Institutio Oratoria (Quintilian)

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	Institutio Oratoria Author: Quintilian	Translator: Harold Edgeworth Butler
153	Unum gente , quale est , si quis Afrum vel Hispanum Latinae orationi nomen inserat , ut ferrum , quo rotae vinciuntur , dici solet cantus , quanquam eo tanquam recepto utitur Persius ; sicut Catullus ploxenum circa Padum invenit , et in oratione Labieni ( sive illa Cornelii Galli est ) in Pollionem casamo adsectator e Gallia ductum est ; nam mastrucam , quod Sardum est , irridens Cicero ex industria dixit .	One kind is due to race, such as the insertion of a Spanish or African term; for instance the iron tire of a wheel is called cantus, though Persius uses it as established in the Latin language; Catullus picked up ploxenum (a box) in the valley of the Po, while the author of the in Pollionem, be he Labienus or Cornelius Gallus, imported casamo from Gaul in the sense of "follower." As for mastruca, which is Sardinian for a "rough coat," it is introduced by Cicero merely as an object of derision.
154	Alterum genus barbarismi accipimus , quod fit animi natura , ut is , a quo insolenter quid aut minaciter aut crudeliter dictum sit , barbare locutus existimatur .	Another kind of barbarism proceeds from the speaker's temper: for instance, we regard it as barbarous if a speaker use cruel or brutal language.
155	Tertium est illud vitium barbarismi , cuius exempla vulgo sunt plurima , sibi etiam quisque fingere potest , ut verbo , cui libebit , adiiciat litteram syllabamve vel detrahat , aut aliam pro alia aut eandem alio quam rectum est loco ponat .	A third and very common kind, of which anyone may fashion examples for himself, consists in the addition or omission of a letter or syllable, or in the substitution of one for another or in placing one where it has no right to be.
156	Sed quidam fere in iactationem eruditionis sumere illa ex poetis solent et auctores quos praelegunt criminantur . Scire autem debet puer , haec apud scriptores carminum aut venia digna aut etiam laude duci , potiusque illa docendi erunt minus vulgata .	Some teachers however, to display their learning, are in the habit of picking out examples of barbarism from the poets and attacking the authors whom they are expounding for using such words. A boy should however realize that in poets such peculiarities are pardonable or even praiseworthy, and should therefore be taught less common instances.
157	Nam duos in uno nomine faciebat barbarismos Tinga Placentinus ( si reprehendenti Hortensio credimus ) preculam pro pergula dicens , et immutatione cum c pro g uteretur , et transmutatione cum r praeponeret e antecedenti . At in eiusdem vitii geminatione Mettoeoque Fufetioeo dicens Ennius poetico iure defenditur .	For Tinga of Placentia, if we may believe Hortensius who takes him to task for it, committed two barbarisms in one word by saying precula for pergula: that is to say he substituted c for g, and transposed r and e. On the other hand when Ennius writes Mettocoque Fufetioeo, where the barbarism is twice repeated, he is defended on the plea of poetic licence.
158	Sed in prosa quoque est quaedam iam recepta immutatio . Nam Cicero Canopitarum exercitum dicit , ipsi Canobon vocant ; et Trasumennum pro Tarsumenno multi auctores , etiamsi est in eo transmutatio , vindicaverunt . Similiter alia ; nam sive est adsentior , Sisenna dixit adsentio multique et hunc et analogian secuti , sive illud verum est , haec quoque pars consensu defenditur .	Substitution is however sometimes admitted even in prose, as for instance when Cicero speaks of the army of Canopus which is locally styled Canobus, while the number of authors who have been guilty of transposition in writing Trasumennus for Tarsumennus has succeeded in standardising the error. Similar instances may be quoted. If adsentior be regarded as the correct form, we must remember that Sisenna said adsentio, and that many have followed him on the ground of analogy: on the other hand, if adsentio is the correct form, we must remember that adsentior has the support of current usage.
159	At ille pexus pinguisque doctor aut illic detractionem aut hic adiectionem putabit . Quid quod quaedam , quae singula procul dubio vitiosa sunt , iuncta sine reprehensione dicuntur ?	And yet our fat fool, the fashionable schoolmaster, will regard one of these forms as an example of omission or the other as an instance of addition. Again there are words which when used separately are undoubtedly incorrect, but when used in conjunction excite no unfavourable comment.
160	Nam et dua et tre diversorum generum sunt barbarismi ; at duapondo et trepondo usque ad nostram aetatem ab omnibus dictum est , et recte dici Messala confirmat .	For instance dua and tre are barbarisms and differ in gender, but the words duapondo and trepondo have persisted in common parlance down to our own day, and Messala shows that the practice is correct.
161	Absurdum forsitan videatur dicere , barbarismum , quod est unius verbi vitium , fieri per numeros aut genera sicut soloecismum : scala tamen et scopa contraque hordea et mulsa , licet litterarum mutationem , detractionem , adiectionem habeant , non alio vitiosa sunt , quam quod pluralia singulariter et singularia pluraliter efferuntur ; et gladia qui dixerunt , genere exciderunt .	It may perhaps seem absurd to say that a barbarism, which is an error in a single word, may be made, like a solecism, by errors in connexion with number or gender. But take on the one hand scala (stairs) and scopa (which literally means a twig, but is used in the sense of broom) and on the other hand hordea (barley) and mulsa (mead): here we have substitution, omission and addition of letters, but the blemish consists in the former case merely in the use of singular for plural, in the latter of plural for singular. Those on the other hand who have used the word gladia are guilty of a mistake in gender.
162	Sed hoc quoque notare contentus sum , ne arti culpa quorundam pervicacium perplexae videar et ipse quaestionem addidisse . Plus exigunt subtilitatis quae accidunt in dicendo vitia , quia exempla eorum tradi scripto non possunt , nisi cum in versus inciderunt , ut divisio Europaï Asiaï et ei contrarium vitium , quod συναίρεσιν et συναλοιφὴν Graeci vocant , nos complexionem dicamus , qualis est apud P . Varronem tum te flagrant deiectum fulmine Phaethon .	I merely mention these as instances: I do not wish anyone to think that I have added a fresh problem to a subject into which the obstinacy of pedants has already introduced confusion. The faults which arise in the course of actual speaking require greater penetration on the part of the critic, since it is impossible to cite examples from writing, except in cases where they occur in poetry, as when the diphthong is divided into two syllables in Europai and Asiai ; or when the opposite fault occurs, called synaeresis or synaloephe by the Greeks and complexio by ourselves: as an example I may quote the line of Publius Varro: " turn te flagranti deiectum fulmine Plaethon. "
163	Nam si esset prosa oratio , easdem litteras enuntiare veris syllabis licebat . Praeterea quae fiunt spatio , sive cum syllaba correpta producitur , ut Italiam fato profugus , seu longa corripitur , ut unius ob noxam et furias , extra carmen non deprehendas ; sed nec in carmine vitia dicenda sunt .	If this were prose, it would be possible to give the letters their true syllabic value. I may mention as further anomalies peculiar to poetry the lengthening of a short syllable as in Italiam fato profugus, or the shortening of a long such as unĭius ob noxam et furias; but in poetry we cannot label these as actual faults.
164	Illa vero non nisi aure exiguntur , quae fiunt per sonos ; quanquam per aspirationem , sive adiicitur vitiose sive detrahitur , apud nos potest quaeri an in scripto sit vitium , si h littera est , non nota . Cuius quidem ratio mutata cum temporibus est saepius .	Errors in sound on the other hand can be detected by the ear alone; although in Latin, as regards the addition or omission of the aspirate, the question may be raised whether this is an error when it occurs in writing; for there is some doubt whether h is a letter or merely a breathing, practice having frequently varied in different ages.
165	Parcissime ea veteres usi etiam in vocalibus , cum aedos ircosque dicebant ; diu deinde servatum , ne consonantibus aspirarent , ut in Graccis et in triumpis ; erupit brevi tempore nimius usus , ut choronae , chenturiones , praechones adhuc quibusdam in inscriptionibus maneant , qua de re Catulli nobile epigramma est .	Older authors used it but rarely even before vowels, saying aedus or ircus, while its conjunction with consonants was for a long time avoided, as in words such as Graccus or triumpus. Then for a short time it broke out into excessive use, witness such spelling as chorona, chenturia or praecho, which may still be read in certain inscriptions: the well-known epigram of Catullus will be remembered in this connexion.
166	Inde durat ad nos usque vehementer et comprehendere et mihi , nam mehe quoque pro me apud antiquos tragoediarum praecipue scriptores in veteribus libris invenimus .	The spellings vehementer, comprehendere and mihi have lasted to our own day: and among early writers, especially of tragedy, we actually find mehe for me in the older MSS.
167	Adhuc difficilior observatio est per tenores ( quos quidem ab antiquis dictos tonores comperi videlicet declinato a Graecis verbo , qui τόνους dicunt ) , vel adcentus , quas Graeci προσῳδίας vocant , cum acuta et gravis alia pro alia ponuntur , ut in hoc Camillus , si acuitur prima :	It is still more difficult to detect errors of tenor or tone (I note that old writers spell the word tonor, as derived from the Greek τόνος ), or of accent, styled prosody by the Greeks, such as the substitution of the acute accent for the grave or the grave for the acute: such an example would be the placing of the acute accent on the first syllable of Camillus,
168	aut gravis pro flexa , ut Cethegus , et hic prima acuta ( nam sic media mutatur ) ; aut flexa pro gravi , ut Appi circumducta sequenti , quam ex duabus syllabis in unam cogentes et deinde flectentes dupliciter peccant .	or the substitution of the grave for the circumflex in Cethegus, an error which results in the alteration of the quantity of the middle syllable, since it means making the first syllable acute; or again the substitution of the circumflex for the grave on the second syllable of Appi, where the contraction of two syllables into one circumflexed syllable involves a double error.
169	Sed id saepius in Graecis nominibus accidit , ut Atreus , quem nobis iuvenibus doctissimi senes acuta prima dicere solebant , ut necessario secunda gravis esset , item Nerei Tereique . Haec de accentibus tradita .	This, however, occurs far more frequently in Greek words such as Atrei, which in our young days was pronounced by the most learned of our elders with an acute accent on the first syllable, necessitating a grave accent on the second; the same remark applies to Nerei and Terei. Such has been the tradition as regards accents.
170	Ceterum scio iam quosdam eruditos , nonnullos etiam grammaticos sic docere ac loqui , ut propter quaedam vocum discrimina verbum interim acuto sono finiant ,	Still I am well aware that certain learned men and some professed teachers of literature, to ensure that certain words may be kept distinct, sometimes place an acute accent on the last syllable, both when they are teaching and in ordinary speech: as, for instance, in the following passage: "quae circus litora, circum piscosos scopulos,"
171	ut in illis quae circum littora , circum piscosos scopulos , ne , si gravem posuerint secundam , circus dici videatur non circuitus . Itemque cum quale interrogantes gravi , comparantes acuto tenore concludunt ; quod tamen in adverbiis fere solis ac pronominibus vindicant , in ceteris veterem legem sequuntur .	where they make the last syllable of circum acute on the ground that, if that syllable were given the grave accent, it might be thought that they meant circus not circuitus. Similarly when quale is interrogative, they give the final syllable a grave accent, but when using it in a comparison, make it acute. This practice, however, they restrict almost entirely to adverbs and pronouns; in other cases they follow the old usage.
172	Mihi videtur condicionem mutare , quod his locis verba coniungimus . Nam cum dico circum litora , tanquam unum enuntio dissimulata distinctione , itaque tanquam in una voce una est acuta , quod idem accidit in illo Troiae qui primus ab oris .	Personally I think that in such phrases as these the circumstances are almost entirely altered by the fact that we join two words together. For when I say circum litora I pronounce the phrase as one word, concealing the fact that it is composed of two, consequently it contains but one acute accent, as though it were a single word. The same thing occurs in the phrase Troiae qui primus ab oris.
173	Evenit , ut metri quoque condicio mutet accentum , ut Pecudes pictaeque volucres ; nam volucres media acuta legam , quia , etsi natura brevis , tamen positione longa est , ne faciat iambum , quem non recipit versus herous .	It sometimes happens that the accent is altered by the metre as in pecudes pictaeque volucres ; for I shall read volucres with the acute on the middle syllable, because, although that syllable is short by nature, it is long by position: else the last two syllables would form an iambus, which its position in the hexameter does not allow.
174	Separata vero haec a praecepto non recedent , aut si consuetudo vicerit , vetus lex sermonis abolebitur ; cuius difficilior apud Graecos observatio est , quia plura illis loquendi genera , quas διαλέκτους vocant , et quod alia vitiosum interim alia rectum est ; apud nos vero brevissima ratio .	But these same words, if separated, will form no exception to the rule: or if the custom under discussion prevails, the old law of the language will disappear. (This law is more difficult for the Greeks to observe, because they have several dialects, as they call them, and what is wrong in one may be right in another.) But with us the rule is simplicity itself.
175	Namque in omni voce acuta intra numerum trium syllabarum continetur , sive eae sunt in verbo sole sive ultimae , et in iis aut proxima extremae aut ab ea tertia . Trium porro , de quibus loquor , media longa aut acuta aut flexa erit ; eodem loco brevis utique gravem habebit sonum , ideoque positam ante se id est ab ultima tertiam acuet .	For in every word the acute accent is restricted to three syllables, whether these be the only syllables in the word or the three last, and will fall either on the penultimate or the antepenultimate. The middle of the three syllables of which I speak will be acute or circumflexed, if long, while if it be short, it will have a grave accent and the acute will be thrown back to the preceding syllable, that is to say the antepenultimate.
176	Est autem in omni voce utique acuta sed nunquam plus una nec unquam ultima ideoque in disyllabis prior . Praeterea nunquam in eadem flexa et acuta , quoniam est in flexa et acuta , itaque neutra claudet vocem Latinam . Ea vero , quae sunt syllabae unius , erunt acuta aut flexa , ne sit aliqua vox sine acuta .	Every word has an acute accent, but never more than one. Further the acute never falls on the last syllable and therefore in dissyllabic words marks the first syllable. Moreover the acute accent and the circumflex are never found in one and the same word, since the circumflex itself contains an acute accent. Neither the circumflex nor the acute, therefore, will ever be found in the last syllable of a Latin word, with this exception, that monosyllables must either be acute or circumflexed; otherwise we should find words without an acute accent at all.
177	Et illa per sonos accidunt , quae demonstrari scripto non possunt , vitia oris et linguae : ἰωτακισμοὺς et λαμβδακισμοὺς et ἰσχνότητας et πλατειασμοὺς feliciores fingendis nominibus Graeci vocant , sicut κοιλοστομίαν , cum vox quasi in recessu oris auditor .	There are also faults of sound, which we cannot reproduce in writing, as they spring from defects of the voice and tongue. The Greeks who are happier in inventing names than we are call them iotacisms, lambdacisms, ἰσχνότητες (attenuations) and πλατειασμοί (broadenings); they also use the term κοιλοστομία, when the voice seems to proceed from the depths of the mouth.
178	Sunt etiam proprii quidam et inenarrabiles soni , quibus nonnunquam nationes reprehendimus . Remotis igitur omnibus , de quibus supra dixi , vitiis erit illa quae vocatur ὀρθοέπεια , id est emendata cum suavitate vocum explanatio : nam sic accipi potest recta .	There are also certain peculiar and indescribable sounds for which we sometimes take whole nations to fault. To sum up then, if all the faults of which we have just spoken be avoided, we shall be in possession of the Greek ὀρθοέπεια, that is to say, an exact and pleasing articulation; for that is what we mean when we speak of correct pronunciation.
179	Cetera vitia omnia ex pluribus vocibus sunt , quorum est soloecismus , quanquam circa hoc quoque disputatum est . Nam etiam qui complexu orationis accidere eum confitentur , quia tamen unius emendatione verbi corrigi possit , in verbo esse vitium non in sermone contendunt ;	All other faults in speaking are concerned with more words than one; among this class of faults is the solecism, although there have been controversies about this as well. For even those who acknowledge that it occurs in connected speech, argue that, since it can be corrected by the alteration of one word, the fault lies in the word and not in the phrase or sentence.
180	cum , sive amarae corticis seu medio cortice per genus facit soloecismum ( quorum neutrum quidem reprehendo , cum sit utriusque Vergilius auctor ; sed fingamus utrumlibet non recte dictum ) , mutatio vocis alterius , in qua vitium erat , rectam loquendi rationem sit redditura , ut amari corticis fiat vel media cortice . Quod manifestae calumniae est ; neutrum enim vitiosum est separatum , sed compositione peccatur , quae iam sermonis est .	For example whether amarae corticis or medio cortice contains a solecism in gender (and personally I object to neither, as Vergil is the author of both; however, for the sake of argument let us assume that one of the two is incorrect), still whichever phrase is incorrect, it can be set right by the alteration of the word in which the fault lies: that is to say we can emend either to amari corticis or media cortice. But it is obvious that these critics misrepresent the case. For neither word is faulty in itself; the error arises from its association with another word. The fault therefore lies in the phrase.
181	Illud eruditius quaeritur , an in singulis quoque verbis possit fieri soloecismus , uti si unum quis ad se vocans dicat venite , aut si plures a se dimittens ita loquatur abi aut discede . Nec non cum responsum ab interrogante dissentit , ut si dicenti Quem video ? ita occurras Ego . In gestu etiam nonnulli putant idem vitium inesse , cum aliud voce aliud nutu vel manu demonstratur .	Those who raise the question as to whether a solecism can arise in a single word show greater intelligence. Is it for instance a solecism if a man when calling a single person to him says uenite, or in dismissing several persons says abi or discede? Or again if the answer does not correspond to the question: suppose, for example, when someone said to you "Whom do I see?" , you were to reply "I." Some too think it a solecism if the spoken word is contradicted by the motion of hand or head.
182	Huic opinioni neque omnino accedo neque plane dissentio . Nam id fateor accidere voce una non tamen aliter , quam si sit aliquid , quod vim alterius vocis obtineat , ad quod vox illa referatur , ut soloecismus ex complexu fiat eorum , quibus res significantur et voluntas ostenditur .	I do not entirely concur with this view nor yet do I wholly dissent. I admit that a solecism may occur in a single word, but with this proviso: there must be something else equivalent to another word, to which the word, in which the error lies, can be referred, so that the solecism arises from the faulty connexion of those symbols by which facts are expressed and purpose indicated.
183	Atque ut omnem effugiam cavillationem , sit aliquando in uno verbo nunquam in solo verbo . Per quot autem et per quas accidat species , non satis convenit . Qui plenissime , quadripertitam volunt esse rationem nec aliam quam barbarismi , ut fiat adiectione nam enim , de susum , in Alexandriam ; detractione ambulo viam , Aegypto venio , ne hoc fecit ;	To avoid all suspicion of quibbling, I will say that a solecism may occur in one word, but never in a word in isolation. There is, however, some controversy as to the number and nature of the different kinds of solecism. Those who have dealt with the subject most fully make a fourfold division, identical with that which is made in the case of barbarisms: solecisms are brought about by addition, for instance in phrases such as nam enim, de susum, in Alexandriam;
184	transmutatione , qua ordo turbatur , quoque ego , enim hoc voluit , autem non habuit . Ex quo genere an sit igitur initio sermonis positum , dubitari potest , quia maximos auctores in diversa fuisse opinione video , cum apud alios sit etiam frequens , apud alios nunquam reperiatur .	by omission, in phrases such as ambulo viam, Aegypto venio, or ne hoc fecit: and by transposition as in quoque ego, enim hoc voluit, aulem non habuit. Under this last head comes the question whether igitur can be placed first in a sentence: for I note that authors of the first rank disagree on this point, some of them frequently placing it in that position, others never.
185	Haec tria genera quidam deducunt a soloecismo , et adiectionis vitium πλεονασμόν , detractionis ἔλλειψιν , inversionis ἀναστροφήν vocant , quae si in speciem soloecismi cadat , ὑπερβατόν quoque eodem appellari modo posse .	Some distinguish these three classes of error from the solecism, styling addition a pleonasm, omission an ellipse, and transposition anastrophe: and they assert that if anastrophe is a solecism, hyperbaton might also be so called.
186	Immutatio sine controversia est , cum aliud pro alio ponitur . Id per omnes orationis partes deprehendimus , frequentissime in verbo , quia plurima huic accidunt ; ideoque in eo fiunt soloecismi per genera , tempora , personas , modos , sive cui status eos dici seu qualitates placet , vel sex vel , ut alii volunt , octo ;— nam totidem vitiorum erunt formae , in quot species eorum quidque , de quibus supra dictum est , diviseris praeterea numeros ,	About substitution, that is when one word is used instead of another, there is no dispute. It is an error which we may detect in connexion with all the parts of speech, but most frequently in the verb, because it has greater variety than any other: consequently in connexion with the verb we get solecisms of gender, tense, person and mood (or "states" or "qualities" if you prefer either of these terms), be these types of error six in number, as some assert, or eight as is insisted by others (for the number of the forms of solecism will depend on the number of subdivisions which you assign to the parts of speech of which we have just spoken). Further there are solecisms of number;
187	in quibus nos singularem ac pluralem habemus Graeci et δυϊκόν . Quanquam fuerunt , qui nobis quoque adiicerent dualem scripsere , legere ; quod evitandae asperitatis gratia mollitum est , ut apud veteres pro male mereris , male merere . Ideoque quod vocant dualem , in illo solo genere consistit , cum apud Graecos et in verbi tota fere ratione et in nominibus deprehendatur , et sic quoque rarissimus eius sit usus ,	now Latin has two numbers, singular and plural, while Greek possesses a third, namely the dual. There have however been some who have given us a dual as well in words such as scripsere and legere, in which as a matter of fact the final syllable has been softened to avoid harshness, just as in old writers we find male merere for male mereris. Consequently what they assert to be a dual is concerned solely with this one class of termination, whereas in Greek it is found throughout the whole structure of the verb and in nouns as well, though even then it is but rarely used.
188	apud nostrorum vero neminem haec observatio reperiatur , quin e contrario devenere locos et conticuere omnes et consedere duces aperte nos doceant , nihil horum ad duos pertinere ; dixere quoque , quamquam id Antonius Rufus ex diverso ponit exemplum , de pluribus patronis praeco pronuntiet .	But we find not a trace of such a usage in any Latin author. On the contrary phrases such as devenere locos, conticuere omnes and consedere duces clearly prove that they have nothing to do with the dual. Moreover dixere, although Antonius Rufus cites it as proof to the contrary, is often used by the usher in the courts to denote more than two advocates.
189	Quid ? non Livius circa initia statim primi libri , Tenuere , inquit , arcem Sabini ? et mox , in adversum Romani subiere ? Sed quem potius ego quam M . Tullium sequar ? qui in Oratore , Non reprehendo , inquit , scripsere ; scripserunt esse verius sentio .	Again, does not Livy near the beginning of his first book write tenuere arcem Sabini and later in adversum Romani subiere? But I can produce still better authority. For Cicero in his Orator says, " I have no objection to the form scripsere, though I regard scripserunt as the more correct. "
190	Similiter in vocabulis et nominibus fit soloecismus genere , numero , proprie autem casibus , quidquid horum alteri succedet . Huic parti subiungatur licet per comparationes et superlationes , itemque in quibus patrium pro possessivo dicitur vel contra .	Similarly in vocables and nouns solecisms occur in connexion with gender, number and more especially case, by substitution of one for another. To these may be added solecisms in the use of comparatives and superlatives, or the employment of patronymics instead of possessives and vice versa.