I like that Quintilian pays particular
attention to the study of rhetoric and of (as he says) the decline in
the teaching of rhetoric. He states, “the rhetoricians, especially
our own, have relinquished a part of their duties, and that the
grammarians have appropriated what does not belong to them” (364).
Quintilian is going to sort all of this out. This statement also
kind of reminds me of Cicero, where he felt that rhetoric was not
given as much credit as it should have, and that rhetoric dealt with
a lot more things that people supposed – and also the idea that
rhetoric has been traded for philosophy for some people; rhetoric
deals with representing truth but not TRUTH.
Anyway, this piece comes off kind of
preachy. Quintilian has several passages that start and go on sort
of like this:
“Let him adopt, then, above all
things, the feelings of a parent towards his pupils, and consider
that he succeeds to the place of those by whom the children were
entrusted to him. Let him neither have vices in himself, nor tolerate
them in others. Let his austerity not be stern, not his affability
too easy, lest dislike arise from the one, or contempt from the
other” (366) and etc. etc.
It's almost like he's praying for
change.
I do, however, find his views on the
teacher very endearing, as the synopsis at the beginning states that
he wrote this after he had lost one of his own children – and so it
emphasizes that the teacher is extremely important for the child. He
also mentions that a good parent will make sure that his child
studies from a good teacher, and that “[pupils] are to love their
tutors not less than their studies, and to regard them as parents,
not indeed of their bodies, but of their minds” (379). I really
like that – although I'm sure it was much easier for teachers back
then, who had much fewer students, and had the ability to be with
them through their learning as a parent is there for them through
life.
Definition of Rhetoric
In the middle sections, Quintilian
struggles to find a definition for rhetoric that he likes, but
finally he settles on “the definition that oratory is the
science of speaking well”
because it “agrees excellently for it embraces all the virtues of
oratory at once, and includes also the character of the true orator,
as he cannot speak well unless he be a good man” (389). I like the
effort that Quintilian makes in reaching this definition, because he
then is able to use it to combat counterarguments to the different
aspects of rhetoric in later chapters.
In his
own writing, Quintilian shows that it is very important to be
considerate and “go slow,” not to rush the meaning during the
process of writing. He is constantly focused on doing well,
right off the bat, and not having to redress his claims or try and do
much correction, such as a “perfect orator” would do.
We see this in one section where he is
seeking to discuss “how” and “what” to write, and he states
again, in prayer-like incantation:
“Let our pen be at first slow,
provided that it be accurate. Let us search for what is best, and not
allow ourselves to be readily pleased with whatever presents itself;
let judgement be applied to our thoughts, and skill in arrangement to
such of them as the judgement sanctions; for we must make a selection
from our thoughts and words, and the weight of each must be carefully
estimated” (404).
Not only must the process of writing
and practicing rhetoric be done well, but it must be done well and
from the goodness of our hearts as is seen through our character,
which he later goes on to describe, which for the sake of time I won't go into.
Essencially, I feel like Quintilian is
conducting a literature review or even doing his own sort of
synthesis essay in that he is discussing the different claims against
rhetoric as well as setting out to define terms in respect to the
problems presented and the history of the practice, along with his
own ideas about teaching and what he wants to present about rhetoric.
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