Book X of Quintilian'sInstitutio Oratoria is the most accessible section of his remarkable treatise. Chapter I is a survey and critique of Greek and Roman literature—poetry, history, oratory, and philosophy—that defends reading as the key to "How to acquire a command of diction." This chapter can be used as an introduction to Greek literature for "Greekless" Latin students. Remaining chapters cover "Of Imitation," "How to Write," "Revision—its uses and limitations," "What to Write," "Of Meditation," and "Of Extempore Speaking."
Institutio Oratoria is a rare treat among rhetorical treatises: W. Peterson, this edition's editor, describes its style as "dignified and yet sweet." During the Renaissance, after its rediscovery by Poggio, it won praise for Quintilian as one of the most important writers of classical antiquity. It continued to impress luminaries such as Luther, Erasmus, Milton, J. S. Mill, and Macaulay. More recently, in the third edition of The Oxford Classical Dictionary, Neil Hopkinson describes it as "a storehouse of sanity, humane scholarship and good sense."
Special features
- Latin text of Book X of Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria
- Separate notes
- Index of Names
- Index of Words and Phrases
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