Latin 520 ('Schooling the Emperor'): Assignment for Week 6 (2-8 May)

• Read:

Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria Books 11-12.

• Ponderanda:

On Monday we'll focus on Book 11. I'd like in particular to look closely at Chap. 2, his well-known section on 'Memory'. What in Q.'s view are the chief functions of memory, i.e., what is it good for? Is he strictly interested in 'memory' as a skill to be practiced and perfected by an orator, or does he gesture toward a more expansive, 'cultural' function of memory? What does Q. recommend we do to improve or perfect our memories, and what, if anything, do these methods have to do with issues he's addressed previously in the IO? In connection with this, please have read Yates (see below).

In addition, I'd like to consider as well the fascinating discussion of delivery or actio -- essentially, the physical demands and requirements of orator -- in Chap. 3 of Book 11. Russell provides a useful outline of this chapter on p. 6 of the Loeb translation (vol. 5). Pick a section in this chapter you found particularly attention-getting (I'm trying to avoid 'interesting') or surprising. Does this section change in any way your appreciation of the ancient (or at least Quintilian's) view of oratory? In connection with this subject -- and with the role of the 'voice' in particular -- I strongly encourage you to read a forthcoming article by a Mystery Scholar -- I will send this to you by email. I think you'll find it quite eye-opening!

For Wednesday: The grand finale, Book 12! There are two aspects about this book I'd like us to talk about: 1) Q.'s view of what constitutes being 'good' or 'virtuous' -- that is, in this book Q. returns to this part of the formula 'vir bonus dicendi peritus'. What do we learn from him that's new or different from what's gone before? and 2) look for places in this book in which Q. returns to (other) previously treated issues or concerns. How does Book 12 succeed (or not) as a conclusion to the work as a whole?

I'd also like on Wednesday to have a sort of summarizing conversation about the IO as a whole...your reactions to it, especially. And with that we shall seque into Tacitus' Dialogus de oratoribus (about which I shall have a few things to say), as we start to consider how a reading of the IO affects the way we read Tacitus' text. To set that all up (and to get you thinking in a summarizing way about Q.'s IO), please have read Connolly on Quintilian (see below).

• Secondary reading:

For Monday: Please read Chap. 1 of Frances Yates' classic The Art of Memory (Chicago 1966). This remains one of the most valuable studies of the subject, and if you're never read any of it, now's the time to do it. Chapter 1 is not only about Quintilian, but rather about the three most important Latin texts we have for understanding the classical view of mnemotechnics. It will help put your reading of IO 11.1 in a useful context. I will post a pdf of this to our website.

And don't forget the aforementioned mystery piece, which I'll email you separately.

For Wednesday: I have referenced a couple of times Joy Connolly's State of Speech. Rhetoric and Political Thought in Ancient Rome (Princeton 2007). This book is helpful and provocative in a number of ways, and while it's not a book strictly about Quintilian, Quintilian lurks behind every page. In some sense it is an exercise in trying to figure out why Q. matters and what he was trying to do. Connolly addresses this most directly in the section on Quintilian in Chapter 6 and the (brief) concluding pages of the book, the part I'm asking you to read. I'll also post a pdf of this.

And finally: As you begin thinking about your papers, it's perhaps time to become a little more aware of the work that has been done on Quintilian. There are a number of ways to do this, but one is through the Oxford Bibliographies Online, a resource you should at least be aware of, if you are not already. The OUP bibliographic section on Quintilian may be found here.