Crit. Notes for Kiderlin’s proposed emendation. The text may be rendered ‘to enter in a notebook arranged according to heads the essence, as it were,’ of what we have written, the genitive required by summas being supplied out of in his quae scripserimus. Cp. Cic. Brut. §164 non est oratio sed quasi capita rerum et orationis commentarium paulo plenius.
haec ... fiducia. See on 3 §2 hac conscientia.
ne ... quidem: ‘neither should we.’ There is no climax here: like οὐδέ the particles ne ... quidem are often used, as Madvig pointed out, ‘ubi sine ullo orationis descensu aut gradatione negativi aliquid adiungitur superioribus simile’ (see 3rd excursus to de Fin. pp. 802-3 2nd ed.).
quod non simus. The context makes the reading certain, and also gives the key to the interpretation. We ought not to write out, says Quintilian, what we do not intend to commit perfectly to memory; it would be better to trust to ‘extemporalis facilitas.’ If we do so, he goes on to say, our imperfect recollection of what we have written (illa elaborata) will interfere with the free play of thought.—For memoria persequi cp. Cic. pro Sulla §42.
hic quoque: cp. 6 §§5-7, where it is said of imperfect premeditation (cogitatio) that if it is to make the speaker hesitate between what he has written, but can hardly recall, and the new ideas which the subject might inspire, he would do better to trust wholly to improvisation.
praesentem fortunam: cp. 6 §1 extemporalem fortunam.
VII:33 Sic anceps inter utrumque animus aestuat, cum et scripta perdidit et non quaerit nova. Sed de memoria destinatus est libro proximo locus nec huic parti subiungendus, quia sunt alia prius nobis dicenda.
§ 33. scripta perdidit, i.e. because he is suffering the consequences of ediscendi neglegentia.
non quaerit nova—being too much occupied with the attempt to remember what he had written.
de memoria = disputationi de memoria. See xi. 2.
The above paragraph was in the original text. For this e-text, only the section numbers are linked; sections are generally very short, and notes adjoin the text.