Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Harold Edgeworth Butler (Translator), 10.1.83

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[83] Why should I dwell on the elegance of the rest of the Socratics? or on Aristotle, ¹ with regard to whom I hesitate whether to praise him more for his knowledge, for the multitude of his writings, the sweetness of his style, the penetration revealed by his discoveries or the variety of the tasks which he essayed? In Theophrastus ² we find such a superhuman brilliance of style that his name is said to be derived therefrom.

Institutio Oratoria. Quintilian. Harold Edgeworth Butler (Translator). Cambridge, Mass.. 1920-1922.

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Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

Institutio Oratoria Perseus (Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, editor. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.) — 10.1.83 focus

[83] quid Aristotelem? quem dubito scientia rerum an scriptorum copia an eloquendi ¹ suavitate an inventionum acumine an varietate operum clariorem putem. nam in Theophrasto tam est loquendi nitor ille divinus, ut ex eo nomen quoque traxisse dicatur.

Notes on the current edition

Institutio Oratoria

Sweet

is the last epithet to be applied to the surviving works of Aristotle. But Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Cicero praise him no less warmly, referring, no doubt, to works that are lost.

2. Theophrastus, Aristotle's successor as head of his school (322–287). Diogenes Laertius (v. 38) says that his real name was Tyrtamus, but that Aristotle called him Theophrastus because of the

divine qualities of his style

( φράσις ).

Quintilian Institutio Oratoria 10.1.83

Harold Edgeworth Butler (Translator)

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