The Student's Companion to Latin Authors — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Student's Companion to Latin Authors
John Stuart Mill · en
From the above quotations, Quintilian must have been born somewhere
between A.D. 35 and 40. A.D. 35 is usually given as an approximation.
For Quintilian's father cf. ix. 3, 73, 'Et cur me prohibeat pudor uti
domestico exemplo? Pater meus contra eum qui,' etc. He is possibly the
person mentioned by Seneca, _Contr._ x. praef. 2, 'quo modo ...
Quintilianus senex declamaverit.'
For Quintilian's teachers of rhetoric, cf. Pliny, _Ep._ ii. 14, 10,
'Narrabat ille [Quintilianus], Adsectabar Domitium Afrum.' Others were
Iulius Africanus (Quint. x. 1, 118), Servilius Nonianus (x. 1, 102),
Galerius Trachalus (x. 1, 119), Iulius Secundus (x. 1, 120), Vibius
Crispus (xii. 10, 11), Remmius Palaemon (Schol. ad Iuv. 6, 452). After
his education Quintilian returned to Calagurris, but was brought back
to Rome by Galba in A.D. 68.
Jerome yr. Abr. 2084 = A.D. 68, 'M. Fabius Quintilianus Romam a Galba
perducitur.'
Quintilian engaged as a pleader at Rome, and makes some references to
his cases. Some of his speeches were published without his consent.
vii. 2, 24, 'In causa Naevi Arpiniani ... cuius actionem et quidem
solam in hoc tempus emiseram, quod ipsum me fecisse ductum iuvenili
cupiditate gloriae fateor. Nam ceterae, quae sub nomine meo feruntur,
neglegentia excipientium in quaestum notariorum corruptae minimam
partem mei habent.'
iv. 1, 19, 'Ego pro regina Berenice apud ipsam eam causam dixi.'
Cf. also vii. 2, 5; ix. 2, 73-4.
Quintilian was the first person who received an imperial grant as
teacher of oratory.
Jerome yr. Abr. 2104 = A.D. 88, 'Quintilianus ex Hispania
Calagurritanus primus Romae publicam scholam et salarium e fisco
accepit et claruit.' The date given by Jerome is much too late, as it
is Quintilian that is alluded to by Sueton. _Vesp._ 18, 'Primus e
fisco Latinis Graecisque rhetoribus annua centena constituit.' The
appointment must therefore have been made by A.D. 79. The
professorship is referred to by Mart. ii. 90, 1,
'Quintiliane, vagae moderator summe iuventae,
gloria Romanae, Quintiliane, togae.'
Cf. Pliny, _Ep._ ii. 14, 10, 'Ita certe ex Quintiliano, praeceptore
meo, audisse memini.' Quintilian's career as a teacher lasted for
twenty years.
i. prooem. 1, 'Post impetratam studiis meis quietem, quae per viginti
annos erudiendis iuvenibus impenderam.'
Teuffel thinks that the _Institutio_ was written A.D. 89-91, in which
case Quintilian's career as professor was from A.D. 68 to 88;
Peterson[91] thinks that Quintilian dated his educational work as from
A.D. 70 to 90, and that the _Institutio_ was begun A.D. 92.
Quintilian grew rich by the practice of his profession, from which he
ultimately retired. Iuv. 7, 186,
'Hos inter sumptus sestertia Quintiliano,
ut multum, duo sufficient; res nulla minoris
constabit patri, quam filius. "Unde igitur tot
Quintilianus habet saltus?"'