Born: Marcus Fabius Quintilianus in Calagurris (Calahorra), northern Spain, c. ad 35. Education: Studied rhetoric in Rome; acquainted with the orator Domitius Afer. Family: Married (wife died); two sons (died age 5 and 9). Career: Travelled to Spain but returned to Rome in ad 68; taught advocacy for 20 years: pupils included the young Hadrian and Pliny the Younger; appointed tutor to Domitian’s two great-nephews; granted ornamenta consularia (magisterial rank). Died: probably c. ad 100.
Publications
Works
Institutionis oratoriae, edited (with Declamationes) by Edward Bonnell. 2 vols., 1882-89; also edited by Michael Winterbottom, 2 vols., 1970; as The Institutio Oratoria, edited by Eugene Tavenner, 1951; as Institutes of Eloquence, translated by W. Guthrie, 1756; also translated by J. Patsall, 1774; as Institutes of Oratory, translated by J.S. Watson, 2 vols., 1856; as TheInstitutio Oratoria [Loeb Edition], translated by H.E. Butler, 4 vols., 1920-22; also translated by Charles Edgar Little, 1951; selections as Quintilian on Education, translated by William M. Small, 1938; as Quintilian as Educator: Selections from the Institutio Oratorio, translated by H.E. Butler, 1974; commentary in Selections, edited by D.M. Gaunt, 1952; as The Orator’s Education, edited and translated by Donald Russell, 2001.
Declamationes Majores (attributed), edited by Georg Lehnert. 1905; also edited by Constantin Ritter, 1965; as The Declamations, translated by John Warr, 1686; as The Major Declamations Ascribed to Quintilian, translated by Lewis A. Sussman, 1987.
Declamationes Minores (attributed), edited by Constantin Ritter. 1884, reprinted 1965; as The Minor Declamations, edited by Michael Winterbottom, 1984.
Critical Studies:
Etudes sur Quintilien by J. Cousin, 1936; Quintilian by George A. Kennedy, 1969; Problems in Quintilian, edited by M. Winterbottom, 1970; An Ideal Critic: Ciceronian Rhetoric and Contemporary Criticism by K. Hvidtfelt Nielsen, 1995.
By far the most important of Quintilian’s works is the Institutionis oratoriae (The Institutio Oratorio). One of his early published speeches, In Defence of Naevius Arpinianus, and also an essay De causis corruptae eloquentiae [On the Causes of Corrupt Eloquence], castigating extravagant and pretentious style, do not survive. Two collections of Declamationes (Declamations), attributed to Quintilian, survive, although their authenticity has been disputed.
At first sight it seems strange that Quintilian’s treatise, on the training of advocates to plead cases in the Roman law courts, should enjoy worldwide prestige. Such a topic seems narrow in scope and certainly the book contains much technical detail. Quintilian, however, took a broad view of his subject, seeing the training of an orator as part of a wider educational process. He discussed literary study in relation to the writing of speeches. His ideal orator, a man of competence and integrity, has a role beyond the law courts, namely in public affairs. Moreover, Quintilian claims that the art of speaking effectively is just as important in day-to-day private life as in the law courts or public affairs. His work therefore has something to offer anybody engaged in speaking, reading, writing, or teaching.
The treatise is organized around the five traditional parts of rhetoric: invention, disposition, style, memory, and delivery. These were the skills required for composing a speech, memorizing it, and delivering it before an audience. Rhetoric was the art of persuasion. In following this plan Quintilian expands in appropriate places upon the issues raised by his theme. He outlines this conception in his preface:
”I propose to mould the studies of my orator from infancy on the assumption that his whole education has been entrusted to my charge.”
Books I and II deal with elementary education, grammar, and rhetorical exercises for children. These chapters are interspersed with recommendations on teaching methods. Books III to VII deal with invention, under which is included disposition; Books VIII to XI are assigned to eloquence, which includes memory and delivery; whilst the final Book XII offers a portrait of the complete orator. This is how Quintilian himself explains the structure of his work, but it does not give a clear picture of the shape of the treatise. A better understanding of his rather individual manner of expounding the art of rhetoric emerges from considering the contents of each book.
Oratory is defined in the latter part of Book II and the three types of oratory—epideictic, deliberative, and judicial—are explained in Book III. Book IV describes the beginning and middle parts of a speech—exordium, narration, and digression—and these topics are amplified in Book V by discussion of proofs and arguments. The final part of a speech, the peroration, is the theme of Book VI and this leads to consideration of ways of arousing emotion and gaining the good will of judges. Book VII returns to aspects of disposition—conjecture, points of law, contradictory laws, syllogism, and ambiguity. Style occupies the next three books and is approached from different angles: ornament, amplification, diminution, and tropes (Book VIII); figures of thought and speech (Book IX); the merits of various literary works as aids to style in Book X. The later sections of this celebrated book broach the topic of delivery, which is treated again in Book XI after a discussion of memory. Thus Quintilian avoids an over-systematic exposition of rhetoric by treating the same topics in different contexts and from different angles.
For the most part, Quintilian’s art of rhetoric follows earlier writers, but on some points he claims originality or fuller treatment, in particular in his stress on practical needs as opposed to theory. In treating the beginning of a speech he states: ”It is not sufficient to explain the nature of the exordium to our pupils, we must also consider the easiest method of composing it . . . The best test of the appropriateness of a point to any part of a speech is to consider whether it would lose effect by being placed elsewhere.” Arising from his practical experience in the law courts he discusses more fully than other writers the examination of witnesses and the altercation or rapid debate, stressing the importance of quick thinking and a mastery of the details of the issues at hand.
Many of the recommendations concerning educational methods occur in the first two books. Quintilian compares the merits of public and private education and reflects on how pupils should be treated: ”Some boys are slack unless spurred on; others resent control; some can be restrained by fear; others are paralysed by it.” Later he discusses in more detail the different methods required for pupils of different aptitudes. He considers that teacher and pupil have mutual obligations, and that the teacher should regard himself in the place of a parent. He lays great stress on decorousness and the avoidance of vulgarity.
Of special interest to later generations has been his survey of Greek and Latin writers in Book X. He gives brief judgements on most major classical writers and on many whose works are lost. Homer is given pride of place and eulogized both for his poetic and oratorical powers. The survey ends with some criticism of Seneca’s unnatural expressions and epigrammatic brevity. Quintilian then proceeds to describe various ways in which students can benefit from the study of literary works, such as imitation, translation, or paraphrase.
When he comes to describe the ideal orator in Book XII Quintilian rejects the notion that the orator is merely someone hired to plead in the law courts; rather he is a ”man who to extraordinary natural gifts has added a thorough mastery of all the finest branches of knowledge, a man sent by heaven to be the blessing of mankind, one to whom all history can find no parallel, uniquely perfect in every detail and utterly noble in both thought and speech.” As George Kennedy has observed, ”It is difficult to think that Quintilian’s great orator in the fullest sense can be anyone other than some future emperor . . . As Plato had longed for a philosopher-king, so Quintilian longs for an orator-emperor.” The complete text of The Institutio Oratoria was discovered by Poggio in 1416 and exercised its greatest influence during the Renaissance and Reformation. Many of Quintilian’s concerns are still shared by educationalists and public speakers today.
