Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

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

Antonomasia, which substitutes something else for a proper name, is very common in poets: it may be done in two ways: by the substitution of an epithet as equivalent to the name which it replaces, such as

Tydides,
Pelides,
[*](The son of Tydeus=Diomede, the son of Peleus = Achilles.) or by indicating the most striking characteristics of an individual, as in the phrase
  1. Father of gods and king of men,
Aen. i. 65.
v7-9 p.319
or from acts clearly indicating the individual, as in the phrase,
  1. The arms which he, the traitor, left
  2. Fixed on the chamber wall.
Aen. iv. 495. This third example does not correspond with the twofold division given by utroque and may be spurious.
This form of trope is rare in oratory,

but is occasionally employed, For although an orator would not say

Tydides
or
Pelides,
he will speak of certain definite persons as
the impious parricides,
while I should have no hesitation in speaking of Scipio as
the destroyer of Carthage and Numantia,
or of Cicero as
the prince of Roman orators.
Cicero himself, at any rate, availed himself of this licence, as, for example, in the following case:
Your faults are not many, said the old praeceptor to the hero,
[*](Pro Muren. xxix. 60. The passage continues (a quotation from some old play) But you have faults and I can correct them. Phoenix is addressing his pupil Achilles. ) where neither name is given, though both are clearly understood.

On the other hand, onomatopoea, that is to say, the creation of a word, although regarded with the highest approbation by the Greeks, is scarcely permissible to a Roman. It is true that many words were created in this way by the original founders of the language, who adapted them to suit the sensation which they expressed. For instance, mugitus, lowing, sibilus, a hiss, and murmur owe their origin to this practice.

But to-day we consider that all has been done that can be done in this line, and do not venture on fresh creations, in spite of the fact that many of the words thus formed in antiquity are daily becoming obsolete. Indeed, we scarcely permit ourselves to use new derivatives, so they are called, which are formed in various ways from words in common use, such as Sullaturit, [*]( Cic. ad Att. IX. x. 6. )

he wishes to be a second Sulla,
or proscripturit,
he wishes to have
v7-9 p.321
a proscription,
while laureati posies,
laurelled door-posts,
for lauru coronati,
crowned with laurel,
are similar formations.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [*]( This passage is too corrupt to admit of emendation or translation. There seem to be references to vio for eo and to arqtitollens. for which cp. arquitenens. Septemntriones can hardly be selected for censure, as it is not uncommon. )

These facts make catachresis (of which abuse is a correct translation) all the more necessary. By this term is meant the practice of adapting the nearest available term to describe something for which no actual term exists, as in the line

  1. A horse they build by Pallas' art divine,
Aen. II. xv. It is an abuse to say aedficant, which means literally "they make a house.
or as in the expression found in tragedy,
  1. To Aigialeus
  2. His sire bears funeral offerings,
[*]( Perhaps from the Medus of Pacuvius It is an abuse to use parental of funeral offerings made by father to son. )
The following examples are of a similar character.

Flasks are called acetabula, [*](Lit. vinegar flasks.) whatever they contain, and caskets pyxides, [*](i.e. made of boxwood. ) of whatever material they are made, while parricide includes the murder of a mother or a brother. We must be careful to distinguish between abuse and metaphor, since the former is employed where there is no proper term available, and the latter when there is another term available. As for poets, they indulge in the abuse of words even in cases where proper terms do exist, and substitute words of somewhat similar meaning. But this is rare in prose.