Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Harold Edgeworth Butler (Translator), 8.6.52

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[52] Illustrative examples also involve allegory if not preceded by an explanation; for there are numbers of sayings available for use like the

Dionysius is at Corinth,

¹ which is such a favourite with the Greeks. When, however, an allegory is too obscure, we call it a riddle: such riddles are, in my opinion, to be regarded as blemishes, in view of the fact that lucidity is a virtue; nevertheless they are used by poets, as, for example, by Virgil ² in the following lines:

Say in what land, and if thou tell me true,

I'll hold thee as Apollo's oracle,

Three ells will measure all the arch of heaven.

Even orators sometimes use them,

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.) — 8.6.52 focus

[52] est id exemplis allegoria, si non praedicta ratione ponantur. nam ut Dionysium Corinthi esse, quo Graeci omnes utuntur, ita plurima similia dici possunt. sed allegoria, quae est obscurior, aenigma dicitur; vitium meo quidem iudicio, si quidem dicere dilucide virtus; quo tamen et poetae utuntur:

dic , quibus id ferris, et eris mihi magnus Apollo,

tres pateat caeli spatium non amplius ulnas?

et oratores nonnunquam,

Notes on the current edition

Institutio Oratoria

1. The allusion must be to the fact that Dionysius II, tyrant of Syracuse, on his expulsion from the throne, migrated to Corinth and set up as a schoolmaster. Its application is uncertain, but it would obviously be a way of saying

How are the mighty fallen I

2. Ecl. iii. 104; the solution is lost.

Quintilian Institutio Oratoria 8.6.52

Harold Edgeworth Butler (Translator)

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