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.).