QUINTILIAN.
(1) LIFE.
M. Fabius Quintilianus was born at Calagurris in Spain. Auson. prof. i. 7, ‘Adserat usque licet Fabium Calagurris alumnum.’ Cf. Jerome yr. Abr. 2104 (quoted below).
Quintilian came at an early age to Rome, where his father was a rhetorician. Cf. his reminiscences:
x. 1, 86, ‘Utar verbis isdem quae ex Afro Domitio (died A.D. 59) iuvenis excepi.’
v. 7, 7, ‘a Domitio Afro quem adulescentulus senem colui.’
vi. 1, 14, ‘Nobis adulescentibus accusator Cossutiani Capitonis’ (A.D. 57), etc.
From the above quotations, Quintilian must have been born somewhere between A.D. 35 and 40. A.D. 35 is usually given as an approximation. For Quintilian’s father cf. ix. 3, 73, ‘Et cur me prohibeat pudor uti domestico exemplo? Pater meus contra eum qui,’ etc. He is possibly the person mentioned by Seneca, Contr. x. praef. 2, ‘quo modo ... Quintilianus senex declamaverit.’
For Quintilian’s teachers of rhetoric, cf. Pliny, Ep. ii. 14, 10, ‘Narrabat ille [Quintilianus], Adsectabar Domitium Afrum.’ Others were Iulius Africanus (Quint. x. 1, 118), Servilius Nonianus (x. 1, 102), Galerius Trachalus (x. 1, 119), Iulius Secundus (x. 1, 120), Vibius Crispus (xii. 10, 11), Remmius Palaemon (Schol. ad Iuv. 6, 452). After his education Quintilian returned to Calagurris, but was brought back to Rome by Galba in A.D. 68.
Jerome yr. Abr. 2084 = A.D. 68, ‘M. Fabius Quintilianus Romam a Galba perducitur.’
Quintilian engaged as a pleader at Rome, and makes some references to his cases. Some of his speeches were published without his consent.
vii. 2, 24, ‘In causa Naevi Arpiniani ... cuius actionem et quidem solam in hoc tempus emiseram, quod ipsum me fecisse ductum iuvenili cupiditate gloriae fateor. Nam ceterae, quae sub nomine meo feruntur, neglegentia excipientium in quaestum notariorum corruptae minimam partem mei habent.’
iv. 1, 19, ‘Ego pro regina Berenice apud ipsam eam causam dixi.’
Cf. also vii. 2, 5; ix. 2, 73-4.
Quintilian was the first person who received an imperial grant as teacher of oratory.
Jerome yr. Abr. 2104 = A.D. 88, ‘Quintilianus ex Hispania Calagurritanus primus Romae publicam scholam et salarium e fisco accepit et claruit.’ The date given by Jerome is much too late, as it is Quintilian that is alluded to by Sueton. Vesp. 18, ‘Primus e fisco Latinis Graecisque rhetoribus annua centena constituit.’ The appointment must therefore have been made by A.D. 79. The professorship is referred to by Mart. ii. 90, 1,
‘Quintiliane, vagae moderator summe iuventae,
gloria Romanae, Quintiliane, togae.’
Cf. Pliny, Ep. ii. 14, 10, ‘Ita certe ex Quintiliano, praeceptore meo, audisse memini.’ Quintilian’s career as a teacher lasted for twenty years.
i. prooem. 1, ‘Post impetratam studiis meis quietem, quae per viginti annos erudiendis iuvenibus impenderam.’
Teuffel thinks that the Institutio was written A.D. 89-91, in which case Quintilian’s career as professor was from A.D. 68 to 88; Peterson[91] thinks that Quintilian dated his educational work as from A.D. 70 to 90, and that the Institutio was begun A.D. 92.
Quintilian grew rich by the practice of his profession, from which he ultimately retired. Iuv. 7, 186,
‘Hos inter sumptus sestertia Quintiliano,
ut multum, duo sufficient; res nulla minoris
constabit patri, quam filius. “Unde igitur tot
Quintilianus habet saltus?”’
Quint. ii. 12, 12, ‘quando et praecipiendi munus iam pridem deprecati sumus et in foro quoque dicendi, quia honestissimum finem putamus, desinere dum desideraremur.’
After his retirement Quintilian was appointed tutor of Domitian’s grandnephews, sons of his niece Flavia Domitilla and his cousin Flavius Clemens.
Quint. iv. prooem. 2, ‘Cum mihi Domitianus Augustus sororis suae nepotum delegaverit curam.’
Through the influence of Clemens, he obtained the consulship.
Auson. grat. act. p. 23 (Schenkl), ‘Quintilianus consularia per Clementem ornamenta sortitus honestamenta potius videtur quam insignia potestatis habuisse.’
Cf. Iuv. 7, 197,
‘Si Fortuna volet, fies de rhetore consul;
si volet haec eadem, fies de consule rhetor.’
His gratitude led him into fulsome flattery of Domitian.
x. 1, 91, ‘Germanicum Augustum ab institutis studiis deflexit cura terrarum, parumque dis visum est esse eum maximum poetarum’ (cf. iv. prooem. 3-5).
Quintilian married late in life. His wife died at the age of eighteen, his younger son soon afterwards at the age of five, the elder one subsequently at the age of nine.
vi. prooem. § 2, ‘Illum, de quo summa conceperam et in quo spem unicam senectutis reponebam, repetito volnere orbitatis amisi’; § 9, ‘Non flosculos, sicut prior, sed iam decimum aetatis ingressus annum, certos ac deformatos fructus ostenderat’; § 4, ‘erepta prius mihi matre eorumdem, quae nondum expleto aetatis undevicesimo anno duos enixa filios ...’; § 5, ‘cum omni virtute, quae in feminas cadit, functa insanabilem adtulit marito dolorem, tum aetate tam puellari, praesertim meae comparata, potest et ipsa numerari inter volnera orbitatis’; § 6, ‘Mihi filius minor quintum egressus annum prior alterum ex duobus eruit lumen.’
The date of Quintilian’s death is unknown. If he outlived Domitian it was not for long, as Pliny in the letters quoted above (the earlier written about A.D. 100) does not speak of Quintilian as alive.
(2) WORKS.
Earlier works.—Quintilian refers to a work de causis corruptae eloquentiae, and to an ars rhetorica in two Books. For speeches of his taken down and published, see vii. 2, 24, quoted [p. 303].
vi. prooem. 3, ‘eum librum, quem de causis corruptae eloquentiae emisi.’
i. prooem. 7, ‘Duo iam sub nomine meo libri ferebantur artis rhetoricae neque editi a me neque in hoc comparati. Namque alterum, sermone per biduum habito, pueri, quibus id praestabatur, exceperant; alterum pluribus sane diebus, quantum notando consequi potuerant, interceptum, boni iuvenes sed nimium amantes mei, temerario editionis honore volgaverant.’
The Institutio Oratoria.—For the date of publication see [p. 304]. The circumstances of publication are given by Quintilian in the preface addressed to his bookseller Trypho.
‘Efflagitasti cottidiano convicio, ut libros, quos ad Marcellum meum de Institutione oratoria scripseram, iam emittere inciperem. Nam ipse eos nondum opinabar satis maturuisse, quibus componendis, ut scis, paulo plus quam biennium tot alioqui negotiis districtus impendi ... Sed si tanto opere efflagitantur quam tu affirmas, permittamus vela ventis et oram solventibus bene precemur.’
The work is dedicated to Vitorius Marcellus (to whom Statius’ Silvae, Book iv., is addressed), and was originally written in view of the education of his son Geta.
i. prooem. 6, ‘Quod opus, Marcelle Vitori, tibi dicamus ... quod erudiendo Getae tuo ... non inutiles fore libri videbantur.’
Book iv. prooem. was written when Quintilian had been appointed tutor to the young princes, who are mentioned along with Geta and Quintilian’s elder son; Book vi. prooem. was written not long afterwards, and refers to his bereavements; in Book xii. prooem. no names are mentioned.
The work deals with the whole education of the future orator.
i. prooem. 5, ‘Nec aliter, quam si mihi tradatur educandus orator, studia eius formare ab infantia incipiam.’
Quintilian himself gives a sketch of the contents:
i. prooem. 21-2, ‘Liber primus ea quae sunt ante officium rhetoris continebit [including grammar and philology]. Secundo prima apud rhetorem elementa et quae de ipsa rhetorices substantia quaeruntur tractabimus. Quinque deinceps (iii.-vii.) inventioni, nam huic et dispositio subiungitur, quattuor (viii.-xi.) elocutioni, in cuius partem memoria ac pronuntiatio veniunt, dabuntur. Unus (xii.) accedet, in quo nobis orator ipse informandus est, ut qui mores eius, quae in suscipiendis, discendis, agendis causis ratio, quod eloquentiae genus, quis agendi debeat esse finis, quae post finem studia ... disseramus.’
The ordinary handbooks of rhetoric are attacked.
i. prooem. 24-5, ‘Nam plerumque nudae illae artes nimia subtilitatis affectatione frangunt atque concidunt quidquid est in oratione generosius, et omnem sucum ingeni bibunt et ossa detegunt, quae ut esse et adstringi nervis suis debent, sic corpore operienda sunt. Ideoque nos non particulam illam, sicut plerique, sed quidquid utile ad instituendum oratorem putabamus, in hos duodecim libros contulimus breviter omnia demonstraturi.’
Quintilian uses his own experience and the best views of different authorities.
vi. 2, 25, ‘Quod si tradita mihi sequi praecepta sufficeret, satisfeceram huic parti, nihil eorum, quae legi vel didici, quod modo probabile fuit, omittendo; sed eruere in animo est, quae latent, et penitus ipsa huius loci aperire penetralia, quae quidem non aliquo tradente sed experimento meo ac natura ipsa duce accepi.’
Quintilian insists that the orator must be a good man (cf. the importance he attaches to early education, i. 1, etc.).
xii. 1, 1, ‘Sit ergo nobis orator, quem constituimus, is qui a M. Catone finitur, vir bonus dicendi peritus; verum, id quod et ille posuit prius, et ipsa natura potius ac maius est, utique vir bonus.’
Cf. i. prooem. 9-10; ii. 2 (the whole chapter); ii. 15, 1.
Quintilian’s exposition is founded mainly on Cicero, from whom he seldom differs. Cf. vii. 3, 8, ‘Quamquam dissentire vix audeo a Cicerone.’
Quintilian’s illustrations are mainly drawn from classical writers. Upwards of four hundred and fifty passages of Cicero and about one hundred and forty of Virgil are referred to. Quintilian not only attacks the modern style, but warns his pupils against the early writers.
ii. 5, 21-2, ‘Duo autem genera maxime cavenda pueris puto: unum, ne quis eos antiquitatis nimius admirator in Graccorum Catonisque et aliorum similium lectione durescere velit ... Alterum, quod huic diversum est, ne recentis huius lasciviae flosculis capti voluptate prava deleniantur, ut praedulce illud genus et puerilibus ingeniis hoc gratius, quo propius est, adament.’
For Quintilian’s high appreciation of Cicero see x. 1, 105-112; and for his antagonism to Seneca, x. 1, 125-131, and to philosophers in general, i. prooem. 10.
For Quintilian’s authorities see iii. 1, ‘Prooemium de scriptoribus artis rhetoricae.’ They include Dionysius of Halicarnassus; Caecilius; Chrysippus (for education; cf. i. 1, 16, etc.); Cicero; Auctor ad Herenn.; Celsus, cf. iii. 1, 21, etc.; Rutilius, cf. ix. 3, 89; Remmius Palaemon.
Literary criticism is treated of in Book X. as regards the Greek and Latin authors useful to the orator. The principal authority used was the περὶ μιμήσεως of Dionysius Halicarnassius. Much of Quintilian’s criticism is traditional, and the lists of great writers came ultimately from the critics of Alexandria. Roman literary critics referred to were Cicero (e.g. on the Attic orators, x. 1, 76-80) and Horace (x. 1, 24; 56, etc.).
Spurious works.—These include two collections of declamationes.
1. Nineteen long pieces, ascribed to Quintilian by Jerome and others, but much later than Quintilian’s time.
2. One hundred and forty-five shorter pieces out of an original collection of three hundred and eighty-eight, the first half being lost. Some suppose they are the ‘libri artis rhetoricae’ (i. prooem. 7, quoted above), but this is not likely.