The Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian Volume 1 (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 10 virtutes exigimus. Neque enim hoc concesserim, rationem rectae honestaeque vitae (ut quidam pu- taverunt) ad philosophos relegandam, cum vir ille vere civilis et publicarum privatarumque rerum administrationi accommodatus, qui regere consiliis urbes, ftmdare legibus, emendare iudiciis possit, 11 non alius sit profecto quam orator. Quare, tametsi me fateor usurum quibusdam, quae philosophorum libris continentur, tamen ea iure vereque conten- derim esse operis nostri proprieque ad artem 12 oratoriam pertinere. An, si frequentissime de iustitia, fortitudine, temperantia ceterisque simili- bus disserendum est, adeo ut vix ulla possit causa reperiri in quam non aliqua ex his incidat quaestio, eaque omnia inventione atque elocutione sunt ex- plicanda, dubitabitur, ubicunque vis ingenii et copia dicendi postulatur, ibi partes oratoris esse prae- 13 cipuas ? Fueruntque haec, ut Cicero apertissime colligit, quemadmodum iuncta natura sic officio quoque copulata, ut iidem sapientes atque elo- quentes haberentur. Scidit deinde se stadium, atque inertia factum est, ut artes esse plures vide- rentur. Nam ut primum lingua esse coepit inquaestu institutumque eloquentiae bonis male uti, curam 1 de Or, iii. 15. gifts of speech, but of all the excellences of character as well. For I will not admit that the principles of 10 upright and honourable living should, as some have held, be regarded as -the peculiar concern of philosophy. The man who can really play his part as a citizen and is capable of meeting the demands both of public and private business, the man who can guide a state by his counsels, give it a firm basis by his legislation and purge its vices by his decisions as a judge, is assuredly no other than the orator of our quest. Wherefore, although I admit I shall make 11 use ...