Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.

However, if I were to indulge my own inclinations in expatiating on this subject, I should go

v1-3 p.327

on for ever. Let us therefore pass to the next question and consider whether rhetoric is an art.

No one of those who have laid down rules for oratory has ever doubted that it is an art. It is clear even from the titles of their books that their theme is the art of rhetoric, while Cicero [*](de Inv. I. v. 6. The titles in question are such as Ars rhetorica, Ars Hermagorae, etc. ) defines rhetoric as artistic eloquence. And it is not merely the orators who have claimed this distinction for their studies with a view to giving them an additional title to respect, but the Stoic and Peripatetic philosophers for the most part agree with them.