24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exhaustive Exposition on Oratory, October 7, 2004
This review is from: The Orator's Education, Volume I: Books 1-2 (Loeb Classical Library) (v. 1, Bk. 1-2) (Hardcover)
Quintilian was not only a successful trial lawyer, he was a highly respected teacher and a writer of no mean skill. He put together a twelve book work on oratory which deals with all aspects of oratory, from the beginning of elementary education to the qualities of the polished orator. No other ancient author on rhetoric had such a prolific output of didactic material. Cicero may have published more, but the bulk of his rhetorical output was the publication of his more celebrated speeches.
The Loeb Classical Library collects Quintilian's writings into a five volume publication. Volume One contains Books 1 & 2, which deal with the beginning of the education process through a prolegomena which explores the nature of rhetoric.
Volume Two contains Books 3 through 5. Book 3 continues the prolegomena, talks about the types of rhetoric (epideictic, deliberative, and forensic), the types of issues (conjectural, definitional, and qualitative), and a discussion of how to determine the Point for Decision (in "Rhetorica ad Herennium," this is called the Point to Adjudicate). Book 4 takes up the Parts of Forensic Causes, and Book 5 deals with Proofs and Refutations. Interestingly, Quintilian gives some excellent advice on how to interrogate hostile witnesses and conduct cross examinations. Book 5 concludes with a discussion of the enthymeme and epicheireme.
Volume Three contains Books 6 - 8. Book 6 deals with emotion. Book 7 with a deeper study of the types of issues. Book 8 begins a discussion of Elocution which will continue through Books 9 - 11.
Volume Four continues the discussion of Elocution through Books 9 and 10. Book 9 concludes the theory of Elocution and Book 10 discusses practical exercises to improve Elocution.
Volume Five contains Books 11 & 12. Book 11 finishes the discussion of Elocution and then discusses Memory and Delivery. Book 12 ends the work with a discussion of "The good man skilled in speaking."
Oftentimes the star athlete makes a mediocre coach while the mediocre athlete makes a star coach. The old saw "He who can, does; he who can't teaches," does not apply to Quintilian. He reveals himself to be not only a star advocate, but an excellent coach as well.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The New Translation, March 8, 2007
This review is from: The Orator's Education, Volume I: Books 1-2 (Loeb Classical Library) (v. 1, Bk. 1-2) (Hardcover)
Russell's translation of Quintilian's Institution Oratoria (published in 2001) replaces Butler's edition, which was published in 1921. The translation, overall, is excellent, as we would expect from someone with Russell's credentials, but the question that most readers should ask is this: Is it better? Some will answer affirmatively owing to the fact that they (or their students) find Russell's translation easier to read: The language is generally more contemporarily colloquial, especially in terms of structure. Others will suggest that his translation is not better than Butler's, just different. Indeed, the reason classical works undergo periodic re-translation is that linguistic forms change over time, and new translations adjust texts so that they change as well, which prevents them from becoming linguistically static. Some readers, however, may question whether the changes in English from 1921 to 2001 were so significant that a new translation was warranted. (But this is an academic issue of real interest only to specialists.) Such questions aside, Russell's work is very well done, capturing the essence of the original Latin in a smooth and eloquent style that navigates carefully between the literal and the figurative.
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