the most celebrated of Roman rhetoricians, was a native of Calagurris (Calahorra), in the
upper valley of the Ebro. He was born about de Aquaed. 102). Having revisited Spain, He returned from thence (consularia ornamenta),
and is, moreover, celebrated as the first public instructor, who, in virtue of the endowment
by Vespasian (Suet. Vesp. 18), received a regular salary from the
imperial exchequer. After leaving devoted twenty years, commencing probably with A. D. 118.
Martial, himself from the neighbourhood of Calagurris (Ep. 1.62), and
fond of commemorating the literary glories of his own land, although he pays a tribute to the
fame of Quintilian (11.90),
nowhere claims him as a
countryman, and hence it has been concluded that he was not by birth a Spaniard, but this
negative evidence cannot be allowed to outweigh the direct testimony of Ausonius (Prof. 1.7), colnfired by Hieroyiiius (Chron. Euseb.
Olymp. ccxi. ccxvii.) and Cassiodorus (Chron. sub Domitian. ann.
viii.).
It is frequently affirmed in histories of Roman literature that the father of Quintilian was
a pleader, and that his grandfatther was Quintilian thle declaimer spoken of by Seneca, but
the passages referred to in proof of these assertions will be found not to warrant any such
inferences (9.3.73 ; Senec. Controv. v. praef. and 33).
Doubts have been expressed with regard to the emperor to whom Quintilian was indebted for
the honours alluded to above, and it has been confidently maintained that Hadrian, not
Domitian, was his patron. In the prooemium to the fourth book of the Institutions the author
records with grateful pride that Doimitianus Augustus had committed to his care the grandsons
of his sister,--that is, the sons of Flavius Clemens and Domitilla the younger (see Sueton.
Dom. 15; Dio Cass. p. 1112, ed. Reimar). Again, Ausonius, in his
"Si Fortuna volet fies de rhetore consul."
The pecuniary circumstances, also, of Quintilian, have afforded a theme for considerable
discussion. in consequence of the (apparently) contradictory statements of Juvenal and Pliny.
The former, after inveighing against the unsparing profusion of the rich in all luxurious
indulgences connected with the pleasures of the table, as contrasted with the paltry
remuneration which they offered to the most distinguished teachers of youth, exclaims (7.186),
"Hos inter sumtus sestertia Quintiliano
Ut multum duo sufficient; res nulla
minoris
Constabit patri quam filius. Unde igitur tot
Quintilianus habet saltus,"
and then proceeds to ascribe his singular prosperity to the influence of good luck, On the
other hand, Pliny, in a letter inscribed "Quintiliano suo" (6.32, comp. 6), makes him a
present of 50,000 sesterces, about 400l. sterling, as a contribution
towards the outfit of a daughter about to be married, assigning as a reason for his liberality
"Te porro, animo beatissimum, modicum facultatibus, scio." Passing over
the untenable supposition that Pliny may have been addressing some Quintilian different from
the rhetorician, or that the estates indicated above may have been acquired at a later period,
we must observe that Juvenal here employs a tone of declamatory exaggeration, and that he
speaks with evident, though suppressed bitterness of the good fortune of Quintilian, probably
in consequence of the flattery lavished by the latter on the hated Domitian (e. g. prooem.
lib. iv.); we must bear in mind also, that although the means of Quintilian may not have been
so ample as to render an act of generosity on the part of a rich and powerful pupil in any way
unacceptable, still the handsome income which he enjoyed (100,000 sesterces=800l., Suet. Vesp. 18) must have appeared boundless wealth when
compared with the indigence of the troops of half-starved grammarians who thronged the
metropolis, and whose miseries are so forcibly depicted in the piece where the above lines are
found.
The epistle of Pliny has suggested another difficulty. Quintilian, in the preface to his
sixth book, laments in very touching language the death of his only son, whose improvement had
been one of his chief inducements to undertake the work. He is thus led on to enter into
details regarding his family bereavements: first of all he lost his wife, at the age of
nineteen, who left behind her two boys; the younger died when five years old, the elder at
ten; but there is no allusion to a daughter, and indeed his words clearly imply that two
children only had been born to him, both of whom he had lost. Hence we are driven to the
supposition that he must have married a second time, that the lady was the daughter of a
certain Tutilius (Plin. l.c.), and that the offspring of this union was
the girl whose approaching marriage with Nonius Celer called forth the gift of Pliny. It will
be seen too that Quintilian, at the lowest computation, must have been nearly fifty when he
was left childless, consequently he must have been so far advanced in life when his daughter
became marriageable, that it is impossible to believe that he amassed a fortune subsequent to
that event.
The great work of Quintilian is a complete system of rhetoric in twelve books, entitled
In an introductory chapter addressed to Marcellus, he briefly indicates the plan which he
had followed, and the distribution of the different parts. The first book contains a
dissertation on the preliminary training requisite before a youth can enter directly upon
the studies necessary to mould an accomplished orator (ea quae sunt ante
officium rhetoris), and presents us with a carefully sketched outline of the method to
be pursued in educating children, from the time they leave the cradle until they pass from
the hands of the grammarian. In the second book we find an exposition of the first
principles of rhetoric, together with an investigation into the nature or essence of the art
(prima apud rhelorem elementa et quae de ipsa rhetoricee substanlia
quaeruntur). The live following are devoted to invention and arrangemtent (inventio. disposition); the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh to
composition (including the proper use of the figures of speech) and delivery, comprised
under the general term elocutio, and the last is occupied with what the
author considers by far the most important portion of his project (partem
operis destinuati longe gravissimam), an inquiry, namely, into various circumstances
not included in a course of scholastic discipline, but essential to the formation of a
perfect public speaker; such as his manners--his moral character, -- the principles by which
he must be guided in undertaking, in preparing, and in conducting causes, -- the peculiar
style of eloquence which he may adopt with greatest advantage -- the collateral studies to
be pursued -- the age at which it is most suitable to commence pleading -- the necessity of
retiring before the powers begin to fail--and various other kindred topics.
This production bears throughout the impress of a clear, sound judgment, keen
discrimination, and pure taste, improved by extensive reading, deep reflection, and long
practice. The diction is highly polished, and very graceful. The fastidious critic may,
indeed, detect here and there an obscure, affected phrase, or a word employed in a sense not
authorised by the purest models of Latinity, but these blemishes, although significant of
the age to which the treatise belongs, are by no means so numerous or so glaring as
seriously to injure its general beauty. In copiousness, perspicuity, and technical accuracy,
it is unquestionably superior to the essay on the same subject ascribed to Cicero, although
each possesses its peculiar merits, which are fully expounded in the laborious comparison
instituted by Campanus. The sections which possess the greatest interest for general readers
are those chapters in the first book which relate to elementary education, and the
commencement of the tenth book, which furnishes us with a compressed
One hundred and sixty-four declamations are extant under the name of Quintilian, nineteen of considerable length; the remaining one hundred and forty-five, which form the concluding portion
only of a collection which originally extended to three hundred and eighty-eight pieces, are
mere skeletons or fragments. No one believes these to be the genuine productions of
Quintilian, although some of them were unquestionably received as such by Lactantius and
Jerome, and few suppose that they proceeded from any one individual. They apparently belong
not only to different persons, but to different periods, and neither in style nor in
substance do they offer any thing which is either attractive or useful. The conjecture,
founded on a sentence in Trebellius Pollio (Trig. Tyran. iv.), that
they ought to be ascribed to the younger Postumus, does not admit of proof or
refutation.
At the end of the eighth book of the Institutions, we read "Sed de hoc satis, quia eundem
locum plenius in eo libro quo causes corruptae eloquentiae reddebamus,
tractavimus." These words have very naturally led some scholars to conclude that the
well-known anonymous Dialogus de Oratoribus, written in the sixth year
of Vespasian (see 100.17), and which often, although upon no good authority, bears the
second title
The first MS. of Quintilian was discovered in the monastery of St. Gall by Poggio the Florentine, when he was attending the council of Constance, and is probably the same with the Codex Laurentianus, now preserved at Florence.
The most important editions of Quintilian are, that of
The Institutions have been translated into English by
The Declamations have been translated into English by