Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Harold Edgeworth Butler (Translator), 6.3.51

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[51] Such ambiguity may even go so far as to present all the appearance of a riddle, witness the jest that Cicero made at the expense of Pletorius, the accuser of Fonteius:

His mother,

he said,

kept a school while she lived and masters after she was dead.

¹ The explanation is that in her lifetime women of infamous character used to frequent her house, while after her death her property was sold. (I may note however that ludus, is used metaphorically in the sense of school, while magisiri is used ambiguously.)

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.) — 6.3.51 focus

[51] pervenit res usque ad aenigma, quale est Ciceronis in Plaetorium Fonteii accusatorem, cuius matrem, dixit, dum vixisset, ludum, postquam mortua esset, magistros habuisse. dicebantur autem, dum vixit, infames feminae convenire ad eam solitae; post mortem bona eius venierant. quanquam hic ludus per translationem dictus est, magistri per ambiguitatem.

Notes on the current edition

Institutio Oratoria

1. magister may mean a schoolmaster or a receiver ( magister bonorum )placed in charge of the goods to be sold. The phrase here has the same suggestion as

having the bailiffs in the house.

This passage does not occur in the portions of the pro Fonteio which survive.

Quintilian Institutio Oratoria 6.3.51

Harold Edgeworth Butler (Translator)

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