QUINTIL'IAN (MARCUS FABIUS QUINTIL IANUS) (c.35-c.97 A.D.). A Roman rhetorician, born at Calagurris (the modern Calahorra), in Spain. He attended in Rome the lectures of Domitius Alm who died in 59. After this date, however, he revisited Spain, whence he returned in GS to Rome, in the train of Galba, and began to practice as an advocate, in which capacity his reputation became considerable. lie was more distinguished. however, as a teacher of elocution than as a practicing orator, and his instruction came to be the most eagerly sought after among all his contemporaries, while among his pupils he numbered Pliny the Younger and the two grand-nephews of Domitian. He was the first public teacher who benefited by the endowment of Vespasian and received a fixed salary from the Imperial exchequer, and as a mark of Imperial favor he was invested with the insignia and title of consul. Ilis professional career as . a teacher of eloquence, commencing probably with 69, extended over a period of 20 years, after which he retired into private life, and died prob ably about 97. The reputation of Quintilian in modern times is based on his great work entitled De Institutione Oratorio Libri XII., a complete system of rhetoric, which he dedicates to his friend MareelIns Victorius, himself a Court favorite and orator of distinction. It was writ ten after he had ceased to be a public teacher, and was the fruit of two years' labor. During its composition, however, he was still, in the lifetime of Domitian. acting as tutor to the grand-nephews of that Emperor. In the first book he discusses the preliminary training through which a youth must pass before lie can begin those studies which are requisite for the orator. The second book treats of the first principles of rhetoric, and contains an inquiry into the essen tial nature of the art. The subjects of the five
following books are invention and arrangement; while those of the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh are composition (embracing the proper use of figures of speech) and delivery. The last, and, in the author's view, the most important, book is devoted to the various requisites for the formation of a finished orator, such as his man ners, his moral character, his mode of under taking, preparing, and conducting causes. the style of eloquence most advantageous to adopt, the age at which pleading should be begun, and at which it should be left off, and other allied topics. The entire work is remarkable for its sound critical judgments, its purity of taste. and the perfect familiarity it exhibits with the litera ture of oratory. The condensed survey of Greek and Roman literature with which the tenth book commences has always been admired for its cor rectness and animation. The declamations, amounting to 164, which have been ascribed to him, are now believed to be spurious, as they evidently belong to different authors, and even different epochs. The Dialogus (lc Oratoribus of Tacitus was formerly ascribed to Quintilian. Early editions of Quintilian are those of Grono vius (Leyden, 1665: Burmann (Leyden, 1720) ; and of Spalding and Zumpt (Leipzig, 1798-1829, containing a lexicon). The best modern editions of the Institutio Oratorio are by Hahn (2 vols., Leipzig, 1868-69), Meister (2 vols., Prague, 1886 87), and Bonne11 (2 vols.. Leipzig, 18961. Book I. alone is edited by Fierville (Paris, 1890) ; and Book X. by Meister (Leipzig, 1SS7 1 and Peter son (Oxford, 1S91). The last English transla tion is by Watson (London, 1856). The Drela matirmes are published by Ritter (Leipzig, 1884).