Chapter four, section six

I found Quintilian to be a little easier to read than past text, and I am attributing that to the headings at the beginning of each chapter that break down the different numbered parts.

Chapter four was one of my favorite parts of Institutes of Oratory, in particular I liked sections 4-8 and picked sections six to focus on of my post. I really liked “Let that age be daring, invent much, and delight in what it invents, though it be often not sufficiently severe and correct. The remedy for exuberance is easy; bareness is incurable by any labor.”  I would like to know what “bareness” meant during Quintilian’s time? Could it have meant boring, because when I read this section and really try to chew on its point, I come up with boring.  But then why would one want to stifle or cure their exuberance, is exuberance not a catalyst for individuality and invention. I would have thought by now and from what I have read of Quintilian that he would be for exuberance, invention and individuality. I guess I don’t agree with Quintilian on this point as much as I thought I had when beginning this post. Section six drew me in because of the first part and it advises to be daring, inventive and delighted. But on the contrary it seems as if no of this behavior is actually encouraged. The more I think about this passage the more questions I come up with and seem to not be able to find the answers for which is becoming very frustrating.

This leads me to read back in the fourth chapter, seeing the lines right before my first quote: “Hence there is strength; while a child that has the outline of all his limbs exact commonly portends weakness in subsequent years.” Upon trying to reference this quote and make sense of what I have started out to I again have come up with more questions. What does it mean for a child to have its limbs outlined? And how will he portend weakness in the following years?