Institutio Oratoria
Quintilian
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.
as
whereEcl. iv. 62. [*]( Those that have never smiled on their parents, neither does any god honour him by admitting him to his feats nor goddess deem him worthy of her bed." Although there can be no doubt as to the correctness of Politian's emendation in the passage as quoted here, it is against all MSS. authority, both of Virgil and Quintilian, and it is still frequently held that Virgil wrote cui. )
- qui non risere parentes
- nec deus hunc mensa dea nec dignata cubili est,
he whom no goddess deems,etc., is included among
those who have never smiled,etc.
In a satire again we read,
where the infinitive is used as a noun: for the poet by nostrum vivere means nostram vitam. We also at times use the verb for the participle, as in the phrase,Pers. i. 9. [*](I look at our dreary way of living.)
- nostrum istud vivere triste aspxei,
where ferre is used for ferendum, or the participle may be used for the verb, as in the phrase volo datum (I wish to give).Aen. v. 248. [*](He gives him a great talent-weight to carry.)
- magnum dat ferre talentum,
At times, again, there may be some doubt as to the precise error which a figure resembles. Take, for example, the phrase
where the writer has either changed the parts of speech (making his phrase a variant for virtus estHor. Ep. I. i. 41. [*]('Tis a virtue to shun vice.)
- virtus est vitium fugere,
For example, Timarchides negat esse ei periculum a seuri [*](Verr. v. xliv. 116. Timarchides denies that he is in any danger from the axe of the executioner. ) the present negat is substituted for the past. Or one mood may be used for another, as in the phrase, hoc Ithacus velit. [*](Aen. ii. 104. So wills the Ithacan. On Quintilian's view velit here = vult. But in point of fact this is untrue, since in the context it clearly means would wish. ) In fact, to cut a long matter short, there is a figure corresponding to every form of solecism.
There is also a figure styled ἑτεροίωσις (i.e. alteration of the normal idiom), which bears a strong resemblance to ἐξαλλαγή. For example, we find in Sallust phrases such as neque ea res failsum me habuit [*](Jug. x. 1. Nor did this deceive me. ) and duci probare. [*]( From a lost work. Without the context the meaning is uncertain. ) Such figures as a rule aim not merely at novelty, but at conciseness as well. Hence we get further developments, such as non paeniturum for
not intending to repent,and visuros for
sent to see,both found in the same author.
These may have been figures when Sallust made them; but it is a question whether they can now be so considered, since they have met with such general acceptance. For we are in the habit of accepting common parlance as sufficient authority where current phrases are concerned: for example, rebus agentibus in the sense of while this was going on, which Pollio rebukes Labienus [*](See IV. i. 11; I. V. 8.) for using, has become an accredited idiom, as has contumeliam fecit, which, as is
Figures may also be commended by their antiquity, for which Virgil had such a special passion. Compare his
orAen. xi. 400. [*]( The figure consists in the use of vel cum to introduce an independent sentence. Even when he claims, to tremble at my taunts. )
- vel cum se pavidum contra mea iurgia iactat
Numerous instances of the same kind might be cited from the old tragic and comic poets.An. i. 19. [*](But she had heard that even now a raceWas springing from the blood of fallen Troy. Quintilian refers to the archaic sed enim. )
- progeniem sed enim Troiano a sanguine duci
- audierat.