§ 110.docere ... movere. Cp. iii. 5 §2 tria sunt item quae praestare debeat orator, ut doceat, moveat, delectet (quoted on§80).Iucunditashere expresses the third. So Cicero, Brutus §185 tria sunt enim, ut quidem ego sentio, quae sint efficienda dicendo: ut doceatur is apud quem dicetur, ut delectetur, ut moveatur vehementius.extorquet: cp. v. 7, 17 at in eo qui invitus dicturus est prima felicitas interrogantis extorquere quod is noluerit: ib. §27. Cic. de Or. ii. §74 qui nunquam sententias de manibus iudicum vi quadam orationis extorsimus ac potius placatis eorum animis tantum quantum ipsi patiebantur accepimus.transversus= ‘turned across,’ i.e. at right angles to the original line. So transversis itineribus Sall. Iug. 45, 2. For the figure contained intransversum feratcp. ibid. 6, 3 opportunitas quae etiam mediocres viros ... transversos agit: 14, 20. Theiudexis ‘turned athwart’—away from the path of his own judgment. So Sen. Ep. 8, 3 cum coepit transversos agere felicitas: Cic. Brutus 331 cuius in adulescentiam ... transversa incurrit misera fortuna rei publicae.I:111Iam in omnibus quae dicit tanta auctoritas inest ut dissentire pudeat, nec advocati studium sed testis aut iudicis adferat fidem; cum interim haec omnia, quae vix singula quisquam intentissima cura consequi posset, fluunt inlaborata et illa, qua nihil pulchrius auditum est, oratio prae se fert tamen felicissimam facilitatem.§ 111.advocati, ‘pleader,’ as generally in Quintilian, syn. with ‘actor causae,’ ‘causidicus,’ ‘patronus.’ In Cicero the word is reserved for those who lent their countenance and personal support to a friend, especially in legal matters: e.g. Brutus §289: pro Clu. §110 quis eum unquam non modo in patroni, sed in laudatoris aut advocati loco viderat? See Fausset’s note onadvocabatpro Clu. §54.fidem: ‘trustworthiness,’ ‘credibility.’ So quantam afferat fidem iv. 2, 125.cum interim: Roby §1732. Cp. note on§18.posset: the use of the imperf. subj. points to a suppressed protasis, sc. si vellet. Cp. i. 1, 22 cur improbetur si quis ea quae domi suae rectefaceretin publicum promit? So too below,2 §25qui noceret, where see note.tamenis a reminiscence of tamen ille non rapi videatur, in the previous sentence, and must be taken withcum interim: = ‘for all that.’facilitatem: cp.§1.I:112Quare non immerito ab hominibus aetatis suae regnare in iudiciis dictus est, apud posteros vero id consecutus, ut Cicero iam non hominis nomen sed eloquentiae habeatur. Hunc igitur spectemus, hoc propositum nobis sit exemplum, ille se profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valde placebit.§ 112.regnare: cp. Cic. ad Fam. vii. 24, 1 olim quum regnare existimabamur: ad Att. i. 1 illud suum regnum iudiciale,—his ‘sovereignty of the bar’: in Verr. i. 12, 35 (of Hortensius) omnis dominatio regnumque iudiciorum: ad Fam. ix. 18, 1 amisso regno forensi: cp. pro Sulla §7.non hominis ... sed eloquentiae. There is no thought here of holding the balance with Demosthenes,§105. Cp. what Brutus says after Caesar’s eulogy quoted above (§109note): quo enim uno vincebamur a victa Graecia, id aut ereptum illis est aut certe nobis cum illis communicatum: Brut. §254. Hild quotes from Plutarch (Cicero, §4) the story of Molo, one of Cicero’s teachers, who, on hearing him declaim, said that he had to pity the hard fate of Greece, from whom the palm of eloquence, her sole surviving glory, was now to pass away.exemplum, predicative, hoc being neuter by a common form of attraction: cp.3 §17.profecisse: Hild quotes Boileau, Art. Poet. iii. 308, speaking of Homer: c’est avoir profité que de savoir s’y plaire.I:113Multa inAsinio Pollioneinventio, summadiligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur, et consilii et animi satis: a nitore et iucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest ut videri possit saeculo prior. AtMessallanitidus et candidus et quodam modo praeferens in dicendo nobilitatem suam, viribus minor.§ 113.Quintilian makes no mention of orators previous to Cicero: for them see Brutus §53 sqq. Velleius disposes of them in the following sentence (i. 17, 3): At oratio ac vis forensis perfectumque prosae eloquentiae decus, ut idem separetur Cato, pace P. Crassi Scipionisque et Laeli et Gracchorum et Fanni et Servi Galbae dixerim, ita universa sub principe operis sui erupit Tullio, ut delectari ante eum paucissimis, mirari vero neminem possis, nisi aut ab illo visum aut qui illum viderit. Cp. Tac. Dial. 25. Hild cites also Seneca, Controv. i. praef.: quidquid Romana facundia habet, quod insolenti Graeciae aut opponat aut praeferat, circa Ciceronem effloruit; omnia ingenia quae lucem studiis nostris attulerunt, tunc nata sunt.Asinio Pollione. C. Asinius Pollio (75B.C.–4A.D.) was consul in 40, when he helped Maecenas to arrange the Peace of Brundisium: afterwards becoming estranged from Antony he retired into private life and devoted himself to letters. Vergil dedicates the Fourth Eclogue to him, and in the first Ode of Book ii Horace recounts his various titles to distinction. He was a poet as well as an orator: Verg. Ecl. viii. 10 Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno: iii. 86 Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina: Hor. S. i. 10, 42. He was also distinguished as a historian, having written a history of the Civil Wars from the first triumvirate (Motum ex Metello consule Hor. Car. ii. 1, 1). In the same Ode (II. 13, 14) Horace alludes to his fame as an orator, both at the bar and in the senate. Quintilian’s judgment on him in this capacity may be compared with that of Seneca, Ep. 100, 7 Lege Ciceronem: compositio eius una est, pedem servat lenta et sine infamia mollis. At contra Pollionis Asinii salebrosa et exsiliens et ubi minime expectes relictura. Denique omnia apud Ciceronem desinunt, apud Pollionem cadunt exceptis paucissimis, quae ad certum modum et ad unum exemplar adstricta sunt. Cp.2 §17below tristes ac ieiuni Pollionem aemulantur.diligentia:2 §25vim Caesaris, asperitatem Caelii, diligentiam Pollionis. The word does not refer to the historian’s painstaking care (which could hardly ever be ‘nimia’), but to the ‘precision’ or ‘exactitude’ of his language: v. the fragment quoted in ix. 4, 132.consilii, ‘judgment,’§106.animi, ‘spirit,’ ‘vivacity.’nitore: v. on§97.saeculo prior. ‘As an orator and writer he affected antique severity in opposition to Ciceronian smoothness,’—Teuffel. Cp. Tac. Dial. 21 Asinius quoque quamquam propioribus temporibus natus sit, videtur mihi inter Menenios et Appios studuisse; Pacuvium certe et Accium non solum tragoediis sed etiam orationibus suis expressit: adeo durus et siccus est: Sen. Controv. iv. praef. 3 illud strictum eius et aspersum et nimis iratum in censendo iudicium adeo cessabat ut in multis illi venia opus esset quae ab ipso vix impetrabatur. See Schmalz ‘Ueber den Sprachgebrauch des Asinius Pollio,’ p. 289; München, 1890. Pollio’s antipathy to Cicero and his dislike of Cicero’s style may be seen from the story in Seneca, Suas. vi. extr., quoted by Bernhardy (q.v.), R. L. p. 268 (note 182).Messalla, M. Valerius Corvinus (64B.C.-8A.D.), the friend of Tibullus, who dedicates to him i. 7: cp. the panegyric iv. 1. Cp. Tac. Dial. 18 Cicerone mitior Corvinus et dulcior et in verbis magis elaboratus,—with the latter part of which cp. Sen. Controv. ii. 12, 8 Latini utique sermonis observator diligentissimus. Cicero’s own opinion of him may be seen in Epist. ad Brutum i. 15, 1 cave putes probitate, constantia, cura, studio reipublicae quidquam illi esse simile; ut eloquentia, qua mirabiliter excellit, vix in eo locum ad laudandum habere videatur: quamquam in hac ipsa sapientia plus apparet: ita gravi iudicio multaque arte se exercuit in verissimo genere dicendi, tanta autem industria est tantumque evigilat in studio ut non maxima ingenio (quod in eo summum est) gratia habenda videatur. Byverissimum genus dicendiCicero seems to indicate that Messalla was neither an Asianist like Hortensius, nor an extreme Atticist like Calvus. See also Brutus §246, where the judgment is less favourable: nullo modo inops, sed non nimis ornatus genere verborum.nitidus: cp. i. 7, 35 ideo minus Messalla nitidus quia, &c.candidus: v. on§73.quodam modo: cp. Cic. Brut. §30 (where Kellogg wrongly renders ‘with a certain style’): ib. §149: de Orat. iii. §37: §184.praeferens= prae se ferens: cp. vi. 3, 17: 2, 14.viribus minor: cp.§103.I:114C. veroCaesarsi foro tantum vacasset, non alius exnostris contra Ciceronem nominaretur. Tanta in eo vis est, id acumen, ea concitatio, ut illum eodem animo dixisse quo bellavit appareat; exornat tamen haec omnia mira sermonis, cuius proprie studiosus fuit, elegantia.§ 114.Caesar. The purity and correctness of Caesar’s style are eulogised in the Brutus §§251-262: see esp. §261 non video cui debeat cedere. Cp. Phil. ii. 45 Fuit in illo ingenium, ratio, memoria,litterae, cura, cogitatio, diligentia: and with special reference to his oratorical talent, Suet. Caes. 55, where is cited a fragment from a letter of Cicero: ‘Quid? oratorum quem huic antepones eorum qui nihil aliud egerunt? Quis sententiis aut acutior aut crebrior? Quis verbis aut ornatior aut elegantior?’ Tac. Ann, xiii. 3 dictator Caesar summis oratoribus aemulus.si foro tantum vacasset. So of Pompeius (Brut. 239), vir ad omnia summa natus, maiorem dicendi gloriam habuisset, nisi eum maioris gloriae cupiditas ad bellicas laudes abstraxisset: Tac. Dial. 21 concedamus sane C. Caesari, ut propter magnitudinem cogitationum et occupationes rerum in eloquentia non effecerit quae divinum eius ingenium postulabat.contra, ‘by the side of,’ with the notion of being ‘pitted against’: cp. proximumque Ciceroni Caesarem, Vell. Pat. ii. 36, 2.vis: xii. 10, 11 vim Caesaris.acumen. See on§106: here probably of a pointed incisive style.eodem animo: Livy xxxviii. 50 dicebantur enim ab eodem animo ingenioque a quo gesta erant.proprie studiosus: cp. i. 7, 34 aut vim C. Caesaris fregerunt editi de analogia libri? Suet. Caes. 56: Gell. xix. 8, 3. See too Brutus §253, where we learn that the work was dedicated to Cicero: ‘qui etiam in maximis occupationibus ad te ipsum,’ inquit in me intuens, ‘de ratione Latine loquendi adcuratissime scripserit primoque in libro dixerit verborum delectum originem esse eloquentiae.’—Cp. Gell. xvi. 8 C. Caesar gravis auctor linguae latinae,—Propriein this sense is post-Augustan: cp. Vell. Pat. ii. 9, 1.elegantia: Brutus §252 ita iudico ... illum omnium fere oratorum Latine loqui elegantissime. In the Preface to B. G. viii. Hirtius says Erat autem in Caesare quum facultas atque elegantia summa scribendi tum, etc.I:115Multum ingenii inCaelioet praecipue in accusando multa urbanitas, dignusque vir, cui et mens melior et vita longior contigisset. Inveni quiCalvumpraeferrent omnibus, inveni qui Ciceroni crederent eum nimia contra se calumnia verum sanguinem perdidisse; sed est et sancta et gravis oratio et castigata et frequenter vehemensquoque. Imitator autem est Atticorum, fecitque illi properata mors iniuriam, si quid adiecturus sibi non si quid detracturus fuit.§ 115.Caelius, M.Rufus (82-48B.C.), a man of loose morals and luxurious life, whom Cicero defended from some charges of sedition and attempted poisoning, 56B.C.He had not much strength of character: during Cicero’s absence in Cilicia he was in friendly correspondence with him, but afterwards he joined Caesar, while urging Cicero to remain neutral. Becoming discontented, he intrigued with Milo to raise an insurrection against Caesar, and was put to death near Thurii by some foreign cavalry, 48B.C.Cp. Brutus §273 splendida et grandis et eadem in primis faceta et perurbana oratio. Graves eius contiones aliquot fuerunt, acres accusationes tres (one against C. Antonius) ... defensiones ... sane tolerabiles. There was something bitter about him:2 §25asperitatem Caelii: cp. Tac. Dial. 25 amarior Caelius: Sen. de Ira iii. 8, 6 oratorem ... iracundissimum. A description of one of his speeches is given iv. 2, 123 sq.: for witticisms on Clodia v. viii. 6, 53. Cp. Tac. Dial. 21 and 25.praecipue in accusando: vi. 3, 69 idem (Cicero) per allegoriam M. Caelium, melius obicientem crimina quam defendentem, bonam dextram malam sinistram habere dicebat.urbanitasis defined vi. 3, 17 as sermonem praeferentem in verbis et sono et usu proprium quendam gustum urbis et sumptam ex conversatione doctorum tacitam eruditionem, denique cui contraria sit rusticitas. Here the idea ofwitis uppermost, as in ii. 11, 2 and vi. 3, 105. Cp. vi. 3 §41 Caelius cum omnia venustissime finxit tum illud ultimum: i. 6, 29.mens melior: Brut. §273 quaecunque eius in exitu vel fortuna vel mens fuit: Vell. Pat. ii. 68 vir eloquio animoque Curioni simillimus, sed in utroque perfectior nec minus ingeniose nequam.Calvus, Gaius Licinius (B.C.82-48), was the leading spirit among the stricter Atticists in Cicero’s day, and is censured by him in the Brutus (§§284-291) for taking so narrow a view of the full meaning of Attic oratory as to have introduced the attempt to imitate certain particular models among the Attic orators. A poet himself, he was the friend of Catullus, and, like Catullus, an opponent of Caesar. He prosecuted Vatinius on three separateoccasions, and once showed such vehemence and energy that the defendant rose in court, saying ‘rogo vos, iudices, num si iste disertus est ideo me damnari oportet’ (Sen. Controv. vii. 6): Tac. Dial. 34 Vatinium eis orationibus insecutus est, quas hodieque cum admiratione legimus: cp. ib. 21. Cp. Catullus 53, where we get a lively idea of his energetic eloquence at the trial. The passage of Cicero referred to (Brutus §283 quoted below) was written after the death of Calvus: but already in Dec. 47 Cicero, in writing to his friend Trebonius, had stated his opinion that Calvus had made an error of judgment in the choice of his style, and that he was wanting in force: ad Fam. xv. 21 §4 genus quoddam sequebatur, in quo iudicio lapsus, quo valebat, tamen assequebatur quod probaret. Multae erant et reconditae litterae, vis non erat (Quint. x. 2, 25 ‘iudicium Calvi’). In the Dial. de Or. ch. 18 Tacitus refers to certain letters, now lost, from Calvus and Brutus to Cicero, showing that the latter regarded Calvus asexsanguisandattritus(v.l. aridus), while Calvus stigmatised Cicero assolutusandenervis. His position as leader of a school (which took Lysias mainly for its model and cultivated ‘plainness’ at the expense of other good qualities) is indicated by Cicero’s remark that he ‘not only went wrong himself, but also led others astray’ (Brut. §284).Ciceroni crederent, &c. “In writing of his oratorical style in theBrutus, two years after his death, Cicero observes that, while he was more accomplished in literature than the younger Curio, he had also a more accurate and exquisite style; and although he handled it with skill and elegance, he was too minute and nice in his self-criticism; losing the very life-blood of style for fear of tainting its purity, and cultivating too scrupulous a taste to win the approval of the general public” (Sandys, Orator, Introd. xlvi.). The passage from the Brutus (283) is as follows:—adcuratius quoddam dicendi et exquisitius adferebat genus; quod quanquam scienter eleganterque tractabat, nimium tamen inquirens in se atque ipse sese observans metuensque ne vitiosum colligeret, etiam verum sanguinem deperdebat ... Atticum ... se dici oratorem volebat; inde erat ista exilitas, quam ille de industria consequebatur.nimia ... calumnia, ‘by over-rigorous self-censure,’—a morbid habit of introspective criticism: the word being used to express nimium inquirens ... observans ... metuensque in the passage just quoted. Perhaps the nearest parallel to this use is to be found in Caec. ap. Cic. ad Fam. vi. 7, 4 in hac igitur calumnia, timoris et caecae suspicionis tormento,—of exaggerated fears inspired by the spirit of carping self-criticism, for which cp.4 §3:7 §14. The verb is found in the same sense in3 §10infelicem calumniandi se poenam: viii. prooem. 31 nullus est finis calumniandi se et cum singulis paene syllabis commoriendi. Cp. Plin. xxxiv. 8, 19 §92 calumniator sui, of one who is over-anxious in regard to his work. Cicero uses the verb absolutely: ad Fam. ix. 2, 3 mihi quidem venit in mentem bellum esse aliquo exire ... sed calumniabar ipse: putabam qui obviam mihi venisset ... suspicaturum aut dicturum, &c., where the meaning is ‘I indulged groundless fears’ (Nägelsbach, p. 54). The wordcalumniais derived from the rootcalvfound incalvor, to trick, quibble, through a participial form *calvomenos, calumnus (cp. autumnus, aerumna, columna). Its first meaning is a malicious charge or ‘cavil’: ad Fam. i. 1, 1, religionis calumniam, the ‘trumped-up plea of a religious difficulty.’ Hence it was applied in Roman law (Gaius 4, 178) to the vexatious abuse of legal forms, chicanery, legal quirks and quibbles, and generally to the pettifogging tendency which exalts the letter above the spirit.verum sanguinem perdidisse: cp.4 §3exsanguia.sancta et gravis: his style is ‘solemn and weighty,’ xii. 10, 11 ‘sanctitatem Calvi.’castigata, ‘chastened,’ ‘severely finished’: cp. Hor. A. P. 292 carmen reprehendite quod non Multa dies et multa litura coercuit atque Praesectum decies non castigavit ad unguem, i.e. by pruning away everything that is useless and inappropriate: Tac. Dial. 25 adstrictior Calvus, numerosior Asinius.frequenter: see on§17.vehemens: cp. Sen. Controv. viii. 7solebat praeterea excedere subsellia sua et impetu latus usque ad adversariorum partem transcurrere. Seneca adds that he resembled Demosthenes inasmuch as he was all struggle and excitement, though he sometimes employed a gentler style, ib. §8 nihil in illa (compositione) placidum, nihil lene est, omnia excitata et fluctuantia.properata mors: cp. immatura mors. He died at the early age of 34. Cp. Brutus §279 facienda mentio est ... duorum adulescentium (Curio and Calvus) qui si diutius vixissent magnam essent eloquentiae laudem consecuti.adiecturus, i.e. if it was likely that he would have added to the purity of his diction other and richer qualities. The cold dry manner of the strictest Atticists failed to hold the ear of Roman audiences: Brut. §289 subsellia grandiorem et pleniorem vocem desiderant, a larger and fuller utterance than that of the Atticists who spoke ‘anguste et exiliter.’ SeeCrit. Notes.detracturus: sc. nimia contra se calumnia. He isexilisenough as it is.I:116EtServius Sulpiciusinsignem non immerito famam tribus orationibus meruit. Multa, si cum iudicio legatur, dabit imitatione dignaCassius Severus, qui si ceteris virtutibus colorem et gravitatem orationis adiecisset, ponendus inter praecipuos foret.§ 116.Servius SulpiciusRufus, the most distinguished jurist of Cicero’s day, consulB.C.51. See reff. in Brutus §150: §152: §153 (adiunxit etiam et litterarum scientiam et loquendi elegantiam). His letter of sympathy to Cicero on the death of Tullia is well known: ad Fam. iv. 5. Cp.5 §4:7 §30and above§22.meruit=consecutus est, as§94. See on§72.Cassius Severusflourished under Augustus, and was banished on account of his libellous attacks (procacibus scriptis), first to Crete and then to Seriphos, where he is said to have diedA.D.34, in the twenty-fifth year of his exile; Tac. Ann. iv. 21: i. 72. He is spoken of as the introducer of the new school of declamatory eloquence, Tac. Dial. 19 Antiquorum admiratores ... Cassium Severum ... primum affirmant flexisse ab illa vetere atque directa dicendi via, &c.: ibid. 26 equidem non negaverim Cassium Severum ... si iis comparetur qui postea fuerunt, posse oratorem vocari, quamquam in magna parte librorum suorum plus bilis habeat quam sanguinis: primus enim contempto ordine rerum, omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, ipsis etiam quibus utitur armis incompositus et studio feriendi plerumque detectus, non pugnat sed rixatur; ceterum ... et varietate eruditionis et lepore urbanitatis et ipsaram virium robore multum ceteros superat.colorem: cp. on§59. The word is not here used in the technical sense which it bears in rhetoric, i.e. the particular aspect given to a case by a skilful representation of the facts,—the ‘gloss’ or ‘varnish’ put on them by either the accused or the accuser. For this sense see iv. 2, 88: Inv. vi. 279 Dic aliquem, sodes, dic Quintiliane colorem: vii. 155 with Mayor’s note. Here it has a more general sense. Quintilian is charging Cassius with a want of proper ‘tone’: cp. omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, above: Cic. de Or. iii. 96 ornatur oratio genere primum et quasi colore quodam et suco suo.gravitatem: Cassius was wanting in dignity, and his wit was apt to carry him too far. Quintilian gives an instance of this xi. 1, 57; Seneca, Controv. iii. praef. 2 says however ‘gravitas, quae deerat vitae, actioni supererat.’I:117Nam et ingenii plurimum est in eo et acerbitas mira et urbanitas et fervor, sed plus stomacho quam consilio dedit. Praetereaut amari sales, ita frequenter amaritudo ipsa ridicula est.§ 117.ingenii plurimum: Tacitus (Ann. iv. 21) allows that he was ‘orandi validus’: and Seneca (l.c.) says oratio eius erat valens culta ingentibus plena sententiis ... non est quod illum ex his quae edidit aestimetis ... eloquentia eius longe maior erat quam lectio.acerbitas mira: cp. Tac. Ann. i. 72 commotus Cassii Severi libidine qua viros feminasque inlustres procacibus scriptis diffamaverat.urbanitas, v. on§115. For examples see vi. 1, 43: viii. 3, 89: xi. 3, 133.et fervor: see Crit. Notes, and cp.Seneca l.c. habebat ... genus dicendi ... ardens et concitatum.stomacho: he was full of passionate impulse: cp. the passage quoted from Dial. 26 above.praeterea ... ridicula est. Spalding’s interpretation of this passage is followed by Krüger (2nd ed.) and Hild: the other editors do not seem to have felt any difficulty. The sentence is taken in continuation of thepraiseof Cassius, attaching closely to ‘urbanitas’: the words fromsed plustodeditbeing then interjected as the only note of disparagement. The literal translation would then be ‘while his wit is bitter, the bitterness itself is often enough to make you laugh.’ ‘He has a caustic wit, but his causticity by itself will often make you laugh.’ For this sense ofridicula(Sp. ‘risum movet auditorum’) cp. vi. 3, 22ridiculum... haec tota disputatio a Graecisπερὶ γελοίουinscribitur: 3 §6 ridiculum (‘funny,’ ‘droll’) dictum plerumque falsum est (ad hoc semper humile). Frieze compares vi. 3, 7: and adds ‘success in exciting the mirth of the court and the audience is not always a proof of the orator’s wit; but is often due to mere bitterness of invective, and coarse and rough or droll terms of abuse.’One objection to this interpretation is the arrangement of the sentences:praeterea ... ridicula estconnects even more naturally withsed plus ... deditthan with the eulogy contained inurbanitas et fervor. And it may be doubted if Quintilian or any other writer who had just been censuring Cassius forstomachuswould immediately go on (usingridiculusin a good sense) to say that ‘often when he is merely bitter without being witty (this is the force ofamaritudo ipsa, cp. note on§45) he makes you laugh.’ Drollery can hardly be claimed for unrelieved acrimoniousness.A better sense can be obtained by takingamaritudo ipsa ridicula estas part not of the praise but of the censure of Cassius, and interpreting ridicula as ‘silly,’ ‘absurd,’ ‘ridiculous.’ Cicero uses the word in this sense, and there is abundant authority in Quintilian himself: cp. sint grandia et tumida, non stulta etiam et acrioribus oculis intuenti ridicula ii. 10, 6; ridiculum est v. 13, 7; fecit enim risum sed ridiculus fuit vi. 1, 48; quibus nos ... ridiculi videmur vii. 1, 43: ix. 3, 100;x. 3, 21; xi. 3, 128. The meaning then is ‘while his wit is bitter, yet bitterness by itself is silly,’ i.e. his wit has a bitter turn, but where he is (as often) bitter without being witty, the result is poor. There is undoubtedly something unsatisfactory aboutut amari sales(sc. sunt), which might well have a general reference. SeeCrit. Notes.I:118Sunt alii multi diserti, quos persequi longum est. Eorum quos viderimDomitius AferetIulius Africanuslonge praestantissimi.Verborum arte ille et toto genere dicendi praeferendus et quem in numero veterum habere non timeas: hic concitatior, sed in cura verborum nimius et compositione nonnumquam longior et translationibus parum modicus. Erant clara et nuper ingenia.§ 118.disertihere, as in§68and3 §13, almost synonymous witheloquentes. In viii. pr. §13, however, Quintilian quotes a saying of M. Antonius, which was meant to establish a difference: nam et M. Antonius ... cum a se disertos visos esse multos ait, eloquentem neminem, diserto satis putat dicere quae oporteat, ornate autem dicere proprium esse eloquentis. Cp. i. 10, 8 ‘Fuit aliquis sine his disertus’: ‘at ego oratorem volo.’ Cicero gives the same quotation: Orat. §18: de Orat. i. §94, where the reason for the distinction between the ‘accomplished speaker’ and ‘the eloquent orator’ is given by Antonius himself,—quod ego eum statuebam disertum, qui posset satis acute atque dilucide apud mediocres homines ex communi quadam opinione hominum dicere, eloquentem vero, qui mirabilius et magnificentius augere posset atque ornare quae vellet, omnesque omnium rerum, quae ad dicendum pertinerent, fontes animo ac memoria contineret. Cp. Plin. Ep. v. 20 §5. For the derivation ofdisertusv. Sandys on Orat. §18.longum est: the action is spoken of as still possible. Roby 1735. So Cic. pro Sest. 5: Longum est ea dicere: sed hoc breve dicam. Cp.2 §§4,7:5 §7:6 §2.quos viderim: see on§98. In xii. 10, 11 he has ‘in iis etiam quos ipsi vidimus,’ mentioning both Afer and Africanus. Quintilian’s fondness for the perfect subjunctive is marked: cp. xii. 5, 5.Domitius Afer: see on§86: cp. v. 7, 7 quem adolescentulus senem colui.Iulius Africanus: a native of Gaul, who flourished under Nero. In xii. 10, 11 he is again named alongside of Afer,—vires Africani, maturitatem Afri. He is quoted as speaking to Nero in the name of Gaul viii. 5, 15 Insigniter Africanus apud Neronem de morte matris: rogantte, Caesar, Galliae tuae, ut felicitatem tuam fortiter feras. He divided the palm of eloquence with Afer: Tac. Dial. 15, He was a son of the Iulius Africanus of whom Tacitus speaks (Ann. vi. 7) as e Santonis Gallica civitate (Saintonge, to the N. of the lower Garonne): a grandson of his, also an orator, is mentioned by Pliny vii. 6, 11.in numero veterum: cp. Tac. Dial. 15, ad fin.compositione: v. on§79. If it has the same meaning here, it must = the euphonious collocation of words: see Cicero Orat. §147 de verbis enim componendis, &c., and §149 sq. Quintilian treats ofcompositioix. 4, 1: Tr. ‘tedious in his phraseology’: viii. 3, 52: ix. 4, 144 neque longioribus quam oportet hyperbolis compositioni serviamus.longior: i.e. he used ‘padding’ in the effort to round off his periods.translationibus: viii. 6, 4 sq.: esp. 16 sed copia quoque modum egressa vitiosa est, praecipue in eadem specie.I:119Nam etTrachalusplerumque sublimis et satis apertus fuit et quem velle optima crederes, auditus tamen maior; nam et vocis, quantam in nullo cognovi, felicitas et pronuntiatio vel scaenis suffectura et decor, omnia denique ei, quae sunt extra, superfuerunt: etVibius Crispuscompositus et iucundus et delectationinatus, privatis tamen causis quam publicis melior.§ 119.Trachalus, M. Galerius: consulA.D.68 along with Silius Italicus. Tacitus (Hist. i. 90) tells us he was supposed to have written the speech delivered by Otho to an assembly of the people: in rebus urbanis Galerii Trachali ingenio Othonem uti credebatur. Et erant qui genus ipsum orandi noscerent, crebro fori usu celebre et ad inplendas populi aures latum et sonans. After Otho’s death he was fortunate in securing the protection of Galeria, wife of Vitellius (ibid. ii. 60), who may have been a relation of his. From viii. 5, 19 we learn that he had published an orationContra Spatalem, in a case where Vibius Crispus appeared for the accused. Cp. vi. 3, 78.velle optima, not ‘well-meaning,’ in a moral sense, but with reference to qualities of style: cp. below§122ad optima tendentium:§131meliora vellet.auditus maior. In the passage often quoted already (xii. 10, 11) Quintilian singles out hissonusfor special mention,—‘sonum Trachali.’—Gertz suggestedmeliorformaior.vocis ... felicitas: cp. xii. 5, 5, where, after enumeratingvox,latus, anddecoras the ‘naturalia instrumenta’ of the orator, he refers specially to the ‘external advantages’ (cp. omnia ... quae sunt extra, below) of Trachalus: Habuit oratores aetas nostra copiosiores, sed cum diceret eminere inter aequales Trachalus videbatur, Ea corporis sublimitas erat, is ardor oculorum, frontis auctoritas, gestus praestantia, vox quidem non, ut Cicero desiderat, paene tragoedorum sed super omnes, quos ego quidem audierim, tragoedos. Certe cum in basilica Iulia diceret primo tribunali, quattuor autem iudicia, ut moris est, cogerentur, atque omnia clamoribus fremerent, et auditum eum et intellectum et, quod agentibus ceteris contumeliosissimum fuit, laudatum quoque ex quattuor tribunalibus memini. Sed hoc votum est et rara felicitas.suffectura, conditional, forquae suffectura fuisset, without the protasissi voluisset. Cp. note onhabitura§99. Sotaciturusxi. 2, 16. Hor. Car. iv. 3, 20 donatura, si libeat: and ii. 6, 1 (where there is no protasis), Septimi Gades aditure mecum—Forpronuntiatiosee on§17.superfuerunt, he had an abundant share of such advantages.Vibius Crispus, adelatorof the age of Nero, who amassed great wealth by the practice of his profession down to aboutA.D.90. Tac. Hist. ii. 10 Vibius Crispus, pecunia potentia ingenio inter claros magis quam inter bonos ... Crispum easdem accusationes cum praemio exercuisse meminerant: ibid. iv. 41, 43. In the Dialogue Tacitus speaks of the fame of his eloquence, ch. 8 ausim contendere Marcellum Eprium et Crispum Vibiumnon minores esse in extremis partibus terrarum quam Capuae aut Vercellis, ubi nati dicuntur; hoc ... illis praestat ... ipsa eloquentia...; per multos iam annos potentissimi sunt civitatis ac, donec libuit, principes fori, nunc principes in Caesaris (i.e. Vespasiani) amicitia agunt feruntque cuncta, &c. And yet (ibid. 13) Adligati canum adulatione nec imperantibus unquam satis servi videntur nec nobis satis liberi. That he was still in favour with Domitian appears from Suet. 3 inter initia principatus quotidie secretum sibi horarium sumere solebat; nec quidquam amplius quam muscas captare ac stylo praeacuto configere: ut cuidam interroganti esset ne quis intus cum Caesare non absurde responsum sit a Vibio Crispo ‘Ne musca quidem.’ His wealth was proverbial: divitior Crispo Mart. iv. 54, 7: he was worth 200,000,000 sesterces, or even 300,000,000 according to Dial. 8. By its means he was enabled to shelter his brother Vibius Secundus, when accused of ‘repetundae’ in Mauretania: Tac. Ann. xiv. 28. Juvenal gives a sketch of his character iv. 81-93 Venit et Crispi iucunda senectus Cuius erant mores qualis facundia mite Ingenium ... nec civis erat qui libera posset Verba animi proferre et vitam impendere vero ... Sic multas hiemes atque octogesima vidit Solstitia his armis illa (of Domitian) quoque tutus in aula.compositus: generally applied to style, ‘well-balanced,’ e.g.§44lenis et nitidi et compositi generis: cp. Cicero Orat. §208 composita oratio. Here the epithet is transferred to the orator in the sense of ‘orderly,’ ‘finished’ in the choice and combination of words. Cp. Orat. §232 compositi oratoris bene structam collocationem dissolvere permutatione verborum:2 §16below fiunt ... pro ... compositis exultantes:§66incompositus.iucundus, ‘lively, agreeable, entertaining’: cp. Crispi iucunda senectus, Iuv., quoted above. In xii. 10, §11 Quintilian placesiucunditatem Crispialongside of the distinguishing characteristics of other orators: cp. v. 13, 48 Vibius Crispus vir ingenii iucundi et elegantis.I:120Iulio Secundo, si longior contigisset aetas, clarissimum profecto nomen oratoris apud posteros foret; adiecisset enim atque adiciebat ceteris virtutibus suis quod desiderari potest, id est autem ut esset multo magis pugnax et saepius ad curam rerum ab elocutione respiceret.§ 120.Iulius Secundusis highly spoken of3 §12below: aequalem meum atque a me, ut notum est, familiariter amatum, mirae facundiae virum, infinitae tamen curae: and in xii. 10, 11 he is named as conspicuous for ‘elegantia.’ He is one of the interlocutors in the Dialogue of Tacitus, where he is made to pose as umpire between the representatives of Imperial and Republican eloquence: cp. esp. ch. 2 Aper et Iulius Secundus, celeberrima tum (under Vespasian) ingenia fori nostri ... Secundo purus et pressus et in quantum satis erat profluens sermo non defuit: chs. 4 and 14.adiciebat: he had begun the improvement when death overtook him. He died about 88A.D., not long before Quintilian began hisInstitutio.curam rerum: he is to care for substance as well as form. Fabianus in Seneca (Epist. 100) had the opposite fault: visne illum assidere pusillae rei, verbis?I:121Ceterum interceptus quoque magnum sibi vindicat locum: ea est facundia, tanta in explicando quod velit gratia, tam candidum et lene et speciosum dicendi genus, tanta verborum etiam quae adsumpta sunt proprietas, tanta inquibusdam ex periculo petitis significantia.§ 121.interceptus: so vi. pr. 1 si me ... fata intercepissent.candidum: ‘lucid,’ v. on§73(Herodotus), and cp.§113Messalla ... candidus:§101clarissimi candoris, of Livy.leneopp. to forte et vehemens dicendi genus:§44. SeeCrit. Notes.adsumpta=translata, ‘used figuratively.’ Cp. viii. 3, 43 adsumere ea, quibus inlustrem fieri orationem putat, delecta, translata, superlata, ad nomen adiuncta, duplicata et idem significantia atque ab ipsa actione atque imitatione rerum non abhorrentia. When the process is carried too far theverba adsumpta, becomearcessitaviii. 3. 56.proprietas, v. on§46.ex periculo: ii. 12, 5 quod est in elocutione ipsa periculum: viii. 6, 11 (verba) quae audaci et proxime periculum translatione tolluntur ... qualis est: pontem indignatus Araxes. Cp. paene periclitantia xi. 1, 32. For the phrase ex periculo petere cp. ii. 11, 3 sententiis grandibus, quarum optima quaeque a periculo petarur. Gr.παρακεκινδυνευμένα.significantia:§49.I:122Habebunt qui post nos de oratoribus scribent magnam eos qui nunc vigent materiam vere laudandi; sunt enim summa hodie, quibus inlustratur forum, ingenia. Namque et consummati iam patroni veteribus aemulantur et eos iuvenum ad optima tendentium imitatur ac sequitur industria.§ 122.eos qui nunc vigent. Who these were we can infer from the Dialogue of Tacitus and from Pliny’s Letters, e.g. Aper, Marcellus, Maternus, Aquilius Regulus, and others. Quintilian must of course have meant to include Tacitus and Pliny themselves.consummati: often equivalent toperfectusin Quintilian:5 §14. Cp. above§89. It is combined withperfectusv. 10, 119 ne se ... perfectos protinus atque consummates putent.veteribus.Aemularioccurs elsewhere with the accusative,§62;2 §17. So of envious emulation Cic. Tusc. i. §44: cp. iv. §17 with the dative of the person.iuvenum ad optima tendentium. Hild refers to the speeches of Messalla and Maternus in the Dial. (28-30, 34-36) as indicating the oratorical aspirations of the youth of Rome when Quintilian wrote.I:123Supersunt qui de philosophia scripserint, quo in genere paucissimos adhuc eloquentes litterae Romanae tulerunt. Idem igiturM. Tullius, qui ubique, etiam in hoc opere Platonis aemulusextitit. Egregius vero multoque quam in orationibus praestantiorBrutussuffecit ponderi rerum: scias eum sentire quae dicit.§ 123.philosophia. For the attitude of the Romans to philosophy see Teuffel, §40 sq. Abstract speculation, leading to no practical end, was not held in honour by them: like Neoptolemus, in the play of Ennius, they said ‘philosophari est mihi necesse, at paucis (i.e. ‘only a little’: Roby, §1237) nam omnino haud placet,’—Cicero de Orat. ii. §156: de Repub. i. 18, 30: Pacuvius too (in Gell. xiii. 8) had made one of his characters exclaim: ego odi homines ignava opera et philosopha sententia. The Romans disliked the unsettling tendencies which seemed to accompany the study of philosophy: hence e.g. their treatment of the Athenian ambassadors in the middle of the second centuryB.C.The prejudice against such studies had by no means entirely disappeared even in the time of Cicero, who constantly apologises for and seeks to justify his leanings to philosophy: de Off. ii. 1, 2 sqq.: de Fin. i. 1, 1. Tacitus, Agricola 4, tells us that Agricola used to say ‘se prima in iuventa studium philosophiae acrius, ultra quam concessum Romano ac senatori, hausisse, ni prudentia matris incensum ac flagrantem animum coercuisset.’ About the time when Quintilian was writing, Domitian banished the philosophers from Rome: ibid. ch. 2. For the help which philosophy can give to oratory see xii. 11, which contains (§7) an expression of the Roman ideal: atqui ego illum quem instituo Romanum quendam velim esse sapientem, qui non secretis disputationibus, sed rerum experimentis atque operibus vere civilem virum exhibeat. Cp. Cicero’s boast in regard to himself and Cato of Utica: nos philosophiam veram illam et antiquam, quae quibusdam otii esse ac desidiae videtur, in forum atque in rempublicam atque in ipsam aciem paene deduximus. See on§84.paucissimos ... eloquentes. The addition of an adj. to another adj. used as a subst. is rare in Quintilian. Hirt (Subst. des Adj. p. 17) cites only five exx. besides this one: e.g. iii. 8, 31 antiquis nobilibus ortos.qui ubique. The sense is clear: it is a repetition of the claim made in§108mihi videtur M. Tullius ... effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam Platonis, iucunditatem Isocratis. But it was notubiquethat Cicero rivalled Plato: it was only in Plato’s own domain (sc. in hoc opere). The expressionwas adopted for brevity’s sake: Spalding says it is equivalent to ‘ut ubique Graecorum praestantissimi cuiusque, ita in hoc opere Platonis.’ For Cicero’s philosophical writings cp. Teuffel, §173 sq.Brutus: cp.§23. He is not included in Quintilian’s list of orators; and though Cicero uses towards him the language of extravagant eulogy (v. esp. Brut. §22) in many of his works, yet we know from a passage in the Dialogue already quoted that he sometimes found him ‘otiosum atque disiunctum’ ch. 18. Cp. ch. 21 Brutum philosophiae suae relinquamus. Nam in orationibus minorem esse, fama sua etiam admiratores eius fatentur. A reference follows to his speech ‘Pro rege Deiotaro,’ which the speaker (Aper) considers ‘dull and tedious’—lentitudoandteporbeing the words used. A fragment of a declamation by him is quoted ix. 3 §95–. On his philosophical works see Cic. Acad. i. 3, 12 (with Reid’s note). He was an adherent of the Stoico-academic school, whose tenets he had studied under Aristus and Antiochus: cp. Tusc. v. 21: Brut. 120, 149, 332: de Fin. v. 8. There was a treatisede Virtuteaddressed to Cicero, oneπερὶ καθήκοντος, and onede Patientia: Teuffel, 209 §§2 and 3.suffecit ponderi rerum: Quint. xii. 10, 11 namesgravitasas his distinguishing quality: cp. gravior Brutus, Tac. Dial. ch. 25.sentire quae dicit. The intensity and sincerity of his nature can be inferred from ad Att. xiv. 1, 2, where Caesar is quoted as saying of himmagni refert hic quid velit, sed quicquid vult valde vult. For his devotion to study see7 §27below.I:124Scripsit non parum multaCornelius Celsus, Sextios secutus, non sine cultu ac nitore.Plautusin Stoicis rerum cognitioni utilis. In Epicureis levis quidem, sed non iniucundus tamenauctor estCatius.
§ 110.docere ... movere. Cp. iii. 5 §2 tria sunt item quae praestare debeat orator, ut doceat, moveat, delectet (quoted on§80).Iucunditashere expresses the third. So Cicero, Brutus §185 tria sunt enim, ut quidem ego sentio, quae sint efficienda dicendo: ut doceatur is apud quem dicetur, ut delectetur, ut moveatur vehementius.extorquet: cp. v. 7, 17 at in eo qui invitus dicturus est prima felicitas interrogantis extorquere quod is noluerit: ib. §27. Cic. de Or. ii. §74 qui nunquam sententias de manibus iudicum vi quadam orationis extorsimus ac potius placatis eorum animis tantum quantum ipsi patiebantur accepimus.transversus= ‘turned across,’ i.e. at right angles to the original line. So transversis itineribus Sall. Iug. 45, 2. For the figure contained intransversum feratcp. ibid. 6, 3 opportunitas quae etiam mediocres viros ... transversos agit: 14, 20. Theiudexis ‘turned athwart’—away from the path of his own judgment. So Sen. Ep. 8, 3 cum coepit transversos agere felicitas: Cic. Brutus 331 cuius in adulescentiam ... transversa incurrit misera fortuna rei publicae.I:111Iam in omnibus quae dicit tanta auctoritas inest ut dissentire pudeat, nec advocati studium sed testis aut iudicis adferat fidem; cum interim haec omnia, quae vix singula quisquam intentissima cura consequi posset, fluunt inlaborata et illa, qua nihil pulchrius auditum est, oratio prae se fert tamen felicissimam facilitatem.§ 111.advocati, ‘pleader,’ as generally in Quintilian, syn. with ‘actor causae,’ ‘causidicus,’ ‘patronus.’ In Cicero the word is reserved for those who lent their countenance and personal support to a friend, especially in legal matters: e.g. Brutus §289: pro Clu. §110 quis eum unquam non modo in patroni, sed in laudatoris aut advocati loco viderat? See Fausset’s note onadvocabatpro Clu. §54.fidem: ‘trustworthiness,’ ‘credibility.’ So quantam afferat fidem iv. 2, 125.cum interim: Roby §1732. Cp. note on§18.posset: the use of the imperf. subj. points to a suppressed protasis, sc. si vellet. Cp. i. 1, 22 cur improbetur si quis ea quae domi suae rectefaceretin publicum promit? So too below,2 §25qui noceret, where see note.tamenis a reminiscence of tamen ille non rapi videatur, in the previous sentence, and must be taken withcum interim: = ‘for all that.’facilitatem: cp.§1.I:112Quare non immerito ab hominibus aetatis suae regnare in iudiciis dictus est, apud posteros vero id consecutus, ut Cicero iam non hominis nomen sed eloquentiae habeatur. Hunc igitur spectemus, hoc propositum nobis sit exemplum, ille se profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valde placebit.§ 112.regnare: cp. Cic. ad Fam. vii. 24, 1 olim quum regnare existimabamur: ad Att. i. 1 illud suum regnum iudiciale,—his ‘sovereignty of the bar’: in Verr. i. 12, 35 (of Hortensius) omnis dominatio regnumque iudiciorum: ad Fam. ix. 18, 1 amisso regno forensi: cp. pro Sulla §7.non hominis ... sed eloquentiae. There is no thought here of holding the balance with Demosthenes,§105. Cp. what Brutus says after Caesar’s eulogy quoted above (§109note): quo enim uno vincebamur a victa Graecia, id aut ereptum illis est aut certe nobis cum illis communicatum: Brut. §254. Hild quotes from Plutarch (Cicero, §4) the story of Molo, one of Cicero’s teachers, who, on hearing him declaim, said that he had to pity the hard fate of Greece, from whom the palm of eloquence, her sole surviving glory, was now to pass away.exemplum, predicative, hoc being neuter by a common form of attraction: cp.3 §17.profecisse: Hild quotes Boileau, Art. Poet. iii. 308, speaking of Homer: c’est avoir profité que de savoir s’y plaire.I:113Multa inAsinio Pollioneinventio, summadiligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur, et consilii et animi satis: a nitore et iucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest ut videri possit saeculo prior. AtMessallanitidus et candidus et quodam modo praeferens in dicendo nobilitatem suam, viribus minor.§ 113.Quintilian makes no mention of orators previous to Cicero: for them see Brutus §53 sqq. Velleius disposes of them in the following sentence (i. 17, 3): At oratio ac vis forensis perfectumque prosae eloquentiae decus, ut idem separetur Cato, pace P. Crassi Scipionisque et Laeli et Gracchorum et Fanni et Servi Galbae dixerim, ita universa sub principe operis sui erupit Tullio, ut delectari ante eum paucissimis, mirari vero neminem possis, nisi aut ab illo visum aut qui illum viderit. Cp. Tac. Dial. 25. Hild cites also Seneca, Controv. i. praef.: quidquid Romana facundia habet, quod insolenti Graeciae aut opponat aut praeferat, circa Ciceronem effloruit; omnia ingenia quae lucem studiis nostris attulerunt, tunc nata sunt.Asinio Pollione. C. Asinius Pollio (75B.C.–4A.D.) was consul in 40, when he helped Maecenas to arrange the Peace of Brundisium: afterwards becoming estranged from Antony he retired into private life and devoted himself to letters. Vergil dedicates the Fourth Eclogue to him, and in the first Ode of Book ii Horace recounts his various titles to distinction. He was a poet as well as an orator: Verg. Ecl. viii. 10 Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno: iii. 86 Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina: Hor. S. i. 10, 42. He was also distinguished as a historian, having written a history of the Civil Wars from the first triumvirate (Motum ex Metello consule Hor. Car. ii. 1, 1). In the same Ode (II. 13, 14) Horace alludes to his fame as an orator, both at the bar and in the senate. Quintilian’s judgment on him in this capacity may be compared with that of Seneca, Ep. 100, 7 Lege Ciceronem: compositio eius una est, pedem servat lenta et sine infamia mollis. At contra Pollionis Asinii salebrosa et exsiliens et ubi minime expectes relictura. Denique omnia apud Ciceronem desinunt, apud Pollionem cadunt exceptis paucissimis, quae ad certum modum et ad unum exemplar adstricta sunt. Cp.2 §17below tristes ac ieiuni Pollionem aemulantur.diligentia:2 §25vim Caesaris, asperitatem Caelii, diligentiam Pollionis. The word does not refer to the historian’s painstaking care (which could hardly ever be ‘nimia’), but to the ‘precision’ or ‘exactitude’ of his language: v. the fragment quoted in ix. 4, 132.consilii, ‘judgment,’§106.animi, ‘spirit,’ ‘vivacity.’nitore: v. on§97.saeculo prior. ‘As an orator and writer he affected antique severity in opposition to Ciceronian smoothness,’—Teuffel. Cp. Tac. Dial. 21 Asinius quoque quamquam propioribus temporibus natus sit, videtur mihi inter Menenios et Appios studuisse; Pacuvium certe et Accium non solum tragoediis sed etiam orationibus suis expressit: adeo durus et siccus est: Sen. Controv. iv. praef. 3 illud strictum eius et aspersum et nimis iratum in censendo iudicium adeo cessabat ut in multis illi venia opus esset quae ab ipso vix impetrabatur. See Schmalz ‘Ueber den Sprachgebrauch des Asinius Pollio,’ p. 289; München, 1890. Pollio’s antipathy to Cicero and his dislike of Cicero’s style may be seen from the story in Seneca, Suas. vi. extr., quoted by Bernhardy (q.v.), R. L. p. 268 (note 182).Messalla, M. Valerius Corvinus (64B.C.-8A.D.), the friend of Tibullus, who dedicates to him i. 7: cp. the panegyric iv. 1. Cp. Tac. Dial. 18 Cicerone mitior Corvinus et dulcior et in verbis magis elaboratus,—with the latter part of which cp. Sen. Controv. ii. 12, 8 Latini utique sermonis observator diligentissimus. Cicero’s own opinion of him may be seen in Epist. ad Brutum i. 15, 1 cave putes probitate, constantia, cura, studio reipublicae quidquam illi esse simile; ut eloquentia, qua mirabiliter excellit, vix in eo locum ad laudandum habere videatur: quamquam in hac ipsa sapientia plus apparet: ita gravi iudicio multaque arte se exercuit in verissimo genere dicendi, tanta autem industria est tantumque evigilat in studio ut non maxima ingenio (quod in eo summum est) gratia habenda videatur. Byverissimum genus dicendiCicero seems to indicate that Messalla was neither an Asianist like Hortensius, nor an extreme Atticist like Calvus. See also Brutus §246, where the judgment is less favourable: nullo modo inops, sed non nimis ornatus genere verborum.nitidus: cp. i. 7, 35 ideo minus Messalla nitidus quia, &c.candidus: v. on§73.quodam modo: cp. Cic. Brut. §30 (where Kellogg wrongly renders ‘with a certain style’): ib. §149: de Orat. iii. §37: §184.praeferens= prae se ferens: cp. vi. 3, 17: 2, 14.viribus minor: cp.§103.I:114C. veroCaesarsi foro tantum vacasset, non alius exnostris contra Ciceronem nominaretur. Tanta in eo vis est, id acumen, ea concitatio, ut illum eodem animo dixisse quo bellavit appareat; exornat tamen haec omnia mira sermonis, cuius proprie studiosus fuit, elegantia.§ 114.Caesar. The purity and correctness of Caesar’s style are eulogised in the Brutus §§251-262: see esp. §261 non video cui debeat cedere. Cp. Phil. ii. 45 Fuit in illo ingenium, ratio, memoria,litterae, cura, cogitatio, diligentia: and with special reference to his oratorical talent, Suet. Caes. 55, where is cited a fragment from a letter of Cicero: ‘Quid? oratorum quem huic antepones eorum qui nihil aliud egerunt? Quis sententiis aut acutior aut crebrior? Quis verbis aut ornatior aut elegantior?’ Tac. Ann, xiii. 3 dictator Caesar summis oratoribus aemulus.si foro tantum vacasset. So of Pompeius (Brut. 239), vir ad omnia summa natus, maiorem dicendi gloriam habuisset, nisi eum maioris gloriae cupiditas ad bellicas laudes abstraxisset: Tac. Dial. 21 concedamus sane C. Caesari, ut propter magnitudinem cogitationum et occupationes rerum in eloquentia non effecerit quae divinum eius ingenium postulabat.contra, ‘by the side of,’ with the notion of being ‘pitted against’: cp. proximumque Ciceroni Caesarem, Vell. Pat. ii. 36, 2.vis: xii. 10, 11 vim Caesaris.acumen. See on§106: here probably of a pointed incisive style.eodem animo: Livy xxxviii. 50 dicebantur enim ab eodem animo ingenioque a quo gesta erant.proprie studiosus: cp. i. 7, 34 aut vim C. Caesaris fregerunt editi de analogia libri? Suet. Caes. 56: Gell. xix. 8, 3. See too Brutus §253, where we learn that the work was dedicated to Cicero: ‘qui etiam in maximis occupationibus ad te ipsum,’ inquit in me intuens, ‘de ratione Latine loquendi adcuratissime scripserit primoque in libro dixerit verborum delectum originem esse eloquentiae.’—Cp. Gell. xvi. 8 C. Caesar gravis auctor linguae latinae,—Propriein this sense is post-Augustan: cp. Vell. Pat. ii. 9, 1.elegantia: Brutus §252 ita iudico ... illum omnium fere oratorum Latine loqui elegantissime. In the Preface to B. G. viii. Hirtius says Erat autem in Caesare quum facultas atque elegantia summa scribendi tum, etc.I:115Multum ingenii inCaelioet praecipue in accusando multa urbanitas, dignusque vir, cui et mens melior et vita longior contigisset. Inveni quiCalvumpraeferrent omnibus, inveni qui Ciceroni crederent eum nimia contra se calumnia verum sanguinem perdidisse; sed est et sancta et gravis oratio et castigata et frequenter vehemensquoque. Imitator autem est Atticorum, fecitque illi properata mors iniuriam, si quid adiecturus sibi non si quid detracturus fuit.§ 115.Caelius, M.Rufus (82-48B.C.), a man of loose morals and luxurious life, whom Cicero defended from some charges of sedition and attempted poisoning, 56B.C.He had not much strength of character: during Cicero’s absence in Cilicia he was in friendly correspondence with him, but afterwards he joined Caesar, while urging Cicero to remain neutral. Becoming discontented, he intrigued with Milo to raise an insurrection against Caesar, and was put to death near Thurii by some foreign cavalry, 48B.C.Cp. Brutus §273 splendida et grandis et eadem in primis faceta et perurbana oratio. Graves eius contiones aliquot fuerunt, acres accusationes tres (one against C. Antonius) ... defensiones ... sane tolerabiles. There was something bitter about him:2 §25asperitatem Caelii: cp. Tac. Dial. 25 amarior Caelius: Sen. de Ira iii. 8, 6 oratorem ... iracundissimum. A description of one of his speeches is given iv. 2, 123 sq.: for witticisms on Clodia v. viii. 6, 53. Cp. Tac. Dial. 21 and 25.praecipue in accusando: vi. 3, 69 idem (Cicero) per allegoriam M. Caelium, melius obicientem crimina quam defendentem, bonam dextram malam sinistram habere dicebat.urbanitasis defined vi. 3, 17 as sermonem praeferentem in verbis et sono et usu proprium quendam gustum urbis et sumptam ex conversatione doctorum tacitam eruditionem, denique cui contraria sit rusticitas. Here the idea ofwitis uppermost, as in ii. 11, 2 and vi. 3, 105. Cp. vi. 3 §41 Caelius cum omnia venustissime finxit tum illud ultimum: i. 6, 29.mens melior: Brut. §273 quaecunque eius in exitu vel fortuna vel mens fuit: Vell. Pat. ii. 68 vir eloquio animoque Curioni simillimus, sed in utroque perfectior nec minus ingeniose nequam.Calvus, Gaius Licinius (B.C.82-48), was the leading spirit among the stricter Atticists in Cicero’s day, and is censured by him in the Brutus (§§284-291) for taking so narrow a view of the full meaning of Attic oratory as to have introduced the attempt to imitate certain particular models among the Attic orators. A poet himself, he was the friend of Catullus, and, like Catullus, an opponent of Caesar. He prosecuted Vatinius on three separateoccasions, and once showed such vehemence and energy that the defendant rose in court, saying ‘rogo vos, iudices, num si iste disertus est ideo me damnari oportet’ (Sen. Controv. vii. 6): Tac. Dial. 34 Vatinium eis orationibus insecutus est, quas hodieque cum admiratione legimus: cp. ib. 21. Cp. Catullus 53, where we get a lively idea of his energetic eloquence at the trial. The passage of Cicero referred to (Brutus §283 quoted below) was written after the death of Calvus: but already in Dec. 47 Cicero, in writing to his friend Trebonius, had stated his opinion that Calvus had made an error of judgment in the choice of his style, and that he was wanting in force: ad Fam. xv. 21 §4 genus quoddam sequebatur, in quo iudicio lapsus, quo valebat, tamen assequebatur quod probaret. Multae erant et reconditae litterae, vis non erat (Quint. x. 2, 25 ‘iudicium Calvi’). In the Dial. de Or. ch. 18 Tacitus refers to certain letters, now lost, from Calvus and Brutus to Cicero, showing that the latter regarded Calvus asexsanguisandattritus(v.l. aridus), while Calvus stigmatised Cicero assolutusandenervis. His position as leader of a school (which took Lysias mainly for its model and cultivated ‘plainness’ at the expense of other good qualities) is indicated by Cicero’s remark that he ‘not only went wrong himself, but also led others astray’ (Brut. §284).Ciceroni crederent, &c. “In writing of his oratorical style in theBrutus, two years after his death, Cicero observes that, while he was more accomplished in literature than the younger Curio, he had also a more accurate and exquisite style; and although he handled it with skill and elegance, he was too minute and nice in his self-criticism; losing the very life-blood of style for fear of tainting its purity, and cultivating too scrupulous a taste to win the approval of the general public” (Sandys, Orator, Introd. xlvi.). The passage from the Brutus (283) is as follows:—adcuratius quoddam dicendi et exquisitius adferebat genus; quod quanquam scienter eleganterque tractabat, nimium tamen inquirens in se atque ipse sese observans metuensque ne vitiosum colligeret, etiam verum sanguinem deperdebat ... Atticum ... se dici oratorem volebat; inde erat ista exilitas, quam ille de industria consequebatur.nimia ... calumnia, ‘by over-rigorous self-censure,’—a morbid habit of introspective criticism: the word being used to express nimium inquirens ... observans ... metuensque in the passage just quoted. Perhaps the nearest parallel to this use is to be found in Caec. ap. Cic. ad Fam. vi. 7, 4 in hac igitur calumnia, timoris et caecae suspicionis tormento,—of exaggerated fears inspired by the spirit of carping self-criticism, for which cp.4 §3:7 §14. The verb is found in the same sense in3 §10infelicem calumniandi se poenam: viii. prooem. 31 nullus est finis calumniandi se et cum singulis paene syllabis commoriendi. Cp. Plin. xxxiv. 8, 19 §92 calumniator sui, of one who is over-anxious in regard to his work. Cicero uses the verb absolutely: ad Fam. ix. 2, 3 mihi quidem venit in mentem bellum esse aliquo exire ... sed calumniabar ipse: putabam qui obviam mihi venisset ... suspicaturum aut dicturum, &c., where the meaning is ‘I indulged groundless fears’ (Nägelsbach, p. 54). The wordcalumniais derived from the rootcalvfound incalvor, to trick, quibble, through a participial form *calvomenos, calumnus (cp. autumnus, aerumna, columna). Its first meaning is a malicious charge or ‘cavil’: ad Fam. i. 1, 1, religionis calumniam, the ‘trumped-up plea of a religious difficulty.’ Hence it was applied in Roman law (Gaius 4, 178) to the vexatious abuse of legal forms, chicanery, legal quirks and quibbles, and generally to the pettifogging tendency which exalts the letter above the spirit.verum sanguinem perdidisse: cp.4 §3exsanguia.sancta et gravis: his style is ‘solemn and weighty,’ xii. 10, 11 ‘sanctitatem Calvi.’castigata, ‘chastened,’ ‘severely finished’: cp. Hor. A. P. 292 carmen reprehendite quod non Multa dies et multa litura coercuit atque Praesectum decies non castigavit ad unguem, i.e. by pruning away everything that is useless and inappropriate: Tac. Dial. 25 adstrictior Calvus, numerosior Asinius.frequenter: see on§17.vehemens: cp. Sen. Controv. viii. 7solebat praeterea excedere subsellia sua et impetu latus usque ad adversariorum partem transcurrere. Seneca adds that he resembled Demosthenes inasmuch as he was all struggle and excitement, though he sometimes employed a gentler style, ib. §8 nihil in illa (compositione) placidum, nihil lene est, omnia excitata et fluctuantia.properata mors: cp. immatura mors. He died at the early age of 34. Cp. Brutus §279 facienda mentio est ... duorum adulescentium (Curio and Calvus) qui si diutius vixissent magnam essent eloquentiae laudem consecuti.adiecturus, i.e. if it was likely that he would have added to the purity of his diction other and richer qualities. The cold dry manner of the strictest Atticists failed to hold the ear of Roman audiences: Brut. §289 subsellia grandiorem et pleniorem vocem desiderant, a larger and fuller utterance than that of the Atticists who spoke ‘anguste et exiliter.’ SeeCrit. Notes.detracturus: sc. nimia contra se calumnia. He isexilisenough as it is.I:116EtServius Sulpiciusinsignem non immerito famam tribus orationibus meruit. Multa, si cum iudicio legatur, dabit imitatione dignaCassius Severus, qui si ceteris virtutibus colorem et gravitatem orationis adiecisset, ponendus inter praecipuos foret.§ 116.Servius SulpiciusRufus, the most distinguished jurist of Cicero’s day, consulB.C.51. See reff. in Brutus §150: §152: §153 (adiunxit etiam et litterarum scientiam et loquendi elegantiam). His letter of sympathy to Cicero on the death of Tullia is well known: ad Fam. iv. 5. Cp.5 §4:7 §30and above§22.meruit=consecutus est, as§94. See on§72.Cassius Severusflourished under Augustus, and was banished on account of his libellous attacks (procacibus scriptis), first to Crete and then to Seriphos, where he is said to have diedA.D.34, in the twenty-fifth year of his exile; Tac. Ann. iv. 21: i. 72. He is spoken of as the introducer of the new school of declamatory eloquence, Tac. Dial. 19 Antiquorum admiratores ... Cassium Severum ... primum affirmant flexisse ab illa vetere atque directa dicendi via, &c.: ibid. 26 equidem non negaverim Cassium Severum ... si iis comparetur qui postea fuerunt, posse oratorem vocari, quamquam in magna parte librorum suorum plus bilis habeat quam sanguinis: primus enim contempto ordine rerum, omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, ipsis etiam quibus utitur armis incompositus et studio feriendi plerumque detectus, non pugnat sed rixatur; ceterum ... et varietate eruditionis et lepore urbanitatis et ipsaram virium robore multum ceteros superat.colorem: cp. on§59. The word is not here used in the technical sense which it bears in rhetoric, i.e. the particular aspect given to a case by a skilful representation of the facts,—the ‘gloss’ or ‘varnish’ put on them by either the accused or the accuser. For this sense see iv. 2, 88: Inv. vi. 279 Dic aliquem, sodes, dic Quintiliane colorem: vii. 155 with Mayor’s note. Here it has a more general sense. Quintilian is charging Cassius with a want of proper ‘tone’: cp. omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, above: Cic. de Or. iii. 96 ornatur oratio genere primum et quasi colore quodam et suco suo.gravitatem: Cassius was wanting in dignity, and his wit was apt to carry him too far. Quintilian gives an instance of this xi. 1, 57; Seneca, Controv. iii. praef. 2 says however ‘gravitas, quae deerat vitae, actioni supererat.’I:117Nam et ingenii plurimum est in eo et acerbitas mira et urbanitas et fervor, sed plus stomacho quam consilio dedit. Praetereaut amari sales, ita frequenter amaritudo ipsa ridicula est.§ 117.ingenii plurimum: Tacitus (Ann. iv. 21) allows that he was ‘orandi validus’: and Seneca (l.c.) says oratio eius erat valens culta ingentibus plena sententiis ... non est quod illum ex his quae edidit aestimetis ... eloquentia eius longe maior erat quam lectio.acerbitas mira: cp. Tac. Ann. i. 72 commotus Cassii Severi libidine qua viros feminasque inlustres procacibus scriptis diffamaverat.urbanitas, v. on§115. For examples see vi. 1, 43: viii. 3, 89: xi. 3, 133.et fervor: see Crit. Notes, and cp.Seneca l.c. habebat ... genus dicendi ... ardens et concitatum.stomacho: he was full of passionate impulse: cp. the passage quoted from Dial. 26 above.praeterea ... ridicula est. Spalding’s interpretation of this passage is followed by Krüger (2nd ed.) and Hild: the other editors do not seem to have felt any difficulty. The sentence is taken in continuation of thepraiseof Cassius, attaching closely to ‘urbanitas’: the words fromsed plustodeditbeing then interjected as the only note of disparagement. The literal translation would then be ‘while his wit is bitter, the bitterness itself is often enough to make you laugh.’ ‘He has a caustic wit, but his causticity by itself will often make you laugh.’ For this sense ofridicula(Sp. ‘risum movet auditorum’) cp. vi. 3, 22ridiculum... haec tota disputatio a Graecisπερὶ γελοίουinscribitur: 3 §6 ridiculum (‘funny,’ ‘droll’) dictum plerumque falsum est (ad hoc semper humile). Frieze compares vi. 3, 7: and adds ‘success in exciting the mirth of the court and the audience is not always a proof of the orator’s wit; but is often due to mere bitterness of invective, and coarse and rough or droll terms of abuse.’One objection to this interpretation is the arrangement of the sentences:praeterea ... ridicula estconnects even more naturally withsed plus ... deditthan with the eulogy contained inurbanitas et fervor. And it may be doubted if Quintilian or any other writer who had just been censuring Cassius forstomachuswould immediately go on (usingridiculusin a good sense) to say that ‘often when he is merely bitter without being witty (this is the force ofamaritudo ipsa, cp. note on§45) he makes you laugh.’ Drollery can hardly be claimed for unrelieved acrimoniousness.A better sense can be obtained by takingamaritudo ipsa ridicula estas part not of the praise but of the censure of Cassius, and interpreting ridicula as ‘silly,’ ‘absurd,’ ‘ridiculous.’ Cicero uses the word in this sense, and there is abundant authority in Quintilian himself: cp. sint grandia et tumida, non stulta etiam et acrioribus oculis intuenti ridicula ii. 10, 6; ridiculum est v. 13, 7; fecit enim risum sed ridiculus fuit vi. 1, 48; quibus nos ... ridiculi videmur vii. 1, 43: ix. 3, 100;x. 3, 21; xi. 3, 128. The meaning then is ‘while his wit is bitter, yet bitterness by itself is silly,’ i.e. his wit has a bitter turn, but where he is (as often) bitter without being witty, the result is poor. There is undoubtedly something unsatisfactory aboutut amari sales(sc. sunt), which might well have a general reference. SeeCrit. Notes.I:118Sunt alii multi diserti, quos persequi longum est. Eorum quos viderimDomitius AferetIulius Africanuslonge praestantissimi.Verborum arte ille et toto genere dicendi praeferendus et quem in numero veterum habere non timeas: hic concitatior, sed in cura verborum nimius et compositione nonnumquam longior et translationibus parum modicus. Erant clara et nuper ingenia.§ 118.disertihere, as in§68and3 §13, almost synonymous witheloquentes. In viii. pr. §13, however, Quintilian quotes a saying of M. Antonius, which was meant to establish a difference: nam et M. Antonius ... cum a se disertos visos esse multos ait, eloquentem neminem, diserto satis putat dicere quae oporteat, ornate autem dicere proprium esse eloquentis. Cp. i. 10, 8 ‘Fuit aliquis sine his disertus’: ‘at ego oratorem volo.’ Cicero gives the same quotation: Orat. §18: de Orat. i. §94, where the reason for the distinction between the ‘accomplished speaker’ and ‘the eloquent orator’ is given by Antonius himself,—quod ego eum statuebam disertum, qui posset satis acute atque dilucide apud mediocres homines ex communi quadam opinione hominum dicere, eloquentem vero, qui mirabilius et magnificentius augere posset atque ornare quae vellet, omnesque omnium rerum, quae ad dicendum pertinerent, fontes animo ac memoria contineret. Cp. Plin. Ep. v. 20 §5. For the derivation ofdisertusv. Sandys on Orat. §18.longum est: the action is spoken of as still possible. Roby 1735. So Cic. pro Sest. 5: Longum est ea dicere: sed hoc breve dicam. Cp.2 §§4,7:5 §7:6 §2.quos viderim: see on§98. In xii. 10, 11 he has ‘in iis etiam quos ipsi vidimus,’ mentioning both Afer and Africanus. Quintilian’s fondness for the perfect subjunctive is marked: cp. xii. 5, 5.Domitius Afer: see on§86: cp. v. 7, 7 quem adolescentulus senem colui.Iulius Africanus: a native of Gaul, who flourished under Nero. In xii. 10, 11 he is again named alongside of Afer,—vires Africani, maturitatem Afri. He is quoted as speaking to Nero in the name of Gaul viii. 5, 15 Insigniter Africanus apud Neronem de morte matris: rogantte, Caesar, Galliae tuae, ut felicitatem tuam fortiter feras. He divided the palm of eloquence with Afer: Tac. Dial. 15, He was a son of the Iulius Africanus of whom Tacitus speaks (Ann. vi. 7) as e Santonis Gallica civitate (Saintonge, to the N. of the lower Garonne): a grandson of his, also an orator, is mentioned by Pliny vii. 6, 11.in numero veterum: cp. Tac. Dial. 15, ad fin.compositione: v. on§79. If it has the same meaning here, it must = the euphonious collocation of words: see Cicero Orat. §147 de verbis enim componendis, &c., and §149 sq. Quintilian treats ofcompositioix. 4, 1: Tr. ‘tedious in his phraseology’: viii. 3, 52: ix. 4, 144 neque longioribus quam oportet hyperbolis compositioni serviamus.longior: i.e. he used ‘padding’ in the effort to round off his periods.translationibus: viii. 6, 4 sq.: esp. 16 sed copia quoque modum egressa vitiosa est, praecipue in eadem specie.I:119Nam etTrachalusplerumque sublimis et satis apertus fuit et quem velle optima crederes, auditus tamen maior; nam et vocis, quantam in nullo cognovi, felicitas et pronuntiatio vel scaenis suffectura et decor, omnia denique ei, quae sunt extra, superfuerunt: etVibius Crispuscompositus et iucundus et delectationinatus, privatis tamen causis quam publicis melior.§ 119.Trachalus, M. Galerius: consulA.D.68 along with Silius Italicus. Tacitus (Hist. i. 90) tells us he was supposed to have written the speech delivered by Otho to an assembly of the people: in rebus urbanis Galerii Trachali ingenio Othonem uti credebatur. Et erant qui genus ipsum orandi noscerent, crebro fori usu celebre et ad inplendas populi aures latum et sonans. After Otho’s death he was fortunate in securing the protection of Galeria, wife of Vitellius (ibid. ii. 60), who may have been a relation of his. From viii. 5, 19 we learn that he had published an orationContra Spatalem, in a case where Vibius Crispus appeared for the accused. Cp. vi. 3, 78.velle optima, not ‘well-meaning,’ in a moral sense, but with reference to qualities of style: cp. below§122ad optima tendentium:§131meliora vellet.auditus maior. In the passage often quoted already (xii. 10, 11) Quintilian singles out hissonusfor special mention,—‘sonum Trachali.’—Gertz suggestedmeliorformaior.vocis ... felicitas: cp. xii. 5, 5, where, after enumeratingvox,latus, anddecoras the ‘naturalia instrumenta’ of the orator, he refers specially to the ‘external advantages’ (cp. omnia ... quae sunt extra, below) of Trachalus: Habuit oratores aetas nostra copiosiores, sed cum diceret eminere inter aequales Trachalus videbatur, Ea corporis sublimitas erat, is ardor oculorum, frontis auctoritas, gestus praestantia, vox quidem non, ut Cicero desiderat, paene tragoedorum sed super omnes, quos ego quidem audierim, tragoedos. Certe cum in basilica Iulia diceret primo tribunali, quattuor autem iudicia, ut moris est, cogerentur, atque omnia clamoribus fremerent, et auditum eum et intellectum et, quod agentibus ceteris contumeliosissimum fuit, laudatum quoque ex quattuor tribunalibus memini. Sed hoc votum est et rara felicitas.suffectura, conditional, forquae suffectura fuisset, without the protasissi voluisset. Cp. note onhabitura§99. Sotaciturusxi. 2, 16. Hor. Car. iv. 3, 20 donatura, si libeat: and ii. 6, 1 (where there is no protasis), Septimi Gades aditure mecum—Forpronuntiatiosee on§17.superfuerunt, he had an abundant share of such advantages.Vibius Crispus, adelatorof the age of Nero, who amassed great wealth by the practice of his profession down to aboutA.D.90. Tac. Hist. ii. 10 Vibius Crispus, pecunia potentia ingenio inter claros magis quam inter bonos ... Crispum easdem accusationes cum praemio exercuisse meminerant: ibid. iv. 41, 43. In the Dialogue Tacitus speaks of the fame of his eloquence, ch. 8 ausim contendere Marcellum Eprium et Crispum Vibiumnon minores esse in extremis partibus terrarum quam Capuae aut Vercellis, ubi nati dicuntur; hoc ... illis praestat ... ipsa eloquentia...; per multos iam annos potentissimi sunt civitatis ac, donec libuit, principes fori, nunc principes in Caesaris (i.e. Vespasiani) amicitia agunt feruntque cuncta, &c. And yet (ibid. 13) Adligati canum adulatione nec imperantibus unquam satis servi videntur nec nobis satis liberi. That he was still in favour with Domitian appears from Suet. 3 inter initia principatus quotidie secretum sibi horarium sumere solebat; nec quidquam amplius quam muscas captare ac stylo praeacuto configere: ut cuidam interroganti esset ne quis intus cum Caesare non absurde responsum sit a Vibio Crispo ‘Ne musca quidem.’ His wealth was proverbial: divitior Crispo Mart. iv. 54, 7: he was worth 200,000,000 sesterces, or even 300,000,000 according to Dial. 8. By its means he was enabled to shelter his brother Vibius Secundus, when accused of ‘repetundae’ in Mauretania: Tac. Ann. xiv. 28. Juvenal gives a sketch of his character iv. 81-93 Venit et Crispi iucunda senectus Cuius erant mores qualis facundia mite Ingenium ... nec civis erat qui libera posset Verba animi proferre et vitam impendere vero ... Sic multas hiemes atque octogesima vidit Solstitia his armis illa (of Domitian) quoque tutus in aula.compositus: generally applied to style, ‘well-balanced,’ e.g.§44lenis et nitidi et compositi generis: cp. Cicero Orat. §208 composita oratio. Here the epithet is transferred to the orator in the sense of ‘orderly,’ ‘finished’ in the choice and combination of words. Cp. Orat. §232 compositi oratoris bene structam collocationem dissolvere permutatione verborum:2 §16below fiunt ... pro ... compositis exultantes:§66incompositus.iucundus, ‘lively, agreeable, entertaining’: cp. Crispi iucunda senectus, Iuv., quoted above. In xii. 10, §11 Quintilian placesiucunditatem Crispialongside of the distinguishing characteristics of other orators: cp. v. 13, 48 Vibius Crispus vir ingenii iucundi et elegantis.I:120Iulio Secundo, si longior contigisset aetas, clarissimum profecto nomen oratoris apud posteros foret; adiecisset enim atque adiciebat ceteris virtutibus suis quod desiderari potest, id est autem ut esset multo magis pugnax et saepius ad curam rerum ab elocutione respiceret.§ 120.Iulius Secundusis highly spoken of3 §12below: aequalem meum atque a me, ut notum est, familiariter amatum, mirae facundiae virum, infinitae tamen curae: and in xii. 10, 11 he is named as conspicuous for ‘elegantia.’ He is one of the interlocutors in the Dialogue of Tacitus, where he is made to pose as umpire between the representatives of Imperial and Republican eloquence: cp. esp. ch. 2 Aper et Iulius Secundus, celeberrima tum (under Vespasian) ingenia fori nostri ... Secundo purus et pressus et in quantum satis erat profluens sermo non defuit: chs. 4 and 14.adiciebat: he had begun the improvement when death overtook him. He died about 88A.D., not long before Quintilian began hisInstitutio.curam rerum: he is to care for substance as well as form. Fabianus in Seneca (Epist. 100) had the opposite fault: visne illum assidere pusillae rei, verbis?I:121Ceterum interceptus quoque magnum sibi vindicat locum: ea est facundia, tanta in explicando quod velit gratia, tam candidum et lene et speciosum dicendi genus, tanta verborum etiam quae adsumpta sunt proprietas, tanta inquibusdam ex periculo petitis significantia.§ 121.interceptus: so vi. pr. 1 si me ... fata intercepissent.candidum: ‘lucid,’ v. on§73(Herodotus), and cp.§113Messalla ... candidus:§101clarissimi candoris, of Livy.leneopp. to forte et vehemens dicendi genus:§44. SeeCrit. Notes.adsumpta=translata, ‘used figuratively.’ Cp. viii. 3, 43 adsumere ea, quibus inlustrem fieri orationem putat, delecta, translata, superlata, ad nomen adiuncta, duplicata et idem significantia atque ab ipsa actione atque imitatione rerum non abhorrentia. When the process is carried too far theverba adsumpta, becomearcessitaviii. 3. 56.proprietas, v. on§46.ex periculo: ii. 12, 5 quod est in elocutione ipsa periculum: viii. 6, 11 (verba) quae audaci et proxime periculum translatione tolluntur ... qualis est: pontem indignatus Araxes. Cp. paene periclitantia xi. 1, 32. For the phrase ex periculo petere cp. ii. 11, 3 sententiis grandibus, quarum optima quaeque a periculo petarur. Gr.παρακεκινδυνευμένα.significantia:§49.I:122Habebunt qui post nos de oratoribus scribent magnam eos qui nunc vigent materiam vere laudandi; sunt enim summa hodie, quibus inlustratur forum, ingenia. Namque et consummati iam patroni veteribus aemulantur et eos iuvenum ad optima tendentium imitatur ac sequitur industria.§ 122.eos qui nunc vigent. Who these were we can infer from the Dialogue of Tacitus and from Pliny’s Letters, e.g. Aper, Marcellus, Maternus, Aquilius Regulus, and others. Quintilian must of course have meant to include Tacitus and Pliny themselves.consummati: often equivalent toperfectusin Quintilian:5 §14. Cp. above§89. It is combined withperfectusv. 10, 119 ne se ... perfectos protinus atque consummates putent.veteribus.Aemularioccurs elsewhere with the accusative,§62;2 §17. So of envious emulation Cic. Tusc. i. §44: cp. iv. §17 with the dative of the person.iuvenum ad optima tendentium. Hild refers to the speeches of Messalla and Maternus in the Dial. (28-30, 34-36) as indicating the oratorical aspirations of the youth of Rome when Quintilian wrote.I:123Supersunt qui de philosophia scripserint, quo in genere paucissimos adhuc eloquentes litterae Romanae tulerunt. Idem igiturM. Tullius, qui ubique, etiam in hoc opere Platonis aemulusextitit. Egregius vero multoque quam in orationibus praestantiorBrutussuffecit ponderi rerum: scias eum sentire quae dicit.§ 123.philosophia. For the attitude of the Romans to philosophy see Teuffel, §40 sq. Abstract speculation, leading to no practical end, was not held in honour by them: like Neoptolemus, in the play of Ennius, they said ‘philosophari est mihi necesse, at paucis (i.e. ‘only a little’: Roby, §1237) nam omnino haud placet,’—Cicero de Orat. ii. §156: de Repub. i. 18, 30: Pacuvius too (in Gell. xiii. 8) had made one of his characters exclaim: ego odi homines ignava opera et philosopha sententia. The Romans disliked the unsettling tendencies which seemed to accompany the study of philosophy: hence e.g. their treatment of the Athenian ambassadors in the middle of the second centuryB.C.The prejudice against such studies had by no means entirely disappeared even in the time of Cicero, who constantly apologises for and seeks to justify his leanings to philosophy: de Off. ii. 1, 2 sqq.: de Fin. i. 1, 1. Tacitus, Agricola 4, tells us that Agricola used to say ‘se prima in iuventa studium philosophiae acrius, ultra quam concessum Romano ac senatori, hausisse, ni prudentia matris incensum ac flagrantem animum coercuisset.’ About the time when Quintilian was writing, Domitian banished the philosophers from Rome: ibid. ch. 2. For the help which philosophy can give to oratory see xii. 11, which contains (§7) an expression of the Roman ideal: atqui ego illum quem instituo Romanum quendam velim esse sapientem, qui non secretis disputationibus, sed rerum experimentis atque operibus vere civilem virum exhibeat. Cp. Cicero’s boast in regard to himself and Cato of Utica: nos philosophiam veram illam et antiquam, quae quibusdam otii esse ac desidiae videtur, in forum atque in rempublicam atque in ipsam aciem paene deduximus. See on§84.paucissimos ... eloquentes. The addition of an adj. to another adj. used as a subst. is rare in Quintilian. Hirt (Subst. des Adj. p. 17) cites only five exx. besides this one: e.g. iii. 8, 31 antiquis nobilibus ortos.qui ubique. The sense is clear: it is a repetition of the claim made in§108mihi videtur M. Tullius ... effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam Platonis, iucunditatem Isocratis. But it was notubiquethat Cicero rivalled Plato: it was only in Plato’s own domain (sc. in hoc opere). The expressionwas adopted for brevity’s sake: Spalding says it is equivalent to ‘ut ubique Graecorum praestantissimi cuiusque, ita in hoc opere Platonis.’ For Cicero’s philosophical writings cp. Teuffel, §173 sq.Brutus: cp.§23. He is not included in Quintilian’s list of orators; and though Cicero uses towards him the language of extravagant eulogy (v. esp. Brut. §22) in many of his works, yet we know from a passage in the Dialogue already quoted that he sometimes found him ‘otiosum atque disiunctum’ ch. 18. Cp. ch. 21 Brutum philosophiae suae relinquamus. Nam in orationibus minorem esse, fama sua etiam admiratores eius fatentur. A reference follows to his speech ‘Pro rege Deiotaro,’ which the speaker (Aper) considers ‘dull and tedious’—lentitudoandteporbeing the words used. A fragment of a declamation by him is quoted ix. 3 §95–. On his philosophical works see Cic. Acad. i. 3, 12 (with Reid’s note). He was an adherent of the Stoico-academic school, whose tenets he had studied under Aristus and Antiochus: cp. Tusc. v. 21: Brut. 120, 149, 332: de Fin. v. 8. There was a treatisede Virtuteaddressed to Cicero, oneπερὶ καθήκοντος, and onede Patientia: Teuffel, 209 §§2 and 3.suffecit ponderi rerum: Quint. xii. 10, 11 namesgravitasas his distinguishing quality: cp. gravior Brutus, Tac. Dial. ch. 25.sentire quae dicit. The intensity and sincerity of his nature can be inferred from ad Att. xiv. 1, 2, where Caesar is quoted as saying of himmagni refert hic quid velit, sed quicquid vult valde vult. For his devotion to study see7 §27below.I:124Scripsit non parum multaCornelius Celsus, Sextios secutus, non sine cultu ac nitore.Plautusin Stoicis rerum cognitioni utilis. In Epicureis levis quidem, sed non iniucundus tamenauctor estCatius.
§ 110.docere ... movere. Cp. iii. 5 §2 tria sunt item quae praestare debeat orator, ut doceat, moveat, delectet (quoted on§80).Iucunditashere expresses the third. So Cicero, Brutus §185 tria sunt enim, ut quidem ego sentio, quae sint efficienda dicendo: ut doceatur is apud quem dicetur, ut delectetur, ut moveatur vehementius.extorquet: cp. v. 7, 17 at in eo qui invitus dicturus est prima felicitas interrogantis extorquere quod is noluerit: ib. §27. Cic. de Or. ii. §74 qui nunquam sententias de manibus iudicum vi quadam orationis extorsimus ac potius placatis eorum animis tantum quantum ipsi patiebantur accepimus.transversus= ‘turned across,’ i.e. at right angles to the original line. So transversis itineribus Sall. Iug. 45, 2. For the figure contained intransversum feratcp. ibid. 6, 3 opportunitas quae etiam mediocres viros ... transversos agit: 14, 20. Theiudexis ‘turned athwart’—away from the path of his own judgment. So Sen. Ep. 8, 3 cum coepit transversos agere felicitas: Cic. Brutus 331 cuius in adulescentiam ... transversa incurrit misera fortuna rei publicae.
§ 110.docere ... movere. Cp. iii. 5 §2 tria sunt item quae praestare debeat orator, ut doceat, moveat, delectet (quoted on§80).Iucunditashere expresses the third. So Cicero, Brutus §185 tria sunt enim, ut quidem ego sentio, quae sint efficienda dicendo: ut doceatur is apud quem dicetur, ut delectetur, ut moveatur vehementius.
extorquet: cp. v. 7, 17 at in eo qui invitus dicturus est prima felicitas interrogantis extorquere quod is noluerit: ib. §27. Cic. de Or. ii. §74 qui nunquam sententias de manibus iudicum vi quadam orationis extorsimus ac potius placatis eorum animis tantum quantum ipsi patiebantur accepimus.
transversus= ‘turned across,’ i.e. at right angles to the original line. So transversis itineribus Sall. Iug. 45, 2. For the figure contained intransversum feratcp. ibid. 6, 3 opportunitas quae etiam mediocres viros ... transversos agit: 14, 20. Theiudexis ‘turned athwart’—away from the path of his own judgment. So Sen. Ep. 8, 3 cum coepit transversos agere felicitas: Cic. Brutus 331 cuius in adulescentiam ... transversa incurrit misera fortuna rei publicae.
I:111Iam in omnibus quae dicit tanta auctoritas inest ut dissentire pudeat, nec advocati studium sed testis aut iudicis adferat fidem; cum interim haec omnia, quae vix singula quisquam intentissima cura consequi posset, fluunt inlaborata et illa, qua nihil pulchrius auditum est, oratio prae se fert tamen felicissimam facilitatem.
§ 111.advocati, ‘pleader,’ as generally in Quintilian, syn. with ‘actor causae,’ ‘causidicus,’ ‘patronus.’ In Cicero the word is reserved for those who lent their countenance and personal support to a friend, especially in legal matters: e.g. Brutus §289: pro Clu. §110 quis eum unquam non modo in patroni, sed in laudatoris aut advocati loco viderat? See Fausset’s note onadvocabatpro Clu. §54.fidem: ‘trustworthiness,’ ‘credibility.’ So quantam afferat fidem iv. 2, 125.cum interim: Roby §1732. Cp. note on§18.posset: the use of the imperf. subj. points to a suppressed protasis, sc. si vellet. Cp. i. 1, 22 cur improbetur si quis ea quae domi suae rectefaceretin publicum promit? So too below,2 §25qui noceret, where see note.tamenis a reminiscence of tamen ille non rapi videatur, in the previous sentence, and must be taken withcum interim: = ‘for all that.’facilitatem: cp.§1.
§ 111.advocati, ‘pleader,’ as generally in Quintilian, syn. with ‘actor causae,’ ‘causidicus,’ ‘patronus.’ In Cicero the word is reserved for those who lent their countenance and personal support to a friend, especially in legal matters: e.g. Brutus §289: pro Clu. §110 quis eum unquam non modo in patroni, sed in laudatoris aut advocati loco viderat? See Fausset’s note onadvocabatpro Clu. §54.
fidem: ‘trustworthiness,’ ‘credibility.’ So quantam afferat fidem iv. 2, 125.
cum interim: Roby §1732. Cp. note on§18.
posset: the use of the imperf. subj. points to a suppressed protasis, sc. si vellet. Cp. i. 1, 22 cur improbetur si quis ea quae domi suae rectefaceretin publicum promit? So too below,2 §25qui noceret, where see note.
tamenis a reminiscence of tamen ille non rapi videatur, in the previous sentence, and must be taken withcum interim: = ‘for all that.’
facilitatem: cp.§1.
I:112Quare non immerito ab hominibus aetatis suae regnare in iudiciis dictus est, apud posteros vero id consecutus, ut Cicero iam non hominis nomen sed eloquentiae habeatur. Hunc igitur spectemus, hoc propositum nobis sit exemplum, ille se profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valde placebit.
§ 112.regnare: cp. Cic. ad Fam. vii. 24, 1 olim quum regnare existimabamur: ad Att. i. 1 illud suum regnum iudiciale,—his ‘sovereignty of the bar’: in Verr. i. 12, 35 (of Hortensius) omnis dominatio regnumque iudiciorum: ad Fam. ix. 18, 1 amisso regno forensi: cp. pro Sulla §7.non hominis ... sed eloquentiae. There is no thought here of holding the balance with Demosthenes,§105. Cp. what Brutus says after Caesar’s eulogy quoted above (§109note): quo enim uno vincebamur a victa Graecia, id aut ereptum illis est aut certe nobis cum illis communicatum: Brut. §254. Hild quotes from Plutarch (Cicero, §4) the story of Molo, one of Cicero’s teachers, who, on hearing him declaim, said that he had to pity the hard fate of Greece, from whom the palm of eloquence, her sole surviving glory, was now to pass away.exemplum, predicative, hoc being neuter by a common form of attraction: cp.3 §17.profecisse: Hild quotes Boileau, Art. Poet. iii. 308, speaking of Homer: c’est avoir profité que de savoir s’y plaire.
§ 112.regnare: cp. Cic. ad Fam. vii. 24, 1 olim quum regnare existimabamur: ad Att. i. 1 illud suum regnum iudiciale,—his ‘sovereignty of the bar’: in Verr. i. 12, 35 (of Hortensius) omnis dominatio regnumque iudiciorum: ad Fam. ix. 18, 1 amisso regno forensi: cp. pro Sulla §7.
non hominis ... sed eloquentiae. There is no thought here of holding the balance with Demosthenes,§105. Cp. what Brutus says after Caesar’s eulogy quoted above (§109note): quo enim uno vincebamur a victa Graecia, id aut ereptum illis est aut certe nobis cum illis communicatum: Brut. §254. Hild quotes from Plutarch (Cicero, §4) the story of Molo, one of Cicero’s teachers, who, on hearing him declaim, said that he had to pity the hard fate of Greece, from whom the palm of eloquence, her sole surviving glory, was now to pass away.
exemplum, predicative, hoc being neuter by a common form of attraction: cp.3 §17.
profecisse: Hild quotes Boileau, Art. Poet. iii. 308, speaking of Homer: c’est avoir profité que de savoir s’y plaire.
I:113Multa inAsinio Pollioneinventio, summadiligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur, et consilii et animi satis: a nitore et iucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest ut videri possit saeculo prior. AtMessallanitidus et candidus et quodam modo praeferens in dicendo nobilitatem suam, viribus minor.
§ 113.Quintilian makes no mention of orators previous to Cicero: for them see Brutus §53 sqq. Velleius disposes of them in the following sentence (i. 17, 3): At oratio ac vis forensis perfectumque prosae eloquentiae decus, ut idem separetur Cato, pace P. Crassi Scipionisque et Laeli et Gracchorum et Fanni et Servi Galbae dixerim, ita universa sub principe operis sui erupit Tullio, ut delectari ante eum paucissimis, mirari vero neminem possis, nisi aut ab illo visum aut qui illum viderit. Cp. Tac. Dial. 25. Hild cites also Seneca, Controv. i. praef.: quidquid Romana facundia habet, quod insolenti Graeciae aut opponat aut praeferat, circa Ciceronem effloruit; omnia ingenia quae lucem studiis nostris attulerunt, tunc nata sunt.Asinio Pollione. C. Asinius Pollio (75B.C.–4A.D.) was consul in 40, when he helped Maecenas to arrange the Peace of Brundisium: afterwards becoming estranged from Antony he retired into private life and devoted himself to letters. Vergil dedicates the Fourth Eclogue to him, and in the first Ode of Book ii Horace recounts his various titles to distinction. He was a poet as well as an orator: Verg. Ecl. viii. 10 Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno: iii. 86 Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina: Hor. S. i. 10, 42. He was also distinguished as a historian, having written a history of the Civil Wars from the first triumvirate (Motum ex Metello consule Hor. Car. ii. 1, 1). In the same Ode (II. 13, 14) Horace alludes to his fame as an orator, both at the bar and in the senate. Quintilian’s judgment on him in this capacity may be compared with that of Seneca, Ep. 100, 7 Lege Ciceronem: compositio eius una est, pedem servat lenta et sine infamia mollis. At contra Pollionis Asinii salebrosa et exsiliens et ubi minime expectes relictura. Denique omnia apud Ciceronem desinunt, apud Pollionem cadunt exceptis paucissimis, quae ad certum modum et ad unum exemplar adstricta sunt. Cp.2 §17below tristes ac ieiuni Pollionem aemulantur.diligentia:2 §25vim Caesaris, asperitatem Caelii, diligentiam Pollionis. The word does not refer to the historian’s painstaking care (which could hardly ever be ‘nimia’), but to the ‘precision’ or ‘exactitude’ of his language: v. the fragment quoted in ix. 4, 132.consilii, ‘judgment,’§106.animi, ‘spirit,’ ‘vivacity.’nitore: v. on§97.saeculo prior. ‘As an orator and writer he affected antique severity in opposition to Ciceronian smoothness,’—Teuffel. Cp. Tac. Dial. 21 Asinius quoque quamquam propioribus temporibus natus sit, videtur mihi inter Menenios et Appios studuisse; Pacuvium certe et Accium non solum tragoediis sed etiam orationibus suis expressit: adeo durus et siccus est: Sen. Controv. iv. praef. 3 illud strictum eius et aspersum et nimis iratum in censendo iudicium adeo cessabat ut in multis illi venia opus esset quae ab ipso vix impetrabatur. See Schmalz ‘Ueber den Sprachgebrauch des Asinius Pollio,’ p. 289; München, 1890. Pollio’s antipathy to Cicero and his dislike of Cicero’s style may be seen from the story in Seneca, Suas. vi. extr., quoted by Bernhardy (q.v.), R. L. p. 268 (note 182).Messalla, M. Valerius Corvinus (64B.C.-8A.D.), the friend of Tibullus, who dedicates to him i. 7: cp. the panegyric iv. 1. Cp. Tac. Dial. 18 Cicerone mitior Corvinus et dulcior et in verbis magis elaboratus,—with the latter part of which cp. Sen. Controv. ii. 12, 8 Latini utique sermonis observator diligentissimus. Cicero’s own opinion of him may be seen in Epist. ad Brutum i. 15, 1 cave putes probitate, constantia, cura, studio reipublicae quidquam illi esse simile; ut eloquentia, qua mirabiliter excellit, vix in eo locum ad laudandum habere videatur: quamquam in hac ipsa sapientia plus apparet: ita gravi iudicio multaque arte se exercuit in verissimo genere dicendi, tanta autem industria est tantumque evigilat in studio ut non maxima ingenio (quod in eo summum est) gratia habenda videatur. Byverissimum genus dicendiCicero seems to indicate that Messalla was neither an Asianist like Hortensius, nor an extreme Atticist like Calvus. See also Brutus §246, where the judgment is less favourable: nullo modo inops, sed non nimis ornatus genere verborum.nitidus: cp. i. 7, 35 ideo minus Messalla nitidus quia, &c.candidus: v. on§73.quodam modo: cp. Cic. Brut. §30 (where Kellogg wrongly renders ‘with a certain style’): ib. §149: de Orat. iii. §37: §184.praeferens= prae se ferens: cp. vi. 3, 17: 2, 14.viribus minor: cp.§103.
§ 113.Quintilian makes no mention of orators previous to Cicero: for them see Brutus §53 sqq. Velleius disposes of them in the following sentence (i. 17, 3): At oratio ac vis forensis perfectumque prosae eloquentiae decus, ut idem separetur Cato, pace P. Crassi Scipionisque et Laeli et Gracchorum et Fanni et Servi Galbae dixerim, ita universa sub principe operis sui erupit Tullio, ut delectari ante eum paucissimis, mirari vero neminem possis, nisi aut ab illo visum aut qui illum viderit. Cp. Tac. Dial. 25. Hild cites also Seneca, Controv. i. praef.: quidquid Romana facundia habet, quod insolenti Graeciae aut opponat aut praeferat, circa Ciceronem effloruit; omnia ingenia quae lucem studiis nostris attulerunt, tunc nata sunt.
Asinio Pollione. C. Asinius Pollio (75B.C.–4A.D.) was consul in 40, when he helped Maecenas to arrange the Peace of Brundisium: afterwards becoming estranged from Antony he retired into private life and devoted himself to letters. Vergil dedicates the Fourth Eclogue to him, and in the first Ode of Book ii Horace recounts his various titles to distinction. He was a poet as well as an orator: Verg. Ecl. viii. 10 Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno: iii. 86 Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina: Hor. S. i. 10, 42. He was also distinguished as a historian, having written a history of the Civil Wars from the first triumvirate (Motum ex Metello consule Hor. Car. ii. 1, 1). In the same Ode (II. 13, 14) Horace alludes to his fame as an orator, both at the bar and in the senate. Quintilian’s judgment on him in this capacity may be compared with that of Seneca, Ep. 100, 7 Lege Ciceronem: compositio eius una est, pedem servat lenta et sine infamia mollis. At contra Pollionis Asinii salebrosa et exsiliens et ubi minime expectes relictura. Denique omnia apud Ciceronem desinunt, apud Pollionem cadunt exceptis paucissimis, quae ad certum modum et ad unum exemplar adstricta sunt. Cp.2 §17below tristes ac ieiuni Pollionem aemulantur.
diligentia:2 §25vim Caesaris, asperitatem Caelii, diligentiam Pollionis. The word does not refer to the historian’s painstaking care (which could hardly ever be ‘nimia’), but to the ‘precision’ or ‘exactitude’ of his language: v. the fragment quoted in ix. 4, 132.
consilii, ‘judgment,’§106.
animi, ‘spirit,’ ‘vivacity.’
nitore: v. on§97.
saeculo prior. ‘As an orator and writer he affected antique severity in opposition to Ciceronian smoothness,’—Teuffel. Cp. Tac. Dial. 21 Asinius quoque quamquam propioribus temporibus natus sit, videtur mihi inter Menenios et Appios studuisse; Pacuvium certe et Accium non solum tragoediis sed etiam orationibus suis expressit: adeo durus et siccus est: Sen. Controv. iv. praef. 3 illud strictum eius et aspersum et nimis iratum in censendo iudicium adeo cessabat ut in multis illi venia opus esset quae ab ipso vix impetrabatur. See Schmalz ‘Ueber den Sprachgebrauch des Asinius Pollio,’ p. 289; München, 1890. Pollio’s antipathy to Cicero and his dislike of Cicero’s style may be seen from the story in Seneca, Suas. vi. extr., quoted by Bernhardy (q.v.), R. L. p. 268 (note 182).
Messalla, M. Valerius Corvinus (64B.C.-8A.D.), the friend of Tibullus, who dedicates to him i. 7: cp. the panegyric iv. 1. Cp. Tac. Dial. 18 Cicerone mitior Corvinus et dulcior et in verbis magis elaboratus,—with the latter part of which cp. Sen. Controv. ii. 12, 8 Latini utique sermonis observator diligentissimus. Cicero’s own opinion of him may be seen in Epist. ad Brutum i. 15, 1 cave putes probitate, constantia, cura, studio reipublicae quidquam illi esse simile; ut eloquentia, qua mirabiliter excellit, vix in eo locum ad laudandum habere videatur: quamquam in hac ipsa sapientia plus apparet: ita gravi iudicio multaque arte se exercuit in verissimo genere dicendi, tanta autem industria est tantumque evigilat in studio ut non maxima ingenio (quod in eo summum est) gratia habenda videatur. Byverissimum genus dicendiCicero seems to indicate that Messalla was neither an Asianist like Hortensius, nor an extreme Atticist like Calvus. See also Brutus §246, where the judgment is less favourable: nullo modo inops, sed non nimis ornatus genere verborum.
nitidus: cp. i. 7, 35 ideo minus Messalla nitidus quia, &c.
candidus: v. on§73.
quodam modo: cp. Cic. Brut. §30 (where Kellogg wrongly renders ‘with a certain style’): ib. §149: de Orat. iii. §37: §184.
praeferens= prae se ferens: cp. vi. 3, 17: 2, 14.
viribus minor: cp.§103.
I:114C. veroCaesarsi foro tantum vacasset, non alius exnostris contra Ciceronem nominaretur. Tanta in eo vis est, id acumen, ea concitatio, ut illum eodem animo dixisse quo bellavit appareat; exornat tamen haec omnia mira sermonis, cuius proprie studiosus fuit, elegantia.
§ 114.Caesar. The purity and correctness of Caesar’s style are eulogised in the Brutus §§251-262: see esp. §261 non video cui debeat cedere. Cp. Phil. ii. 45 Fuit in illo ingenium, ratio, memoria,litterae, cura, cogitatio, diligentia: and with special reference to his oratorical talent, Suet. Caes. 55, where is cited a fragment from a letter of Cicero: ‘Quid? oratorum quem huic antepones eorum qui nihil aliud egerunt? Quis sententiis aut acutior aut crebrior? Quis verbis aut ornatior aut elegantior?’ Tac. Ann, xiii. 3 dictator Caesar summis oratoribus aemulus.si foro tantum vacasset. So of Pompeius (Brut. 239), vir ad omnia summa natus, maiorem dicendi gloriam habuisset, nisi eum maioris gloriae cupiditas ad bellicas laudes abstraxisset: Tac. Dial. 21 concedamus sane C. Caesari, ut propter magnitudinem cogitationum et occupationes rerum in eloquentia non effecerit quae divinum eius ingenium postulabat.contra, ‘by the side of,’ with the notion of being ‘pitted against’: cp. proximumque Ciceroni Caesarem, Vell. Pat. ii. 36, 2.vis: xii. 10, 11 vim Caesaris.acumen. See on§106: here probably of a pointed incisive style.eodem animo: Livy xxxviii. 50 dicebantur enim ab eodem animo ingenioque a quo gesta erant.proprie studiosus: cp. i. 7, 34 aut vim C. Caesaris fregerunt editi de analogia libri? Suet. Caes. 56: Gell. xix. 8, 3. See too Brutus §253, where we learn that the work was dedicated to Cicero: ‘qui etiam in maximis occupationibus ad te ipsum,’ inquit in me intuens, ‘de ratione Latine loquendi adcuratissime scripserit primoque in libro dixerit verborum delectum originem esse eloquentiae.’—Cp. Gell. xvi. 8 C. Caesar gravis auctor linguae latinae,—Propriein this sense is post-Augustan: cp. Vell. Pat. ii. 9, 1.elegantia: Brutus §252 ita iudico ... illum omnium fere oratorum Latine loqui elegantissime. In the Preface to B. G. viii. Hirtius says Erat autem in Caesare quum facultas atque elegantia summa scribendi tum, etc.
§ 114.Caesar. The purity and correctness of Caesar’s style are eulogised in the Brutus §§251-262: see esp. §261 non video cui debeat cedere. Cp. Phil. ii. 45 Fuit in illo ingenium, ratio, memoria,litterae, cura, cogitatio, diligentia: and with special reference to his oratorical talent, Suet. Caes. 55, where is cited a fragment from a letter of Cicero: ‘Quid? oratorum quem huic antepones eorum qui nihil aliud egerunt? Quis sententiis aut acutior aut crebrior? Quis verbis aut ornatior aut elegantior?’ Tac. Ann, xiii. 3 dictator Caesar summis oratoribus aemulus.
si foro tantum vacasset. So of Pompeius (Brut. 239), vir ad omnia summa natus, maiorem dicendi gloriam habuisset, nisi eum maioris gloriae cupiditas ad bellicas laudes abstraxisset: Tac. Dial. 21 concedamus sane C. Caesari, ut propter magnitudinem cogitationum et occupationes rerum in eloquentia non effecerit quae divinum eius ingenium postulabat.
contra, ‘by the side of,’ with the notion of being ‘pitted against’: cp. proximumque Ciceroni Caesarem, Vell. Pat. ii. 36, 2.
vis: xii. 10, 11 vim Caesaris.
acumen. See on§106: here probably of a pointed incisive style.
eodem animo: Livy xxxviii. 50 dicebantur enim ab eodem animo ingenioque a quo gesta erant.
proprie studiosus: cp. i. 7, 34 aut vim C. Caesaris fregerunt editi de analogia libri? Suet. Caes. 56: Gell. xix. 8, 3. See too Brutus §253, where we learn that the work was dedicated to Cicero: ‘qui etiam in maximis occupationibus ad te ipsum,’ inquit in me intuens, ‘de ratione Latine loquendi adcuratissime scripserit primoque in libro dixerit verborum delectum originem esse eloquentiae.’—Cp. Gell. xvi. 8 C. Caesar gravis auctor linguae latinae,—Propriein this sense is post-Augustan: cp. Vell. Pat. ii. 9, 1.
elegantia: Brutus §252 ita iudico ... illum omnium fere oratorum Latine loqui elegantissime. In the Preface to B. G. viii. Hirtius says Erat autem in Caesare quum facultas atque elegantia summa scribendi tum, etc.
I:115Multum ingenii inCaelioet praecipue in accusando multa urbanitas, dignusque vir, cui et mens melior et vita longior contigisset. Inveni quiCalvumpraeferrent omnibus, inveni qui Ciceroni crederent eum nimia contra se calumnia verum sanguinem perdidisse; sed est et sancta et gravis oratio et castigata et frequenter vehemensquoque. Imitator autem est Atticorum, fecitque illi properata mors iniuriam, si quid adiecturus sibi non si quid detracturus fuit.
§ 115.Caelius, M.Rufus (82-48B.C.), a man of loose morals and luxurious life, whom Cicero defended from some charges of sedition and attempted poisoning, 56B.C.He had not much strength of character: during Cicero’s absence in Cilicia he was in friendly correspondence with him, but afterwards he joined Caesar, while urging Cicero to remain neutral. Becoming discontented, he intrigued with Milo to raise an insurrection against Caesar, and was put to death near Thurii by some foreign cavalry, 48B.C.Cp. Brutus §273 splendida et grandis et eadem in primis faceta et perurbana oratio. Graves eius contiones aliquot fuerunt, acres accusationes tres (one against C. Antonius) ... defensiones ... sane tolerabiles. There was something bitter about him:2 §25asperitatem Caelii: cp. Tac. Dial. 25 amarior Caelius: Sen. de Ira iii. 8, 6 oratorem ... iracundissimum. A description of one of his speeches is given iv. 2, 123 sq.: for witticisms on Clodia v. viii. 6, 53. Cp. Tac. Dial. 21 and 25.praecipue in accusando: vi. 3, 69 idem (Cicero) per allegoriam M. Caelium, melius obicientem crimina quam defendentem, bonam dextram malam sinistram habere dicebat.urbanitasis defined vi. 3, 17 as sermonem praeferentem in verbis et sono et usu proprium quendam gustum urbis et sumptam ex conversatione doctorum tacitam eruditionem, denique cui contraria sit rusticitas. Here the idea ofwitis uppermost, as in ii. 11, 2 and vi. 3, 105. Cp. vi. 3 §41 Caelius cum omnia venustissime finxit tum illud ultimum: i. 6, 29.mens melior: Brut. §273 quaecunque eius in exitu vel fortuna vel mens fuit: Vell. Pat. ii. 68 vir eloquio animoque Curioni simillimus, sed in utroque perfectior nec minus ingeniose nequam.Calvus, Gaius Licinius (B.C.82-48), was the leading spirit among the stricter Atticists in Cicero’s day, and is censured by him in the Brutus (§§284-291) for taking so narrow a view of the full meaning of Attic oratory as to have introduced the attempt to imitate certain particular models among the Attic orators. A poet himself, he was the friend of Catullus, and, like Catullus, an opponent of Caesar. He prosecuted Vatinius on three separateoccasions, and once showed such vehemence and energy that the defendant rose in court, saying ‘rogo vos, iudices, num si iste disertus est ideo me damnari oportet’ (Sen. Controv. vii. 6): Tac. Dial. 34 Vatinium eis orationibus insecutus est, quas hodieque cum admiratione legimus: cp. ib. 21. Cp. Catullus 53, where we get a lively idea of his energetic eloquence at the trial. The passage of Cicero referred to (Brutus §283 quoted below) was written after the death of Calvus: but already in Dec. 47 Cicero, in writing to his friend Trebonius, had stated his opinion that Calvus had made an error of judgment in the choice of his style, and that he was wanting in force: ad Fam. xv. 21 §4 genus quoddam sequebatur, in quo iudicio lapsus, quo valebat, tamen assequebatur quod probaret. Multae erant et reconditae litterae, vis non erat (Quint. x. 2, 25 ‘iudicium Calvi’). In the Dial. de Or. ch. 18 Tacitus refers to certain letters, now lost, from Calvus and Brutus to Cicero, showing that the latter regarded Calvus asexsanguisandattritus(v.l. aridus), while Calvus stigmatised Cicero assolutusandenervis. His position as leader of a school (which took Lysias mainly for its model and cultivated ‘plainness’ at the expense of other good qualities) is indicated by Cicero’s remark that he ‘not only went wrong himself, but also led others astray’ (Brut. §284).Ciceroni crederent, &c. “In writing of his oratorical style in theBrutus, two years after his death, Cicero observes that, while he was more accomplished in literature than the younger Curio, he had also a more accurate and exquisite style; and although he handled it with skill and elegance, he was too minute and nice in his self-criticism; losing the very life-blood of style for fear of tainting its purity, and cultivating too scrupulous a taste to win the approval of the general public” (Sandys, Orator, Introd. xlvi.). The passage from the Brutus (283) is as follows:—adcuratius quoddam dicendi et exquisitius adferebat genus; quod quanquam scienter eleganterque tractabat, nimium tamen inquirens in se atque ipse sese observans metuensque ne vitiosum colligeret, etiam verum sanguinem deperdebat ... Atticum ... se dici oratorem volebat; inde erat ista exilitas, quam ille de industria consequebatur.nimia ... calumnia, ‘by over-rigorous self-censure,’—a morbid habit of introspective criticism: the word being used to express nimium inquirens ... observans ... metuensque in the passage just quoted. Perhaps the nearest parallel to this use is to be found in Caec. ap. Cic. ad Fam. vi. 7, 4 in hac igitur calumnia, timoris et caecae suspicionis tormento,—of exaggerated fears inspired by the spirit of carping self-criticism, for which cp.4 §3:7 §14. The verb is found in the same sense in3 §10infelicem calumniandi se poenam: viii. prooem. 31 nullus est finis calumniandi se et cum singulis paene syllabis commoriendi. Cp. Plin. xxxiv. 8, 19 §92 calumniator sui, of one who is over-anxious in regard to his work. Cicero uses the verb absolutely: ad Fam. ix. 2, 3 mihi quidem venit in mentem bellum esse aliquo exire ... sed calumniabar ipse: putabam qui obviam mihi venisset ... suspicaturum aut dicturum, &c., where the meaning is ‘I indulged groundless fears’ (Nägelsbach, p. 54). The wordcalumniais derived from the rootcalvfound incalvor, to trick, quibble, through a participial form *calvomenos, calumnus (cp. autumnus, aerumna, columna). Its first meaning is a malicious charge or ‘cavil’: ad Fam. i. 1, 1, religionis calumniam, the ‘trumped-up plea of a religious difficulty.’ Hence it was applied in Roman law (Gaius 4, 178) to the vexatious abuse of legal forms, chicanery, legal quirks and quibbles, and generally to the pettifogging tendency which exalts the letter above the spirit.verum sanguinem perdidisse: cp.4 §3exsanguia.sancta et gravis: his style is ‘solemn and weighty,’ xii. 10, 11 ‘sanctitatem Calvi.’castigata, ‘chastened,’ ‘severely finished’: cp. Hor. A. P. 292 carmen reprehendite quod non Multa dies et multa litura coercuit atque Praesectum decies non castigavit ad unguem, i.e. by pruning away everything that is useless and inappropriate: Tac. Dial. 25 adstrictior Calvus, numerosior Asinius.frequenter: see on§17.vehemens: cp. Sen. Controv. viii. 7solebat praeterea excedere subsellia sua et impetu latus usque ad adversariorum partem transcurrere. Seneca adds that he resembled Demosthenes inasmuch as he was all struggle and excitement, though he sometimes employed a gentler style, ib. §8 nihil in illa (compositione) placidum, nihil lene est, omnia excitata et fluctuantia.properata mors: cp. immatura mors. He died at the early age of 34. Cp. Brutus §279 facienda mentio est ... duorum adulescentium (Curio and Calvus) qui si diutius vixissent magnam essent eloquentiae laudem consecuti.adiecturus, i.e. if it was likely that he would have added to the purity of his diction other and richer qualities. The cold dry manner of the strictest Atticists failed to hold the ear of Roman audiences: Brut. §289 subsellia grandiorem et pleniorem vocem desiderant, a larger and fuller utterance than that of the Atticists who spoke ‘anguste et exiliter.’ SeeCrit. Notes.detracturus: sc. nimia contra se calumnia. He isexilisenough as it is.
§ 115.Caelius, M.Rufus (82-48B.C.), a man of loose morals and luxurious life, whom Cicero defended from some charges of sedition and attempted poisoning, 56B.C.He had not much strength of character: during Cicero’s absence in Cilicia he was in friendly correspondence with him, but afterwards he joined Caesar, while urging Cicero to remain neutral. Becoming discontented, he intrigued with Milo to raise an insurrection against Caesar, and was put to death near Thurii by some foreign cavalry, 48B.C.Cp. Brutus §273 splendida et grandis et eadem in primis faceta et perurbana oratio. Graves eius contiones aliquot fuerunt, acres accusationes tres (one against C. Antonius) ... defensiones ... sane tolerabiles. There was something bitter about him:2 §25asperitatem Caelii: cp. Tac. Dial. 25 amarior Caelius: Sen. de Ira iii. 8, 6 oratorem ... iracundissimum. A description of one of his speeches is given iv. 2, 123 sq.: for witticisms on Clodia v. viii. 6, 53. Cp. Tac. Dial. 21 and 25.
praecipue in accusando: vi. 3, 69 idem (Cicero) per allegoriam M. Caelium, melius obicientem crimina quam defendentem, bonam dextram malam sinistram habere dicebat.
urbanitasis defined vi. 3, 17 as sermonem praeferentem in verbis et sono et usu proprium quendam gustum urbis et sumptam ex conversatione doctorum tacitam eruditionem, denique cui contraria sit rusticitas. Here the idea ofwitis uppermost, as in ii. 11, 2 and vi. 3, 105. Cp. vi. 3 §41 Caelius cum omnia venustissime finxit tum illud ultimum: i. 6, 29.
mens melior: Brut. §273 quaecunque eius in exitu vel fortuna vel mens fuit: Vell. Pat. ii. 68 vir eloquio animoque Curioni simillimus, sed in utroque perfectior nec minus ingeniose nequam.
Calvus, Gaius Licinius (B.C.82-48), was the leading spirit among the stricter Atticists in Cicero’s day, and is censured by him in the Brutus (§§284-291) for taking so narrow a view of the full meaning of Attic oratory as to have introduced the attempt to imitate certain particular models among the Attic orators. A poet himself, he was the friend of Catullus, and, like Catullus, an opponent of Caesar. He prosecuted Vatinius on three separateoccasions, and once showed such vehemence and energy that the defendant rose in court, saying ‘rogo vos, iudices, num si iste disertus est ideo me damnari oportet’ (Sen. Controv. vii. 6): Tac. Dial. 34 Vatinium eis orationibus insecutus est, quas hodieque cum admiratione legimus: cp. ib. 21. Cp. Catullus 53, where we get a lively idea of his energetic eloquence at the trial. The passage of Cicero referred to (Brutus §283 quoted below) was written after the death of Calvus: but already in Dec. 47 Cicero, in writing to his friend Trebonius, had stated his opinion that Calvus had made an error of judgment in the choice of his style, and that he was wanting in force: ad Fam. xv. 21 §4 genus quoddam sequebatur, in quo iudicio lapsus, quo valebat, tamen assequebatur quod probaret. Multae erant et reconditae litterae, vis non erat (Quint. x. 2, 25 ‘iudicium Calvi’). In the Dial. de Or. ch. 18 Tacitus refers to certain letters, now lost, from Calvus and Brutus to Cicero, showing that the latter regarded Calvus asexsanguisandattritus(v.l. aridus), while Calvus stigmatised Cicero assolutusandenervis. His position as leader of a school (which took Lysias mainly for its model and cultivated ‘plainness’ at the expense of other good qualities) is indicated by Cicero’s remark that he ‘not only went wrong himself, but also led others astray’ (Brut. §284).
Ciceroni crederent, &c. “In writing of his oratorical style in theBrutus, two years after his death, Cicero observes that, while he was more accomplished in literature than the younger Curio, he had also a more accurate and exquisite style; and although he handled it with skill and elegance, he was too minute and nice in his self-criticism; losing the very life-blood of style for fear of tainting its purity, and cultivating too scrupulous a taste to win the approval of the general public” (Sandys, Orator, Introd. xlvi.). The passage from the Brutus (283) is as follows:—adcuratius quoddam dicendi et exquisitius adferebat genus; quod quanquam scienter eleganterque tractabat, nimium tamen inquirens in se atque ipse sese observans metuensque ne vitiosum colligeret, etiam verum sanguinem deperdebat ... Atticum ... se dici oratorem volebat; inde erat ista exilitas, quam ille de industria consequebatur.
nimia ... calumnia, ‘by over-rigorous self-censure,’—a morbid habit of introspective criticism: the word being used to express nimium inquirens ... observans ... metuensque in the passage just quoted. Perhaps the nearest parallel to this use is to be found in Caec. ap. Cic. ad Fam. vi. 7, 4 in hac igitur calumnia, timoris et caecae suspicionis tormento,—of exaggerated fears inspired by the spirit of carping self-criticism, for which cp.4 §3:7 §14. The verb is found in the same sense in3 §10infelicem calumniandi se poenam: viii. prooem. 31 nullus est finis calumniandi se et cum singulis paene syllabis commoriendi. Cp. Plin. xxxiv. 8, 19 §92 calumniator sui, of one who is over-anxious in regard to his work. Cicero uses the verb absolutely: ad Fam. ix. 2, 3 mihi quidem venit in mentem bellum esse aliquo exire ... sed calumniabar ipse: putabam qui obviam mihi venisset ... suspicaturum aut dicturum, &c., where the meaning is ‘I indulged groundless fears’ (Nägelsbach, p. 54). The wordcalumniais derived from the rootcalvfound incalvor, to trick, quibble, through a participial form *calvomenos, calumnus (cp. autumnus, aerumna, columna). Its first meaning is a malicious charge or ‘cavil’: ad Fam. i. 1, 1, religionis calumniam, the ‘trumped-up plea of a religious difficulty.’ Hence it was applied in Roman law (Gaius 4, 178) to the vexatious abuse of legal forms, chicanery, legal quirks and quibbles, and generally to the pettifogging tendency which exalts the letter above the spirit.
verum sanguinem perdidisse: cp.4 §3exsanguia.
sancta et gravis: his style is ‘solemn and weighty,’ xii. 10, 11 ‘sanctitatem Calvi.’
castigata, ‘chastened,’ ‘severely finished’: cp. Hor. A. P. 292 carmen reprehendite quod non Multa dies et multa litura coercuit atque Praesectum decies non castigavit ad unguem, i.e. by pruning away everything that is useless and inappropriate: Tac. Dial. 25 adstrictior Calvus, numerosior Asinius.
frequenter: see on§17.
vehemens: cp. Sen. Controv. viii. 7solebat praeterea excedere subsellia sua et impetu latus usque ad adversariorum partem transcurrere. Seneca adds that he resembled Demosthenes inasmuch as he was all struggle and excitement, though he sometimes employed a gentler style, ib. §8 nihil in illa (compositione) placidum, nihil lene est, omnia excitata et fluctuantia.
properata mors: cp. immatura mors. He died at the early age of 34. Cp. Brutus §279 facienda mentio est ... duorum adulescentium (Curio and Calvus) qui si diutius vixissent magnam essent eloquentiae laudem consecuti.
adiecturus, i.e. if it was likely that he would have added to the purity of his diction other and richer qualities. The cold dry manner of the strictest Atticists failed to hold the ear of Roman audiences: Brut. §289 subsellia grandiorem et pleniorem vocem desiderant, a larger and fuller utterance than that of the Atticists who spoke ‘anguste et exiliter.’ SeeCrit. Notes.
detracturus: sc. nimia contra se calumnia. He isexilisenough as it is.
I:116EtServius Sulpiciusinsignem non immerito famam tribus orationibus meruit. Multa, si cum iudicio legatur, dabit imitatione dignaCassius Severus, qui si ceteris virtutibus colorem et gravitatem orationis adiecisset, ponendus inter praecipuos foret.
§ 116.Servius SulpiciusRufus, the most distinguished jurist of Cicero’s day, consulB.C.51. See reff. in Brutus §150: §152: §153 (adiunxit etiam et litterarum scientiam et loquendi elegantiam). His letter of sympathy to Cicero on the death of Tullia is well known: ad Fam. iv. 5. Cp.5 §4:7 §30and above§22.meruit=consecutus est, as§94. See on§72.Cassius Severusflourished under Augustus, and was banished on account of his libellous attacks (procacibus scriptis), first to Crete and then to Seriphos, where he is said to have diedA.D.34, in the twenty-fifth year of his exile; Tac. Ann. iv. 21: i. 72. He is spoken of as the introducer of the new school of declamatory eloquence, Tac. Dial. 19 Antiquorum admiratores ... Cassium Severum ... primum affirmant flexisse ab illa vetere atque directa dicendi via, &c.: ibid. 26 equidem non negaverim Cassium Severum ... si iis comparetur qui postea fuerunt, posse oratorem vocari, quamquam in magna parte librorum suorum plus bilis habeat quam sanguinis: primus enim contempto ordine rerum, omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, ipsis etiam quibus utitur armis incompositus et studio feriendi plerumque detectus, non pugnat sed rixatur; ceterum ... et varietate eruditionis et lepore urbanitatis et ipsaram virium robore multum ceteros superat.colorem: cp. on§59. The word is not here used in the technical sense which it bears in rhetoric, i.e. the particular aspect given to a case by a skilful representation of the facts,—the ‘gloss’ or ‘varnish’ put on them by either the accused or the accuser. For this sense see iv. 2, 88: Inv. vi. 279 Dic aliquem, sodes, dic Quintiliane colorem: vii. 155 with Mayor’s note. Here it has a more general sense. Quintilian is charging Cassius with a want of proper ‘tone’: cp. omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, above: Cic. de Or. iii. 96 ornatur oratio genere primum et quasi colore quodam et suco suo.gravitatem: Cassius was wanting in dignity, and his wit was apt to carry him too far. Quintilian gives an instance of this xi. 1, 57; Seneca, Controv. iii. praef. 2 says however ‘gravitas, quae deerat vitae, actioni supererat.’
§ 116.Servius SulpiciusRufus, the most distinguished jurist of Cicero’s day, consulB.C.51. See reff. in Brutus §150: §152: §153 (adiunxit etiam et litterarum scientiam et loquendi elegantiam). His letter of sympathy to Cicero on the death of Tullia is well known: ad Fam. iv. 5. Cp.5 §4:7 §30and above§22.
meruit=consecutus est, as§94. See on§72.
Cassius Severusflourished under Augustus, and was banished on account of his libellous attacks (procacibus scriptis), first to Crete and then to Seriphos, where he is said to have diedA.D.34, in the twenty-fifth year of his exile; Tac. Ann. iv. 21: i. 72. He is spoken of as the introducer of the new school of declamatory eloquence, Tac. Dial. 19 Antiquorum admiratores ... Cassium Severum ... primum affirmant flexisse ab illa vetere atque directa dicendi via, &c.: ibid. 26 equidem non negaverim Cassium Severum ... si iis comparetur qui postea fuerunt, posse oratorem vocari, quamquam in magna parte librorum suorum plus bilis habeat quam sanguinis: primus enim contempto ordine rerum, omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, ipsis etiam quibus utitur armis incompositus et studio feriendi plerumque detectus, non pugnat sed rixatur; ceterum ... et varietate eruditionis et lepore urbanitatis et ipsaram virium robore multum ceteros superat.
colorem: cp. on§59. The word is not here used in the technical sense which it bears in rhetoric, i.e. the particular aspect given to a case by a skilful representation of the facts,—the ‘gloss’ or ‘varnish’ put on them by either the accused or the accuser. For this sense see iv. 2, 88: Inv. vi. 279 Dic aliquem, sodes, dic Quintiliane colorem: vii. 155 with Mayor’s note. Here it has a more general sense. Quintilian is charging Cassius with a want of proper ‘tone’: cp. omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, above: Cic. de Or. iii. 96 ornatur oratio genere primum et quasi colore quodam et suco suo.
gravitatem: Cassius was wanting in dignity, and his wit was apt to carry him too far. Quintilian gives an instance of this xi. 1, 57; Seneca, Controv. iii. praef. 2 says however ‘gravitas, quae deerat vitae, actioni supererat.’
I:117Nam et ingenii plurimum est in eo et acerbitas mira et urbanitas et fervor, sed plus stomacho quam consilio dedit. Praetereaut amari sales, ita frequenter amaritudo ipsa ridicula est.
§ 117.ingenii plurimum: Tacitus (Ann. iv. 21) allows that he was ‘orandi validus’: and Seneca (l.c.) says oratio eius erat valens culta ingentibus plena sententiis ... non est quod illum ex his quae edidit aestimetis ... eloquentia eius longe maior erat quam lectio.acerbitas mira: cp. Tac. Ann. i. 72 commotus Cassii Severi libidine qua viros feminasque inlustres procacibus scriptis diffamaverat.urbanitas, v. on§115. For examples see vi. 1, 43: viii. 3, 89: xi. 3, 133.et fervor: see Crit. Notes, and cp.Seneca l.c. habebat ... genus dicendi ... ardens et concitatum.stomacho: he was full of passionate impulse: cp. the passage quoted from Dial. 26 above.praeterea ... ridicula est. Spalding’s interpretation of this passage is followed by Krüger (2nd ed.) and Hild: the other editors do not seem to have felt any difficulty. The sentence is taken in continuation of thepraiseof Cassius, attaching closely to ‘urbanitas’: the words fromsed plustodeditbeing then interjected as the only note of disparagement. The literal translation would then be ‘while his wit is bitter, the bitterness itself is often enough to make you laugh.’ ‘He has a caustic wit, but his causticity by itself will often make you laugh.’ For this sense ofridicula(Sp. ‘risum movet auditorum’) cp. vi. 3, 22ridiculum... haec tota disputatio a Graecisπερὶ γελοίουinscribitur: 3 §6 ridiculum (‘funny,’ ‘droll’) dictum plerumque falsum est (ad hoc semper humile). Frieze compares vi. 3, 7: and adds ‘success in exciting the mirth of the court and the audience is not always a proof of the orator’s wit; but is often due to mere bitterness of invective, and coarse and rough or droll terms of abuse.’One objection to this interpretation is the arrangement of the sentences:praeterea ... ridicula estconnects even more naturally withsed plus ... deditthan with the eulogy contained inurbanitas et fervor. And it may be doubted if Quintilian or any other writer who had just been censuring Cassius forstomachuswould immediately go on (usingridiculusin a good sense) to say that ‘often when he is merely bitter without being witty (this is the force ofamaritudo ipsa, cp. note on§45) he makes you laugh.’ Drollery can hardly be claimed for unrelieved acrimoniousness.A better sense can be obtained by takingamaritudo ipsa ridicula estas part not of the praise but of the censure of Cassius, and interpreting ridicula as ‘silly,’ ‘absurd,’ ‘ridiculous.’ Cicero uses the word in this sense, and there is abundant authority in Quintilian himself: cp. sint grandia et tumida, non stulta etiam et acrioribus oculis intuenti ridicula ii. 10, 6; ridiculum est v. 13, 7; fecit enim risum sed ridiculus fuit vi. 1, 48; quibus nos ... ridiculi videmur vii. 1, 43: ix. 3, 100;x. 3, 21; xi. 3, 128. The meaning then is ‘while his wit is bitter, yet bitterness by itself is silly,’ i.e. his wit has a bitter turn, but where he is (as often) bitter without being witty, the result is poor. There is undoubtedly something unsatisfactory aboutut amari sales(sc. sunt), which might well have a general reference. SeeCrit. Notes.
§ 117.ingenii plurimum: Tacitus (Ann. iv. 21) allows that he was ‘orandi validus’: and Seneca (l.c.) says oratio eius erat valens culta ingentibus plena sententiis ... non est quod illum ex his quae edidit aestimetis ... eloquentia eius longe maior erat quam lectio.
acerbitas mira: cp. Tac. Ann. i. 72 commotus Cassii Severi libidine qua viros feminasque inlustres procacibus scriptis diffamaverat.
urbanitas, v. on§115. For examples see vi. 1, 43: viii. 3, 89: xi. 3, 133.
et fervor: see Crit. Notes, and cp.Seneca l.c. habebat ... genus dicendi ... ardens et concitatum.
stomacho: he was full of passionate impulse: cp. the passage quoted from Dial. 26 above.
praeterea ... ridicula est. Spalding’s interpretation of this passage is followed by Krüger (2nd ed.) and Hild: the other editors do not seem to have felt any difficulty. The sentence is taken in continuation of thepraiseof Cassius, attaching closely to ‘urbanitas’: the words fromsed plustodeditbeing then interjected as the only note of disparagement. The literal translation would then be ‘while his wit is bitter, the bitterness itself is often enough to make you laugh.’ ‘He has a caustic wit, but his causticity by itself will often make you laugh.’ For this sense ofridicula(Sp. ‘risum movet auditorum’) cp. vi. 3, 22ridiculum... haec tota disputatio a Graecisπερὶ γελοίουinscribitur: 3 §6 ridiculum (‘funny,’ ‘droll’) dictum plerumque falsum est (ad hoc semper humile). Frieze compares vi. 3, 7: and adds ‘success in exciting the mirth of the court and the audience is not always a proof of the orator’s wit; but is often due to mere bitterness of invective, and coarse and rough or droll terms of abuse.’
One objection to this interpretation is the arrangement of the sentences:praeterea ... ridicula estconnects even more naturally withsed plus ... deditthan with the eulogy contained inurbanitas et fervor. And it may be doubted if Quintilian or any other writer who had just been censuring Cassius forstomachuswould immediately go on (usingridiculusin a good sense) to say that ‘often when he is merely bitter without being witty (this is the force ofamaritudo ipsa, cp. note on§45) he makes you laugh.’ Drollery can hardly be claimed for unrelieved acrimoniousness.
A better sense can be obtained by takingamaritudo ipsa ridicula estas part not of the praise but of the censure of Cassius, and interpreting ridicula as ‘silly,’ ‘absurd,’ ‘ridiculous.’ Cicero uses the word in this sense, and there is abundant authority in Quintilian himself: cp. sint grandia et tumida, non stulta etiam et acrioribus oculis intuenti ridicula ii. 10, 6; ridiculum est v. 13, 7; fecit enim risum sed ridiculus fuit vi. 1, 48; quibus nos ... ridiculi videmur vii. 1, 43: ix. 3, 100;x. 3, 21; xi. 3, 128. The meaning then is ‘while his wit is bitter, yet bitterness by itself is silly,’ i.e. his wit has a bitter turn, but where he is (as often) bitter without being witty, the result is poor. There is undoubtedly something unsatisfactory aboutut amari sales(sc. sunt), which might well have a general reference. SeeCrit. Notes.
I:118Sunt alii multi diserti, quos persequi longum est. Eorum quos viderimDomitius AferetIulius Africanuslonge praestantissimi.Verborum arte ille et toto genere dicendi praeferendus et quem in numero veterum habere non timeas: hic concitatior, sed in cura verborum nimius et compositione nonnumquam longior et translationibus parum modicus. Erant clara et nuper ingenia.
§ 118.disertihere, as in§68and3 §13, almost synonymous witheloquentes. In viii. pr. §13, however, Quintilian quotes a saying of M. Antonius, which was meant to establish a difference: nam et M. Antonius ... cum a se disertos visos esse multos ait, eloquentem neminem, diserto satis putat dicere quae oporteat, ornate autem dicere proprium esse eloquentis. Cp. i. 10, 8 ‘Fuit aliquis sine his disertus’: ‘at ego oratorem volo.’ Cicero gives the same quotation: Orat. §18: de Orat. i. §94, where the reason for the distinction between the ‘accomplished speaker’ and ‘the eloquent orator’ is given by Antonius himself,—quod ego eum statuebam disertum, qui posset satis acute atque dilucide apud mediocres homines ex communi quadam opinione hominum dicere, eloquentem vero, qui mirabilius et magnificentius augere posset atque ornare quae vellet, omnesque omnium rerum, quae ad dicendum pertinerent, fontes animo ac memoria contineret. Cp. Plin. Ep. v. 20 §5. For the derivation ofdisertusv. Sandys on Orat. §18.longum est: the action is spoken of as still possible. Roby 1735. So Cic. pro Sest. 5: Longum est ea dicere: sed hoc breve dicam. Cp.2 §§4,7:5 §7:6 §2.quos viderim: see on§98. In xii. 10, 11 he has ‘in iis etiam quos ipsi vidimus,’ mentioning both Afer and Africanus. Quintilian’s fondness for the perfect subjunctive is marked: cp. xii. 5, 5.Domitius Afer: see on§86: cp. v. 7, 7 quem adolescentulus senem colui.Iulius Africanus: a native of Gaul, who flourished under Nero. In xii. 10, 11 he is again named alongside of Afer,—vires Africani, maturitatem Afri. He is quoted as speaking to Nero in the name of Gaul viii. 5, 15 Insigniter Africanus apud Neronem de morte matris: rogantte, Caesar, Galliae tuae, ut felicitatem tuam fortiter feras. He divided the palm of eloquence with Afer: Tac. Dial. 15, He was a son of the Iulius Africanus of whom Tacitus speaks (Ann. vi. 7) as e Santonis Gallica civitate (Saintonge, to the N. of the lower Garonne): a grandson of his, also an orator, is mentioned by Pliny vii. 6, 11.in numero veterum: cp. Tac. Dial. 15, ad fin.compositione: v. on§79. If it has the same meaning here, it must = the euphonious collocation of words: see Cicero Orat. §147 de verbis enim componendis, &c., and §149 sq. Quintilian treats ofcompositioix. 4, 1: Tr. ‘tedious in his phraseology’: viii. 3, 52: ix. 4, 144 neque longioribus quam oportet hyperbolis compositioni serviamus.longior: i.e. he used ‘padding’ in the effort to round off his periods.translationibus: viii. 6, 4 sq.: esp. 16 sed copia quoque modum egressa vitiosa est, praecipue in eadem specie.
§ 118.disertihere, as in§68and3 §13, almost synonymous witheloquentes. In viii. pr. §13, however, Quintilian quotes a saying of M. Antonius, which was meant to establish a difference: nam et M. Antonius ... cum a se disertos visos esse multos ait, eloquentem neminem, diserto satis putat dicere quae oporteat, ornate autem dicere proprium esse eloquentis. Cp. i. 10, 8 ‘Fuit aliquis sine his disertus’: ‘at ego oratorem volo.’ Cicero gives the same quotation: Orat. §18: de Orat. i. §94, where the reason for the distinction between the ‘accomplished speaker’ and ‘the eloquent orator’ is given by Antonius himself,—quod ego eum statuebam disertum, qui posset satis acute atque dilucide apud mediocres homines ex communi quadam opinione hominum dicere, eloquentem vero, qui mirabilius et magnificentius augere posset atque ornare quae vellet, omnesque omnium rerum, quae ad dicendum pertinerent, fontes animo ac memoria contineret. Cp. Plin. Ep. v. 20 §5. For the derivation ofdisertusv. Sandys on Orat. §18.
longum est: the action is spoken of as still possible. Roby 1735. So Cic. pro Sest. 5: Longum est ea dicere: sed hoc breve dicam. Cp.2 §§4,7:5 §7:6 §2.
quos viderim: see on§98. In xii. 10, 11 he has ‘in iis etiam quos ipsi vidimus,’ mentioning both Afer and Africanus. Quintilian’s fondness for the perfect subjunctive is marked: cp. xii. 5, 5.
Domitius Afer: see on§86: cp. v. 7, 7 quem adolescentulus senem colui.
Iulius Africanus: a native of Gaul, who flourished under Nero. In xii. 10, 11 he is again named alongside of Afer,—vires Africani, maturitatem Afri. He is quoted as speaking to Nero in the name of Gaul viii. 5, 15 Insigniter Africanus apud Neronem de morte matris: rogantte, Caesar, Galliae tuae, ut felicitatem tuam fortiter feras. He divided the palm of eloquence with Afer: Tac. Dial. 15, He was a son of the Iulius Africanus of whom Tacitus speaks (Ann. vi. 7) as e Santonis Gallica civitate (Saintonge, to the N. of the lower Garonne): a grandson of his, also an orator, is mentioned by Pliny vii. 6, 11.
in numero veterum: cp. Tac. Dial. 15, ad fin.
compositione: v. on§79. If it has the same meaning here, it must = the euphonious collocation of words: see Cicero Orat. §147 de verbis enim componendis, &c., and §149 sq. Quintilian treats ofcompositioix. 4, 1: Tr. ‘tedious in his phraseology’: viii. 3, 52: ix. 4, 144 neque longioribus quam oportet hyperbolis compositioni serviamus.
longior: i.e. he used ‘padding’ in the effort to round off his periods.
translationibus: viii. 6, 4 sq.: esp. 16 sed copia quoque modum egressa vitiosa est, praecipue in eadem specie.
I:119Nam etTrachalusplerumque sublimis et satis apertus fuit et quem velle optima crederes, auditus tamen maior; nam et vocis, quantam in nullo cognovi, felicitas et pronuntiatio vel scaenis suffectura et decor, omnia denique ei, quae sunt extra, superfuerunt: etVibius Crispuscompositus et iucundus et delectationinatus, privatis tamen causis quam publicis melior.
§ 119.Trachalus, M. Galerius: consulA.D.68 along with Silius Italicus. Tacitus (Hist. i. 90) tells us he was supposed to have written the speech delivered by Otho to an assembly of the people: in rebus urbanis Galerii Trachali ingenio Othonem uti credebatur. Et erant qui genus ipsum orandi noscerent, crebro fori usu celebre et ad inplendas populi aures latum et sonans. After Otho’s death he was fortunate in securing the protection of Galeria, wife of Vitellius (ibid. ii. 60), who may have been a relation of his. From viii. 5, 19 we learn that he had published an orationContra Spatalem, in a case where Vibius Crispus appeared for the accused. Cp. vi. 3, 78.velle optima, not ‘well-meaning,’ in a moral sense, but with reference to qualities of style: cp. below§122ad optima tendentium:§131meliora vellet.auditus maior. In the passage often quoted already (xii. 10, 11) Quintilian singles out hissonusfor special mention,—‘sonum Trachali.’—Gertz suggestedmeliorformaior.vocis ... felicitas: cp. xii. 5, 5, where, after enumeratingvox,latus, anddecoras the ‘naturalia instrumenta’ of the orator, he refers specially to the ‘external advantages’ (cp. omnia ... quae sunt extra, below) of Trachalus: Habuit oratores aetas nostra copiosiores, sed cum diceret eminere inter aequales Trachalus videbatur, Ea corporis sublimitas erat, is ardor oculorum, frontis auctoritas, gestus praestantia, vox quidem non, ut Cicero desiderat, paene tragoedorum sed super omnes, quos ego quidem audierim, tragoedos. Certe cum in basilica Iulia diceret primo tribunali, quattuor autem iudicia, ut moris est, cogerentur, atque omnia clamoribus fremerent, et auditum eum et intellectum et, quod agentibus ceteris contumeliosissimum fuit, laudatum quoque ex quattuor tribunalibus memini. Sed hoc votum est et rara felicitas.suffectura, conditional, forquae suffectura fuisset, without the protasissi voluisset. Cp. note onhabitura§99. Sotaciturusxi. 2, 16. Hor. Car. iv. 3, 20 donatura, si libeat: and ii. 6, 1 (where there is no protasis), Septimi Gades aditure mecum—Forpronuntiatiosee on§17.superfuerunt, he had an abundant share of such advantages.Vibius Crispus, adelatorof the age of Nero, who amassed great wealth by the practice of his profession down to aboutA.D.90. Tac. Hist. ii. 10 Vibius Crispus, pecunia potentia ingenio inter claros magis quam inter bonos ... Crispum easdem accusationes cum praemio exercuisse meminerant: ibid. iv. 41, 43. In the Dialogue Tacitus speaks of the fame of his eloquence, ch. 8 ausim contendere Marcellum Eprium et Crispum Vibiumnon minores esse in extremis partibus terrarum quam Capuae aut Vercellis, ubi nati dicuntur; hoc ... illis praestat ... ipsa eloquentia...; per multos iam annos potentissimi sunt civitatis ac, donec libuit, principes fori, nunc principes in Caesaris (i.e. Vespasiani) amicitia agunt feruntque cuncta, &c. And yet (ibid. 13) Adligati canum adulatione nec imperantibus unquam satis servi videntur nec nobis satis liberi. That he was still in favour with Domitian appears from Suet. 3 inter initia principatus quotidie secretum sibi horarium sumere solebat; nec quidquam amplius quam muscas captare ac stylo praeacuto configere: ut cuidam interroganti esset ne quis intus cum Caesare non absurde responsum sit a Vibio Crispo ‘Ne musca quidem.’ His wealth was proverbial: divitior Crispo Mart. iv. 54, 7: he was worth 200,000,000 sesterces, or even 300,000,000 according to Dial. 8. By its means he was enabled to shelter his brother Vibius Secundus, when accused of ‘repetundae’ in Mauretania: Tac. Ann. xiv. 28. Juvenal gives a sketch of his character iv. 81-93 Venit et Crispi iucunda senectus Cuius erant mores qualis facundia mite Ingenium ... nec civis erat qui libera posset Verba animi proferre et vitam impendere vero ... Sic multas hiemes atque octogesima vidit Solstitia his armis illa (of Domitian) quoque tutus in aula.compositus: generally applied to style, ‘well-balanced,’ e.g.§44lenis et nitidi et compositi generis: cp. Cicero Orat. §208 composita oratio. Here the epithet is transferred to the orator in the sense of ‘orderly,’ ‘finished’ in the choice and combination of words. Cp. Orat. §232 compositi oratoris bene structam collocationem dissolvere permutatione verborum:2 §16below fiunt ... pro ... compositis exultantes:§66incompositus.iucundus, ‘lively, agreeable, entertaining’: cp. Crispi iucunda senectus, Iuv., quoted above. In xii. 10, §11 Quintilian placesiucunditatem Crispialongside of the distinguishing characteristics of other orators: cp. v. 13, 48 Vibius Crispus vir ingenii iucundi et elegantis.
§ 119.Trachalus, M. Galerius: consulA.D.68 along with Silius Italicus. Tacitus (Hist. i. 90) tells us he was supposed to have written the speech delivered by Otho to an assembly of the people: in rebus urbanis Galerii Trachali ingenio Othonem uti credebatur. Et erant qui genus ipsum orandi noscerent, crebro fori usu celebre et ad inplendas populi aures latum et sonans. After Otho’s death he was fortunate in securing the protection of Galeria, wife of Vitellius (ibid. ii. 60), who may have been a relation of his. From viii. 5, 19 we learn that he had published an orationContra Spatalem, in a case where Vibius Crispus appeared for the accused. Cp. vi. 3, 78.
velle optima, not ‘well-meaning,’ in a moral sense, but with reference to qualities of style: cp. below§122ad optima tendentium:§131meliora vellet.
auditus maior. In the passage often quoted already (xii. 10, 11) Quintilian singles out hissonusfor special mention,—‘sonum Trachali.’—Gertz suggestedmeliorformaior.
vocis ... felicitas: cp. xii. 5, 5, where, after enumeratingvox,latus, anddecoras the ‘naturalia instrumenta’ of the orator, he refers specially to the ‘external advantages’ (cp. omnia ... quae sunt extra, below) of Trachalus: Habuit oratores aetas nostra copiosiores, sed cum diceret eminere inter aequales Trachalus videbatur, Ea corporis sublimitas erat, is ardor oculorum, frontis auctoritas, gestus praestantia, vox quidem non, ut Cicero desiderat, paene tragoedorum sed super omnes, quos ego quidem audierim, tragoedos. Certe cum in basilica Iulia diceret primo tribunali, quattuor autem iudicia, ut moris est, cogerentur, atque omnia clamoribus fremerent, et auditum eum et intellectum et, quod agentibus ceteris contumeliosissimum fuit, laudatum quoque ex quattuor tribunalibus memini. Sed hoc votum est et rara felicitas.
suffectura, conditional, forquae suffectura fuisset, without the protasissi voluisset. Cp. note onhabitura§99. Sotaciturusxi. 2, 16. Hor. Car. iv. 3, 20 donatura, si libeat: and ii. 6, 1 (where there is no protasis), Septimi Gades aditure mecum—Forpronuntiatiosee on§17.
superfuerunt, he had an abundant share of such advantages.
Vibius Crispus, adelatorof the age of Nero, who amassed great wealth by the practice of his profession down to aboutA.D.90. Tac. Hist. ii. 10 Vibius Crispus, pecunia potentia ingenio inter claros magis quam inter bonos ... Crispum easdem accusationes cum praemio exercuisse meminerant: ibid. iv. 41, 43. In the Dialogue Tacitus speaks of the fame of his eloquence, ch. 8 ausim contendere Marcellum Eprium et Crispum Vibiumnon minores esse in extremis partibus terrarum quam Capuae aut Vercellis, ubi nati dicuntur; hoc ... illis praestat ... ipsa eloquentia...; per multos iam annos potentissimi sunt civitatis ac, donec libuit, principes fori, nunc principes in Caesaris (i.e. Vespasiani) amicitia agunt feruntque cuncta, &c. And yet (ibid. 13) Adligati canum adulatione nec imperantibus unquam satis servi videntur nec nobis satis liberi. That he was still in favour with Domitian appears from Suet. 3 inter initia principatus quotidie secretum sibi horarium sumere solebat; nec quidquam amplius quam muscas captare ac stylo praeacuto configere: ut cuidam interroganti esset ne quis intus cum Caesare non absurde responsum sit a Vibio Crispo ‘Ne musca quidem.’ His wealth was proverbial: divitior Crispo Mart. iv. 54, 7: he was worth 200,000,000 sesterces, or even 300,000,000 according to Dial. 8. By its means he was enabled to shelter his brother Vibius Secundus, when accused of ‘repetundae’ in Mauretania: Tac. Ann. xiv. 28. Juvenal gives a sketch of his character iv. 81-93 Venit et Crispi iucunda senectus Cuius erant mores qualis facundia mite Ingenium ... nec civis erat qui libera posset Verba animi proferre et vitam impendere vero ... Sic multas hiemes atque octogesima vidit Solstitia his armis illa (of Domitian) quoque tutus in aula.
compositus: generally applied to style, ‘well-balanced,’ e.g.§44lenis et nitidi et compositi generis: cp. Cicero Orat. §208 composita oratio. Here the epithet is transferred to the orator in the sense of ‘orderly,’ ‘finished’ in the choice and combination of words. Cp. Orat. §232 compositi oratoris bene structam collocationem dissolvere permutatione verborum:2 §16below fiunt ... pro ... compositis exultantes:§66incompositus.
iucundus, ‘lively, agreeable, entertaining’: cp. Crispi iucunda senectus, Iuv., quoted above. In xii. 10, §11 Quintilian placesiucunditatem Crispialongside of the distinguishing characteristics of other orators: cp. v. 13, 48 Vibius Crispus vir ingenii iucundi et elegantis.
I:120Iulio Secundo, si longior contigisset aetas, clarissimum profecto nomen oratoris apud posteros foret; adiecisset enim atque adiciebat ceteris virtutibus suis quod desiderari potest, id est autem ut esset multo magis pugnax et saepius ad curam rerum ab elocutione respiceret.
§ 120.Iulius Secundusis highly spoken of3 §12below: aequalem meum atque a me, ut notum est, familiariter amatum, mirae facundiae virum, infinitae tamen curae: and in xii. 10, 11 he is named as conspicuous for ‘elegantia.’ He is one of the interlocutors in the Dialogue of Tacitus, where he is made to pose as umpire between the representatives of Imperial and Republican eloquence: cp. esp. ch. 2 Aper et Iulius Secundus, celeberrima tum (under Vespasian) ingenia fori nostri ... Secundo purus et pressus et in quantum satis erat profluens sermo non defuit: chs. 4 and 14.adiciebat: he had begun the improvement when death overtook him. He died about 88A.D., not long before Quintilian began hisInstitutio.curam rerum: he is to care for substance as well as form. Fabianus in Seneca (Epist. 100) had the opposite fault: visne illum assidere pusillae rei, verbis?
§ 120.Iulius Secundusis highly spoken of3 §12below: aequalem meum atque a me, ut notum est, familiariter amatum, mirae facundiae virum, infinitae tamen curae: and in xii. 10, 11 he is named as conspicuous for ‘elegantia.’ He is one of the interlocutors in the Dialogue of Tacitus, where he is made to pose as umpire between the representatives of Imperial and Republican eloquence: cp. esp. ch. 2 Aper et Iulius Secundus, celeberrima tum (under Vespasian) ingenia fori nostri ... Secundo purus et pressus et in quantum satis erat profluens sermo non defuit: chs. 4 and 14.
adiciebat: he had begun the improvement when death overtook him. He died about 88A.D., not long before Quintilian began hisInstitutio.
curam rerum: he is to care for substance as well as form. Fabianus in Seneca (Epist. 100) had the opposite fault: visne illum assidere pusillae rei, verbis?
I:121Ceterum interceptus quoque magnum sibi vindicat locum: ea est facundia, tanta in explicando quod velit gratia, tam candidum et lene et speciosum dicendi genus, tanta verborum etiam quae adsumpta sunt proprietas, tanta inquibusdam ex periculo petitis significantia.
§ 121.interceptus: so vi. pr. 1 si me ... fata intercepissent.candidum: ‘lucid,’ v. on§73(Herodotus), and cp.§113Messalla ... candidus:§101clarissimi candoris, of Livy.leneopp. to forte et vehemens dicendi genus:§44. SeeCrit. Notes.adsumpta=translata, ‘used figuratively.’ Cp. viii. 3, 43 adsumere ea, quibus inlustrem fieri orationem putat, delecta, translata, superlata, ad nomen adiuncta, duplicata et idem significantia atque ab ipsa actione atque imitatione rerum non abhorrentia. When the process is carried too far theverba adsumpta, becomearcessitaviii. 3. 56.proprietas, v. on§46.ex periculo: ii. 12, 5 quod est in elocutione ipsa periculum: viii. 6, 11 (verba) quae audaci et proxime periculum translatione tolluntur ... qualis est: pontem indignatus Araxes. Cp. paene periclitantia xi. 1, 32. For the phrase ex periculo petere cp. ii. 11, 3 sententiis grandibus, quarum optima quaeque a periculo petarur. Gr.παρακεκινδυνευμένα.significantia:§49.
§ 121.interceptus: so vi. pr. 1 si me ... fata intercepissent.
candidum: ‘lucid,’ v. on§73(Herodotus), and cp.§113Messalla ... candidus:§101clarissimi candoris, of Livy.
leneopp. to forte et vehemens dicendi genus:§44. SeeCrit. Notes.
adsumpta=translata, ‘used figuratively.’ Cp. viii. 3, 43 adsumere ea, quibus inlustrem fieri orationem putat, delecta, translata, superlata, ad nomen adiuncta, duplicata et idem significantia atque ab ipsa actione atque imitatione rerum non abhorrentia. When the process is carried too far theverba adsumpta, becomearcessitaviii. 3. 56.
proprietas, v. on§46.
ex periculo: ii. 12, 5 quod est in elocutione ipsa periculum: viii. 6, 11 (verba) quae audaci et proxime periculum translatione tolluntur ... qualis est: pontem indignatus Araxes. Cp. paene periclitantia xi. 1, 32. For the phrase ex periculo petere cp. ii. 11, 3 sententiis grandibus, quarum optima quaeque a periculo petarur. Gr.παρακεκινδυνευμένα.
significantia:§49.
I:122Habebunt qui post nos de oratoribus scribent magnam eos qui nunc vigent materiam vere laudandi; sunt enim summa hodie, quibus inlustratur forum, ingenia. Namque et consummati iam patroni veteribus aemulantur et eos iuvenum ad optima tendentium imitatur ac sequitur industria.
§ 122.eos qui nunc vigent. Who these were we can infer from the Dialogue of Tacitus and from Pliny’s Letters, e.g. Aper, Marcellus, Maternus, Aquilius Regulus, and others. Quintilian must of course have meant to include Tacitus and Pliny themselves.consummati: often equivalent toperfectusin Quintilian:5 §14. Cp. above§89. It is combined withperfectusv. 10, 119 ne se ... perfectos protinus atque consummates putent.veteribus.Aemularioccurs elsewhere with the accusative,§62;2 §17. So of envious emulation Cic. Tusc. i. §44: cp. iv. §17 with the dative of the person.iuvenum ad optima tendentium. Hild refers to the speeches of Messalla and Maternus in the Dial. (28-30, 34-36) as indicating the oratorical aspirations of the youth of Rome when Quintilian wrote.
§ 122.eos qui nunc vigent. Who these were we can infer from the Dialogue of Tacitus and from Pliny’s Letters, e.g. Aper, Marcellus, Maternus, Aquilius Regulus, and others. Quintilian must of course have meant to include Tacitus and Pliny themselves.
consummati: often equivalent toperfectusin Quintilian:5 §14. Cp. above§89. It is combined withperfectusv. 10, 119 ne se ... perfectos protinus atque consummates putent.
veteribus.Aemularioccurs elsewhere with the accusative,§62;2 §17. So of envious emulation Cic. Tusc. i. §44: cp. iv. §17 with the dative of the person.
iuvenum ad optima tendentium. Hild refers to the speeches of Messalla and Maternus in the Dial. (28-30, 34-36) as indicating the oratorical aspirations of the youth of Rome when Quintilian wrote.
I:123Supersunt qui de philosophia scripserint, quo in genere paucissimos adhuc eloquentes litterae Romanae tulerunt. Idem igiturM. Tullius, qui ubique, etiam in hoc opere Platonis aemulusextitit. Egregius vero multoque quam in orationibus praestantiorBrutussuffecit ponderi rerum: scias eum sentire quae dicit.
§ 123.philosophia. For the attitude of the Romans to philosophy see Teuffel, §40 sq. Abstract speculation, leading to no practical end, was not held in honour by them: like Neoptolemus, in the play of Ennius, they said ‘philosophari est mihi necesse, at paucis (i.e. ‘only a little’: Roby, §1237) nam omnino haud placet,’—Cicero de Orat. ii. §156: de Repub. i. 18, 30: Pacuvius too (in Gell. xiii. 8) had made one of his characters exclaim: ego odi homines ignava opera et philosopha sententia. The Romans disliked the unsettling tendencies which seemed to accompany the study of philosophy: hence e.g. their treatment of the Athenian ambassadors in the middle of the second centuryB.C.The prejudice against such studies had by no means entirely disappeared even in the time of Cicero, who constantly apologises for and seeks to justify his leanings to philosophy: de Off. ii. 1, 2 sqq.: de Fin. i. 1, 1. Tacitus, Agricola 4, tells us that Agricola used to say ‘se prima in iuventa studium philosophiae acrius, ultra quam concessum Romano ac senatori, hausisse, ni prudentia matris incensum ac flagrantem animum coercuisset.’ About the time when Quintilian was writing, Domitian banished the philosophers from Rome: ibid. ch. 2. For the help which philosophy can give to oratory see xii. 11, which contains (§7) an expression of the Roman ideal: atqui ego illum quem instituo Romanum quendam velim esse sapientem, qui non secretis disputationibus, sed rerum experimentis atque operibus vere civilem virum exhibeat. Cp. Cicero’s boast in regard to himself and Cato of Utica: nos philosophiam veram illam et antiquam, quae quibusdam otii esse ac desidiae videtur, in forum atque in rempublicam atque in ipsam aciem paene deduximus. See on§84.paucissimos ... eloquentes. The addition of an adj. to another adj. used as a subst. is rare in Quintilian. Hirt (Subst. des Adj. p. 17) cites only five exx. besides this one: e.g. iii. 8, 31 antiquis nobilibus ortos.qui ubique. The sense is clear: it is a repetition of the claim made in§108mihi videtur M. Tullius ... effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam Platonis, iucunditatem Isocratis. But it was notubiquethat Cicero rivalled Plato: it was only in Plato’s own domain (sc. in hoc opere). The expressionwas adopted for brevity’s sake: Spalding says it is equivalent to ‘ut ubique Graecorum praestantissimi cuiusque, ita in hoc opere Platonis.’ For Cicero’s philosophical writings cp. Teuffel, §173 sq.Brutus: cp.§23. He is not included in Quintilian’s list of orators; and though Cicero uses towards him the language of extravagant eulogy (v. esp. Brut. §22) in many of his works, yet we know from a passage in the Dialogue already quoted that he sometimes found him ‘otiosum atque disiunctum’ ch. 18. Cp. ch. 21 Brutum philosophiae suae relinquamus. Nam in orationibus minorem esse, fama sua etiam admiratores eius fatentur. A reference follows to his speech ‘Pro rege Deiotaro,’ which the speaker (Aper) considers ‘dull and tedious’—lentitudoandteporbeing the words used. A fragment of a declamation by him is quoted ix. 3 §95–. On his philosophical works see Cic. Acad. i. 3, 12 (with Reid’s note). He was an adherent of the Stoico-academic school, whose tenets he had studied under Aristus and Antiochus: cp. Tusc. v. 21: Brut. 120, 149, 332: de Fin. v. 8. There was a treatisede Virtuteaddressed to Cicero, oneπερὶ καθήκοντος, and onede Patientia: Teuffel, 209 §§2 and 3.suffecit ponderi rerum: Quint. xii. 10, 11 namesgravitasas his distinguishing quality: cp. gravior Brutus, Tac. Dial. ch. 25.sentire quae dicit. The intensity and sincerity of his nature can be inferred from ad Att. xiv. 1, 2, where Caesar is quoted as saying of himmagni refert hic quid velit, sed quicquid vult valde vult. For his devotion to study see7 §27below.
§ 123.philosophia. For the attitude of the Romans to philosophy see Teuffel, §40 sq. Abstract speculation, leading to no practical end, was not held in honour by them: like Neoptolemus, in the play of Ennius, they said ‘philosophari est mihi necesse, at paucis (i.e. ‘only a little’: Roby, §1237) nam omnino haud placet,’—Cicero de Orat. ii. §156: de Repub. i. 18, 30: Pacuvius too (in Gell. xiii. 8) had made one of his characters exclaim: ego odi homines ignava opera et philosopha sententia. The Romans disliked the unsettling tendencies which seemed to accompany the study of philosophy: hence e.g. their treatment of the Athenian ambassadors in the middle of the second centuryB.C.The prejudice against such studies had by no means entirely disappeared even in the time of Cicero, who constantly apologises for and seeks to justify his leanings to philosophy: de Off. ii. 1, 2 sqq.: de Fin. i. 1, 1. Tacitus, Agricola 4, tells us that Agricola used to say ‘se prima in iuventa studium philosophiae acrius, ultra quam concessum Romano ac senatori, hausisse, ni prudentia matris incensum ac flagrantem animum coercuisset.’ About the time when Quintilian was writing, Domitian banished the philosophers from Rome: ibid. ch. 2. For the help which philosophy can give to oratory see xii. 11, which contains (§7) an expression of the Roman ideal: atqui ego illum quem instituo Romanum quendam velim esse sapientem, qui non secretis disputationibus, sed rerum experimentis atque operibus vere civilem virum exhibeat. Cp. Cicero’s boast in regard to himself and Cato of Utica: nos philosophiam veram illam et antiquam, quae quibusdam otii esse ac desidiae videtur, in forum atque in rempublicam atque in ipsam aciem paene deduximus. See on§84.
paucissimos ... eloquentes. The addition of an adj. to another adj. used as a subst. is rare in Quintilian. Hirt (Subst. des Adj. p. 17) cites only five exx. besides this one: e.g. iii. 8, 31 antiquis nobilibus ortos.
qui ubique. The sense is clear: it is a repetition of the claim made in§108mihi videtur M. Tullius ... effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam Platonis, iucunditatem Isocratis. But it was notubiquethat Cicero rivalled Plato: it was only in Plato’s own domain (sc. in hoc opere). The expressionwas adopted for brevity’s sake: Spalding says it is equivalent to ‘ut ubique Graecorum praestantissimi cuiusque, ita in hoc opere Platonis.’ For Cicero’s philosophical writings cp. Teuffel, §173 sq.
Brutus: cp.§23. He is not included in Quintilian’s list of orators; and though Cicero uses towards him the language of extravagant eulogy (v. esp. Brut. §22) in many of his works, yet we know from a passage in the Dialogue already quoted that he sometimes found him ‘otiosum atque disiunctum’ ch. 18. Cp. ch. 21 Brutum philosophiae suae relinquamus. Nam in orationibus minorem esse, fama sua etiam admiratores eius fatentur. A reference follows to his speech ‘Pro rege Deiotaro,’ which the speaker (Aper) considers ‘dull and tedious’—lentitudoandteporbeing the words used. A fragment of a declamation by him is quoted ix. 3 §95–. On his philosophical works see Cic. Acad. i. 3, 12 (with Reid’s note). He was an adherent of the Stoico-academic school, whose tenets he had studied under Aristus and Antiochus: cp. Tusc. v. 21: Brut. 120, 149, 332: de Fin. v. 8. There was a treatisede Virtuteaddressed to Cicero, oneπερὶ καθήκοντος, and onede Patientia: Teuffel, 209 §§2 and 3.
suffecit ponderi rerum: Quint. xii. 10, 11 namesgravitasas his distinguishing quality: cp. gravior Brutus, Tac. Dial. ch. 25.
sentire quae dicit. The intensity and sincerity of his nature can be inferred from ad Att. xiv. 1, 2, where Caesar is quoted as saying of himmagni refert hic quid velit, sed quicquid vult valde vult. For his devotion to study see7 §27below.
I:124Scripsit non parum multaCornelius Celsus, Sextios secutus, non sine cultu ac nitore.Plautusin Stoicis rerum cognitioni utilis. In Epicureis levis quidem, sed non iniucundus tamenauctor estCatius.