Description
Book X of Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria is the most accessible section of his remarkable treatise. Chapter I is a survey and critique on the evolution of Greek and Roman literature-poetry, history, oratory, and philosophy-that defends as the key to "How to acquire a command of diction." This chapter can serve as an introduction to Greek literature for the "Greekless" student. Remaining chapters cover "Of Imitation," "How to Write," "Revision-its uses and limitations," "What to Write," "Of Meditation," and "Of Extempore Speaking." In short, it is a comprehensive manual, both of education in general as well as education of the orator in particular. Institutio Oratoria is a rare treat among rhetorical treatises: Sir William Peterson describes its style as "dignified and yet sweet." During the Renaissance, after its rediscovery by Poggio, it won praise for Quintilian as one of the most important writers of classical antiquity. It continued to impress luminaries such as Luther, Erasmus, Milton, J. S. Mill, and Macaulay. More recently, in the third edition of The Oxford Classical Dictionary, Neil Hopkinson describes it as "a storehouse of sanity, humane scholarship and good sense."
