I:46 Igitur, ut Aratus ab Iove incipiendum putat, ita nos rite coepturi ab Homero videmur. Hic enim, quem ad modum ex Oceano dicit ipse omnium fluminum fontiumque cursus initium capere, omnibus eloquentiae partibus exemplum et ortum dedit. Hunc nemo in magnis rebus sublimitate, in parvis proprietate superaverit. Idem laetus ac pressus, iucundus et gravis, tum copia tum brevitate mirabilis, nec poetica modo, sed oratoria virtute eminentissimus.
§ 46. ab Iove incipiendum. Phaenom. 1 ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα. Cic. de Rep. i. §36 imitemur (al. mitabor ergo) Aratum qui magnis de rebus dicere exordiens a Iove incipiendum putat ... rite ab eo dicendi principium capiamus. So Theocr. xvii. 1 Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα καὶ ες Δία λήγετε Μοῖσαι—imitated by Vergil, Ecl. iii. 60 Ab Iove principium musae: cp. Hor. Od. i. 12, 13 quid prius dicam solitis parentis laudibus?—For Aratus see on §55
rite. Cp. §85 ut apud illos (Graecos) Homerus sic apud nos Vergilius auspicatissimum dederit exordium. “Such a commencement will be a sort of consecration of the whole course; it is the solemn and auspicious order of proceeding.”—Mayor.
coepturi ... videmur: sc. nobis: cp. §56: Cic. de Off. i. §§1, 2: ii. §5.—For the participle instead of the fut. inf. cp. v. pr. §5 eius praecepta sic optime divisuri videmur: ib. 7 §13: i. 2, 2: ii. 5, 3: vi. pr. §1 hanc optimam partem relicturus hereditatis videbar: ib. 4, 1: vii. 2, 42. Becher (Quaest. Gramm. p. 16) explains the usage by assuming an ellipse, so that ‘rite coepturi ab Homero videmur’ = ‘nos ab Homero coepturi rite coepisse videmur’; but this is unnecessary, and the collocation of coepturi and coepisse in fact impossible.
ab Homero. So in the schools i. 8, §5 ideoque optime institutum est ut ab Homero atque Vergilio lectio inciperet: cp. Plin. Ep. ii. 14, §2.
ex Oceano. Il. xxi. 195-197 Ὠκεανοῖο ἐξ οὗπερ πάντες ποταμοὶ καὶ πᾶσα θάλασσα καὶ πᾶσαι κρῆναι καὶ φρείατα μακρὰ νάουσιν.—Dion. Hal. uses the same image de Comp. Verb. 24 Κορυφὴ μὲν οὖν ἁπάντων καὶ σκοπός, ἐξ οὗπερ πάντες ποταμοὶ καὶ πᾶσα θάλασσα καὶ πᾶσαι κρῆναι δικαίως ἂν Ὅμηρος λέγοιτο. Cp. Ovid, Amor. iii. 9, 25 Aspice Maeoniden, a quo, ceu fonte perenni, Vatum Pieriis ora rigantur aquis.
omnium fluminum fontiumque. For the reading see Crit. Notes: cp. §78.
omnibus eloquentiae partibus. Eustathius pr. ad Odys. p. 1379 τὸν πάσης τῆς ἐν λόγοις τέχνης καθηγητήν, ἐξ οὗ οἷα τινὸς ὠκεανοῦ πάντες ποταμοῖ καὶ πᾶσαι λογικῶν μεθόδων πηγαί: Manilius, Astr. ii. 8 Cuiusque ex ore profusos Omnis posteritas latices in carmina duxit Amnemque in tenues ausa est diducere rivos Unius fecunda bonis. Cp. the references to Homer in the various departments of literature dealt with by Quintilian: §§62, 65, 81, 85, 86. So xii. 11, 21 in quo (sc. Homero) nullius non artis aut opera perfecta aut certe non dubia vestigia reperiuntur. Cic. Brut. §40 ornatus in dicendo et plane orator. Homer’s influence on all later culture is a common-place in ancient writers. Specially in regard to oratory, the speeches of his three heroes were taken as types of three styles of rhetoric: xii. 10, 64: ii. 17, 8. The eulogy here pronounced on him is systematically arranged with reference to the essential elements of practical oratory. After alluding to (1) the three kinds of oratory (see notes on §44) in the terms sublimitas, proprietas, pressus, laetus (§46), he passes (2) to the two classes of practical speeches, judicial and deliberative (litium ac consiliorum) (§47): and then refers to (3) the mastery of the emotions (adfectus) (§48): (4) the constituent parts of a regular forensic speech—(prooemium, genera probandi ac refutandi, epilogus) (§§48, 49, 50): (5) well-chosen terms, well-put thoughts, lively figures, and everywhere clear arrangement (dispositio) (§50). “In this notice of Homer and in that of Cicero (§105 sqq.) and of Seneca (§125 sqq.) Quintilian introduces more of detail than in his brief remarks on the rest of the authors in his sketch. In general his plan, as indicated above in §§44, 45, is to mention the typical writers of different departments of literature best adapted to the purposes of the orator or forensic advocate, and in a few words to point out their characteristics with particular reference to their fitness as exemplars of oratorical style, or φράσις. As this is his sole aim, so distinctly stated, the strictures of some critics on the brevity and meagreness of these notices show that they have failed to comprehend the purpose of the author.”—Frieze.
sublimitate: §27: viii. 6, §11.
proprietate. Here this word furnishes a sort of antithesis to sublimitas, and means ‘suitability,’ ‘simplicity,’ ‘naturalness’: cp. the definition given at viii. 2, 1 sua cuiusque rei appellatio. In the same sense §64 sermone proprio, of an easy and unaffected style. A different use of proprius will be found at §6 (where see note): §29: 5 §8.
superaverit. For this subj. of modified assertion cp. on fuerit §37.
laetus, ‘flowery,’ i.e. rich, ornate, exuberant. Cp. 2 §16: xii. 10, 80: xi. 1, 49. This use is akin to that by which the word is employed as a metaphor to denote richness of vegetation: Verg. Georg. i. 1 and 74 (cp. note on 5 §14): and also of the sleek condition of well-fed cattle: Aen. iii. 220. Cp. Cic. de Orat. iii. §155.—There is no need for Francius’s conj. latus or Kraffert’s latior (cp. xii. 10, 23), or Gustaffson’s elatus (4 §1).
pressus, pruned, trimmed down, ‘chaste,’ ‘concise’: see on §44.
iucundus et gravis, ‘sprightly and serious.’ So §119 iucundus et delectationi natus: and iucunditas §§64, 82: 2 §23. Mayor cites Plin. Ep. iv. 3, 2 nam severitatem istam pari iucunditate condire summaeque gravitati tantum comitatis adiungere non minus difficile quam magnum est: ib. v. 17, 2 (of Calpurnius Piso) excelsa depressis, exilia plenis, severis iucunda mutabat.
tum ... tum: a usage (frequent in Cicero) which Quintilian sought to revive. Wölfflin, Archiv f. Lexikogr. ii. p. 241.
I:47 Nam ut de laudibus, exhortationibus, consolationibus taceam, nonne vel nonus liber, quo missa ad Achillen legatio continetur, vel in primo inter duces illa contentio vel dictae in secundo sententiae omnes litium ac consiliorum explicant artes?
§ 47. Nam ut, &c. This sentence contains the proof of Homer’s oratoria virtus: he furnishes models of the three recognised styles of rhetoric, (1) genus demonstrativum (ἐπιδεικτικόν) or laudativum: (2) genus deliberativum sive suasorium (συμβουλευτικόν): and (3) genus iudiciale (δικανικόν). Cp. iii. 4. Cope Arist. Rhet. introd. 118-123, and the notes on 13 §1: Cic. de Inv. i. §§7, 8, 12: ii. §§12, 13: Orat. Part. §§10-14, 69-138: de Orat. i. §141 and Wilkins’ introd. p. 56.
In the words ut ... taceam, Quintilian passes lightly over the main features of the γένος ἐπιδεικτικόν (set speeches aiming at display—ἐπίδειξις, ‘ostentatio declamatoria’ iv. 3, 2), in order to dwell more specially on the appropriateness of the study of Homer with reference to forensic and legislative debates (litium ac consiliorum). In doing so, he no doubt wishes to indicate the relative importance of the three kinds for the practical training of the orator, just as Cicero (Or. §§37-42) restricts his portraiture of the perfect orator to the practical oratory of public life, i.e. the deliberative and forensic branches, to the exclusion of the γένος ἐπιδεικτικόν.
laudibus. These belong distinctly to the epideictic branch, for which see iii. 4, 12: Tac. Dial. 31 in laudationibus de honestate disserimus. So ἔπαινοι and ἐγκώμια: see Volkmann, Rhet. §33. As examples of laudationes may be cited Cicero’s Eulogy on Cato (Or. §35) and his sister Porcia (ad Att. xiii. 37, 3): and in Greek the Evagoras and Helenae Encomium of Isocrates.
exhortationibus might in itself (like consolationibus: cp. xi. 3, 153) be used of the genus deliberativum, which included the suasoriae (Tac. Dial. 35)—‘consilium dedimus Sullae privatus ut altum dormiret’, Iuv. i. 16; and in order to find a reference in each of the three items enumerated to the three kinds of rhetoric, Kraffert proposed to read consultationibus for consolationibus (cp. controversiae Tac. Dial. 35), so that laudibus should = laudativum genus, exhortationibus = deliberativum, and consultationibus = iudiciale. But this is a misunderstanding of Quintilian’s meaning. Exhortatio and consolatio may easily enter into a λόγος ἐπιδεικτικός, a speech written for display and not for delivery in public, just as suasio does in the passage of the Orator referred to above: laudationum et historiarum et ... suasionum ... reliquarumque scriptionum formam, quae absunt a forensi contentione, eiusque totius generis, quod Graece ἐπιδεικτικόν nominatur ... non complectar hoc tempore (§37). Cp. Quint. iii. 4, 14 an quisquam negaverit Panegyricos ἐπιδεικτικούς esse? atqui formam suadendi habent, &c.
legatio of Odysseus, Aias, and Phoenix: contentio between Achilles and Agamemnon: dictae ... sententiae: the council of war (Agamemnon, Ulysses, Nestor, Thersites) Il. ii. 40-394.—The selection from a poet of such passages as seemed to bear most closely on the training of a student of rhetoric was a familiar process in ancient schools.
litium ac consiliorum. These words contain a distinct reference to the genus iudiciale and the genus deliberativum, respectively,—to the exclusion of the genus demonstrativum, i.e. the ‘epideictic’ or non-practical kind of speeches. Cp. Cic. de Orat. i. §22 Graecos ... video ... seposuisse a ceteris dictionibus eam partem dicendi quae in forensibus disceptationibus iudiciorum aut deliberationum versaretur: cp. suasoriae et controversiae Tac. Dial. 35. The prominence given to litium ac consiliorum shows that Professor Mayor is wrong in seeing in exhortationibus and consolationibus above a specific reference to the ‘genus deliberativum’: that would involve a duplicate enumeration.
artes: the ‘rules of art,’ or technical precepts of the rhetoricians. See on §15 exempla potentiora ... ipsis quae traduntur artibus.
I:48 Adfectus quidem vel illos mites vel hos concitatos nemo erit tam indoctus qui non in sua potestate hunc auctorem habuisse fateatur. Age vero, non utriusque operis sui ingressu in paucissimis versibus legem prooemiorum non dico servavit, sed constituit? Nam benevolum auditorem invocatione dearum quas praesidere vatibus creditum est, et intentum proposita rerum magnitudine, et docilem summa celeriter comprehensa facit.
§ 48. Adfectus quidem, &c. In the passage which Quintilian may have had in view. Dionysius, after showing, as Quintilian has done, that Homer is admirable in every respect, and not in one only, goes on to say that he is a master in particular of the ἤθη and πάθη, of μέγεθος (rerum magnitudine §48) and of οἰκονομία (in dispositione totius operis §50): τῆς μὲν οὖν Ὁμηρικῆς ποιήσεως οὐ μίαν τινὰ τοῦ σώματος μοῖραν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκτύπωσαι τὸ σύμπαν, καὶ λάβε ζῆλον ἠθῶν τε τῶν ἐκεῖ καὶ παθῶν καὶ μεγέθους, καὶ τῆς οἰκονομίας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν ἁπασῶν εἰς ἀληθῆ τὴν παρὰ σοὶ μίμησιν ἠλλαγμένων: περὶ μιμήσεως 2 (Usener, p. 19). See what Quintilian says of adfectus in vi. 2 §§8-10: esp. adfectus igitur concitatos πάθος, mites atque compositos ἦθος esse dixerunt: and cp. §§73 and 101 below. Illos ... hos indicates what was a well-known antithesis. The former (ἤθη) were habitual and characteristic conditions of individual minds: the latter (πάθη) for the most part occasional (temporale vi. 2, 10), and more moving (perturbatio ib.).
tam ... qui: see on §41.
auctorem: ‘master,’ ‘teacher.’ Cp, on §24.
Age vero: ‘and further,’ a formula of transition generally leading to something more important. Here it introduces the five constituent parts of an oration, exordium (προοίμιον), narratio, probatio, refutatio (διήγησις, πίστις or ἀπόδειξις or κατασκευή, λύσις or ἀνασκευή §49), peroratio (ἐπίλογος). Cp. Cic. Or. §122 and de Orat. ii. §80 with Sandys’ and Wilkins’ notes: de Inv. i. §19: Cornif. ad Herenn. i. §4.
ingressu: see Crit. Notes.
non dico ... sed. So 7 §2: cp. i. 10, 35.
legem prooemiorum ... constituit: iv. 1, 34 docilem sine dubio et haec ipsa praestat attentio, sed et illud, si breviter et dilucide summam rei, de qua cognoscere debeat, iudicaverimus: quod Homerus atque Vergilius operum suorum principiis faciunt: ib. §42 ut sit in principiis recta benevolentiae et attentionis postulatio: Hor. Ars Poet. 140.
benevolum ... intentum ... docilem. The orator’s first task is to gain the good-will of his hearers, and to secure their attention. Cp. iv. i, 5 causa principii (i.e. prooemii, exordii) nulla alia est quam ut auditorem, quo sit nobis in ceteris partibus accommodatior, praeparemus. Id fieri tribus maxime rebus inter auctores plurimos constat, si benevolum attentum docilem fecerimus: iii. 5, 2: xi. 1, 6. Cic. de Orat. ii. §115 and 322-3: Brut. §185. Mayor cites Dion. Hal. de Lysia 17 οὔτε γὰρ εὔνοιαν κινῆσαι βουλόμενος, οὔτε προσοχήν, οὔτε εὐμάθειαν, ἀτυχήσειέ ποτε τοῦ σκοποῦ.
invocatione dearum. Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, and Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα.
vatibus: ‘bards,’ instinctis divino spiritu vatibus xii. 10, 24: Verg. Eclog. ix. 32 me fecere poetam Pierides ... me quoque dicunt vatem pastores. Tac. Dial. 9 Saleium nostrum, egregium poetam, vel si hoc honorificentius est, praeclarissimum vatem. Poeta, which is sometimes used slightingly of verse-makers (Cic. in Pis. 29 ut assentatorem, ut poetam: Tusc. i. 2 quod in provinciam poetas duxisset), had not the same solemn associations as vates.
creditum est: as at 4 §1: cp. ii. 15, 7. The perfect is continuous = νενόμισται. The personal construction occurs at §125. For the impersonal cp. Tac. Ann. ii. 69. ‘Tacitus appears to prefer the personal construction when a single personal subject is spoken of, and the impersonal in other cases, but even this rule is by no means without exceptions’ Furneaux, Introd. to Annals, p. 45.
intentum ... magnitudine. Cic. de Inv. i. §23 attentos autem faciemus si demonstrabimus ea quae dicturi erimus magna nova incredibilia esse.
docilem: ‘receptive’; iv. 1, 34 (cited above on legem prooemiorum), ad Herenn. i. §7 dociles auditores habere poterimus, si summam causae breviter exponemus.
comprehensa: cp. xi. 1, 51: ix. 3, 91 comprehensa breviter sententia. So Lucr. vi. 1083 sed breviter paucis praestat comprendere multa: Cic. de Orat. i. §34. So that celeriter here almost = breviter.
I:49 Narrare vero quis brevius quam qui mortem nuntiat Patrocli, quis significantius potest quam qui Curetum Aetolorumque proelium exponit? Iam similitudines, amplificationes, exempla, digressus, signa rerum et argumenta ceteraque genera probandi ac refutandi sunt ita multa ut etiam qui de artibus scripserunt plurima earum rerum testimonia ab hoc poeta petant.
§ 49. narrare: iv. 2, 31 eam (narrationem) plerique scriptores ... volunt esse lucidam, brevem, veri similem: Cic. de Inv. i. §28 brevis, aperta, probabilis.
qui ... nuntiat: Antilochus, Il. xviii. 18. His κεῖται Πάτροκλος seems to have become proverbial: Pliny Ep. iv. 11, 12.
significantius: ‘more graphically,’ or ‘with more force of expression.’ Cp. significantia §121.
qui ... exponit, Phoenix, in Il. ix. 529 sqq.
iam, transitional particle, as often in Cicero: §§98, 111.
similitudines. v. 11, 1 tertium genus ex iis quae extrinsecus adducuntur in causam Graeci vocant παράδειγμα, quo nomine et generaliter usi sunt in omni similium adpositione et specialiter in iis quae rerum gestarum auctoritate nituntur. Nostri fere similitudinem vocare maluerunt quod ab illis παραβολή dicitur, hoc alterum exemplum: viii. 3, 72 praeclare ad inferendam rebus lucem repertae sunt similitudines (i.e. the use of simile).
amplificationes = αὐξήσεις (Cic. Or. §125). The various rhetorical means of expanding and developing an idea in expression are discussed in viii. 4, 3 under the heads of incrementum, comparatio, ratiocinatio, and congeries. Ad Herenn. ii. 47 amplificatio est res quae per locum communem instigationis auditorum causa sumitur.
exempla: v. 11, 6 potentissimum autem est inter ea quae sunt huius generis exemplum, id est rei gestae aut ut gestae utilis ad persuadendum id quod intenderis commemoratio: ib. 2 §1: Cic. de Inv. i. §49. The stock illustration is that given in Aristotle’s Rhetoric: “if a man has asked for a bodyguard, and the speaker wishes to show that the aim is a tyranny, he may quote the ‘instances’ (παραδείγματα) of Dionysius and Pisistratus.”
digressus, ‘episodes’: cp. on §33.
signa rerum et argumenta: the ‘evidence of material facts’ and ‘inferences.’ In the former we have sensible proof of things (e.g. cruenta vestis, clamor, livor, &c. v. 9, 1); in the latter logical deductions from circumstantial facts: v. 10, 11 cum sit argumentum ratio probationem praestans, qua colligitur aliquid per aliud, et quae quod est dubium per id quod dubium non est confirmat. To distinguish signa from argumenta Quintilian says v. 9, 1 nec inveniuntur ab oratore sed ad eam cum ipsa cansa deferuntur: and again, signa sive indubitata sunt, non sunt argumenta, quia, ubi illa sunt, quaestio non est, argumento autem nisi in re controversa locus esse non potest: sive dubia non sunt argumenta, sed ipsa argumentis egent: Cic. de Inv. §48. For argumenta see v. 10, 1 hoc ... nomine complectimur omnia quae Graeci ἐνθυμήματα, ἐπιχειρήματα, ἀποδείξεις vocant: ib. §§10-12.
ceteraque genera: see Crit. Notes.
probandi. After narratio comes probatio or (as more commonly in Cicero, e.g. de Inv. i. §34) confirmatio (see on 5 §12). So ii. 17, 6 narrent, probent, refutent. Cp. iv. 2, 79 aut quid inter probationem et narrationem interest, nisi quod narratio est probationis continua propositio, rursus probatio narrationi congruens confirmatio? For the probationes artificiales (ἔντεχνοι πίστεις) see v. chs. 8-12: for the probationes inartificiales ἄτεχνοι πίστεις ib. chs. 1-7.
refutandi. For Quintilian’s definition see v. 13, 1 sq., and cp. note on destructio 5 §12. Cicero often uses refellere: de Orat. ii. §163 aut ad probandum aut ad refellendum. For refutare cp. ib. §80 nostra confirmare argumentis ac rationibus, deinde contraria refutare: §§203, 307, 312.—In de Prov. Cons. §32 and de Har. Resp. §7 (conatum refutabo) the word is used in the sense of repellere.
artibus, the ‘principles of rhetoric’: §§15 and 47.
testimonia, ‘illustrations,’ confirmatory examples. Cp. i. 8, 12. ‘Homerus’ in the index to most Greek and Latin authors will supply evidence of the truth of Quintilian’s statement. Cic. ad Att. i. 16, 1 respondebo tibi ὕστερον πρότερον Ὀμηρικῶς: Plin. Ep. iii. 9, 28 praepostere ... facit hoc Homerus multique illius exemplo.
I:50 Nam epilogus quidem quis umquam poterit illis Priami rogantis Achillen precibus aequari? Quid? In verbis, sententiis, figuris, dispositione totius operis nonne humani ingenii modum excedit? ut magni sit virtutes eius non aemulatione, quod fieri non potest, sed intellectu sequi.
§ 50. nam. See on §12: cp. §§9, 50.
epilogus = peroratio: see note on §107. The advocate will find many pathetic and moving passages in Homer such as will be serviceable for his closing appeal, which is generally addressed to the feelings and hearts of his hearers; vii. 4, 19 epilogi omnes in eadem fere materia versari solent: vi. 1, 1 eius (perorationis) duplex ratio est, posita aut in rebus aut in adfectibus. Cicero uses conclusio as a synonym, de Inv. i. §98, where he says it has three parts, enumeratio, indignatio, and conquestio, defining the last (§106) as oratio auditorum misericordiam captans. in hac primum animum auditoris mitem et misericordem conficere oportet.—For Priam’s entreaty see Il. xxiv. 486 sqq.
Quid? ... nonne: cp. Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. §119. So with non §56 below, and 2 §25.
verbis, sententiis, figuris: xii. 9, 6 verborum quidem dilectus, gravitas sententiarum, figurarum elegantia. For figurae see on §12. Sententiis = γνώμαις §§52, 60, 68, 90, 102, 129, 130: 2 §17: 5 §4. See viii. 5, 1 sq. consuetudo iam tenuit ut mente concepta sensus vocaremus, lumina autem praecipueque in clausulis posita sententias ... antiquissimae sunt quae proprie, quamvis omnibus idem nomen sit, sententiae vocantur, quas Graeci γνώμας appellant: utrumque autem nomen ex eo acceperunt quod similes sunt consiliis aut decretis. est autem haec vox universalis, quae etiam citra complexum causae possit esse laudabilis, &c.
dispositione = οἰκονομίᾳ: see on adfectus §48. Cp. 5 §14.
humani ingenii modum: §86 ut illi naturae caelesti atque immortali cesserimus.
ut magni sit. There has been some controversy over this. The text is best explained by supplying ingenii out of what immediately precedes. Others supply viri, which is actually given in some of the later MSS.: while others again take magni as a gen. of price ‘of great value,’ or ‘worth much.’ Wrobel thinks it can stand alone, as res magni est: i.e. it ‘takes a good deal’ even to appreciate Homer’s excellences. Kiderlin supposes that spiritus has fallen out, and compares i. 9, 6. See Crit. Notes.
intellectu sequi: ii. 5, 21 neque vim eorum adhuc intellectu consequentur.
I:51 Verum hic omnes sine dubio et in omni genere eloquentiae procul a se reliquit, epicos tamen praecipue, videlicet quia clarissima in materia simili comparatio est.
I:52 Raro adsurgit Hesiodus magnaque pars eius in nominibus est occupata, tamen utiles circa praecepta sententiae levitasque verborum et compositionis probabilis, daturque ei palma in illo medio genere dicendi.
§ 52. adsurgit: cp. insurgit §96: 2 §23: i. 8, 5 sublimitate heroi carminis animus adsurgat.—If Hesiod ‘seldom soars’ it is because in him epic poetry has descended to the sphere of common life. Homer was the bard of ‘warriors and noble men’ in the brave days of old. Hesiod is the poet of the people, earning their daily bread in the labour of the field.
pars eius: metonymy for pars carminum eius; cp. on §31 poetis.—Gemoll proposes to read operis eius: cp. §§35 and 63.
in nominibus: specially in the Theogony: e.g. 226 sqq., 337 sqq.
circa: ‘in regard to’: 2 §14: 5 §§5, 6. Such uses of circa (like περί, ἀμφί, c. acc.) are very frequent in Quintilian and later writers: ii. 16, 14 circa quae omnia multus hominibus labor: iii. 11, 5 circa verba dissensio. Also with verbs Pr. §20 circa ima subsistere: vii. 1, 54 circa patrem quaerimus; and for ‘in the time of’ (like κατά) ii. 4, 41 circa Demetrium Phalerea. It is also used absolutely ix. 2, 45 omnia circa fere recta sunt: cp. 7 §16 below. For exx. from other writers see Hand, Turs. ii. pp. 66-8.
praecepta. Lindner translates ‘Lehrvorschriften.’ The reference is to Hesiod’s proverbial philosophy: ‘maxims of moral wisdom.’
sententiae: §50. See Duncker’s Greece, vol. i. p. 485: Cic. ad Fam. vi. 18, 5 Lepta suavissimus ediscat Hesiodum et habeat in ore τῆς δ᾽ ἀρετης ἱδρῶτα et cetera: Brut. §15 illud Hesiodium laudatur a doctis, quod eadem mensura reddere iubet qua acceperis, aut etiam cumulatiore, si possis. Cp. Crit. Notes.
levitas verborum et compositionis. Here Quintilian is again in exact agreement with Dion. Hal. περὶ μιμήσεως 2 (Usener, p. 19), Ἡσίοδος μὲν γὰρ ἐφρόντισεν ἡδονῆς καὶ ὀνομάτων λειότητος καὶ συνθέσεως ἐμμελοῦς. It is also to be noted that Dionysius names Hesiod, Antimachus, and Panyasis after Homer.—Mayor cites Demetrius περὶ ἑρμηνείας §176, who ‘calls that ὄνομα λεῖον which has many vowels, as Αἴας,—opp. to τραχύ as βέβρωκε; ib. §299 he defines ἡ λειότης ἡ περὶ σύνθεσιν, such as the school of Isocrates cultivated, the painful avoidance of hiatus.’ Cic. de Orat. iii. §171 struere verba sic ut neve asper eorum concursus neve hiulcus sit, sed quodam modo coagmentatus et levis: cp. §172: Or. §20: Quint, ii. 5, 9 levis et quadrata ... compositio: viii. 3, 6.—For compositio (the combination of words) see on §79: and cp. §§44, 66, 118: 2 §13: 3 §9: viii. ch. 4, esp. §22 in omni porro compositione tria sunt genera necessaria, ordo, iunctura, numerus: ad Herenn. iv. §18 compositio est verborum constructio quae facit omnes partes orationis aequabiliter perpolitas.
medio genere. See on §44. Dion. Hal. de Comp. Verb. 23, p. 173 R. ἐποποιῶν μὲν οὖν ἔγωγε μάλιστα νομίζω τουτονὶ τὸν χαρακτῆρα (sc. τὸν ἀνθηρόν or medium Quint, xii. 10, 58) ἐπεξεργάσασθαι Ἡσίοδον.—From the point of view of oratory, the medium genus was the Rhodian school (xii. 10, 18), which stood between the genus Atticum and Asianum, ‘quod velut medium esse atque ex utroque mixtum volunt: neque enim Attice pressi neque Asiane sunt abundantes’ (sc. Rhodii).
I:53 Contra in Antimacho vis et gravitas et minime vulgare eloquendi genus habet laudem. Sed quamvis ei secundas fere grammaticorum consensus deferat, et adfectibus et iucunditate et dispositione et omnino arte deficitur, ut plane manifesto appareat quanto sit aliud proximum esse, aliud secundum.
§ 53. Antimachus of Colophon (or rather Claros by Colophon) flourished about B.C. 405. He wrote a Thebaid, an epic narrative of the wars of the Seven against Thebes and of the Epigoni: Cic. Brut. §191. Fragments of his poems have been preserved. He also edited a critical text of Homer. Antimachus served as a model for Statius, and for the emperor Hadrian: Spartian §15 Catachanas libros obscurissimos Antimachum imitando scripsit. For the criticism vis ... laudem cp. Dion. Hal. l.c. Ἀντίμαχος δ᾽ εὐτονίας (ἐφρόντισεν) καὶ ἀγωνιστικῆς τραχύτητος καὶ τοῦ συνήθους τῆς ἐξαλλαγῆς.
minime vulgare: viii. pr. §25: Arist. Poet. §22 λέξεως δὲ ἀρετῆ σαφῆ καὶ μὴ ταπεινὴν εἶναι. An uncommon elevation of style was evidently one of his characteristics.
habet laudem = ἔχει ἔπαινον. Xen. Anab. vii. 6, 33: Plin. xxxvii. §65: xxxvi. §164.
secundas: sc. partes, after Homer: §58. So Cic. Or. §18 cui (Pericli) primae sine controversia deferebantur: Brut. §84: ad Att. i. 17, 5. The phrase is probably borrowed from the theatre: primas agere Brut. §308: Hor. Sat. i. 9, 46. On the other hand primas ferre (Brut. §183) suggests πρωτεῖα φέρεσθαι. Tac. Ann. xiv. 21 eloquentiae primas nemo tulit, sed victorem esse Caesarem pronuntiatum.
grammaticorum consensus. For this sense of grammatici (‘literary critics,’ ‘professors of literature’ Hor. A. P. 78) cp. ii. 1, 4 grammatice, quam in Latinum transferentes litteraturam vocaverunt ... cum praeter rationem recte loquendi non parum alioqui copiosam prope omnium maximarum artium scientiam amplexa sit.—The phrase is one more indication of the second-hand character of Quintilian’s criticism of Greek authors: cp. §27, where he specially refers to Theophrastus: §52 datur ei palma: §54 putant: §58 princeps habetur and confessione plurimorum: §59 Aristarchi iudicio: §72 consensu omnium: §73 nemo dubitat. No doubt Quintilian and Dionysius were both indebted to the lists of the Alexandrian bibliographers.
adfectibus ... deficitur: ‘he fails in pathos’: §48. His lament for Lyde (nec tantum Clario Lyde dilecta poetae Ovid, Tr. i. 6, 1) contained a catalogue of the misfortunes of all the mythical heroes who had lost their loves. Λύδη καὶ παχὺ γράμμα καὶ οὐ τόρον Callim. fr. 441.
iucunditate: see on §46.
dispositione: §50. Catull. 95, 10 At populus tumido gaudeat Antimacho.
arte: ‘poetical skill.’
plane: see Introd. p. lii.
proximum ... secundum. Cp. Verg. Aen. v. 320 proximus huic longo sed proximus intervallo insequitur Salius. Secundus here means much less than proximus (‘very near’): it only means ‘prior tertio et reliquis.’ Cp. Corn. Nep. Pelop. iv. 2 haec fuit altera persona Thebis sed tamen secunda ita ut proxima esset Epaminondae: §85 below, secundus ... est Vergilius, propior tamen primo quam tertio, i.e. Vergil is proximus to Homer as well as secundus.—This is the usual explanation, motived probably by the recurrence of secundum so soon after secundas above (cp. §§58, 72, 85). The difficulty is that it is exactly the reverse of the well-known passage in Horace, Car. i. 12, 18 nec viget quidquam simile (Iovi) aut secundum: proximos illi tamen occupavit Pallas honores, where the idea is that Pallas is what sportsmen call a ‘bad second,’—proximus meaning ‘next’ (however far apart), while secundus (sequor) implies contiguity. The two passages could be reconciled by supposing that Quintilian has negligently omitted to note the repetition secundas ... secundum, and that he means ‘what a difference there is between a bad (proximum) and a good second (secundum)’—between being second and coming near the first. Cp. Cic. Brut. §173 Duobus igitur summis, Crasso et Antonio, L. Philippus proximus accedebat, sed longo intervallo tamen proximus; itaque eum, etsi nemo intercedebat qui se illi anteferret, neque secundum tamen neque tertium dixerim. If Quintilian is conscious of the recurrence of secundus, he may mean that the Greek critics would have been nearer the truth if they had called Antimachus next (proximus) rather than second to Homer.—Cp. Crit. Notes.
I:54 Panyasin, ex utroque mixtum, putant in eloquendo neutrius aequare virtutes, alterum tamen ab eo materia, alterum disponendi ratione superari. Apollonius in ordinem a grammaticis datum non venit, quia Aristarchus atque Aristophanes poetarum iudices neminem sui temporis in numerum redegerunt; non tamen contemnendum reddidit opus aequali quadam mediocritate.