Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, ed. Harold Edgeworth Butler, 8.2.20

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[20] pessima vero sunt ἀδιανόητα, hoc est, quae verbis aperta occultos sensus habent, ut cum dictus est caecus secundum viam stare,¹ et, qui suos artus morsu lacerasset, fingitur in scholis supra se cubasse.

Institutio Oratoria. Quintilian. ed. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge, Mass.. 1920-1922.

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Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (1)

Institutio Oratoria Perseus (Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.) — 8.2.20 focus

[20] Worst of all are the phrases which the Greeks call ἀδιανόητα, that is to say, expressions which, though their meaning is obvious enough on the surface, have a secret meaning, as for example in the phrase cum ductus est caecus secundam viam stare, or where the man, who is supposed in the scholastic theme to have torn his own limbs with his teeth, is said to have lain upon himself¹

Notes on the current edition

Institutio Oratoria

1. cum ductus, A: conductus, G: cum dictus, Spalding : viam A: vitam, G. This sentence is unintelligible. Halm reads cum dictus eat caecus secundum vitam ( G. ) stare, which night conceivably be intended to mean ' as when the blind man was said to stand there to gain his living,' a rare use of vita.

Quintilian Institutio Oratoria 8.2.20

ed. Harold Edgeworth Butler

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