Humanitext Reader

Seneca the Elder · Fragmenta §1.-4.

Quintilian's Citations on Rhetoric and Literature

Passage 1 of 1 · Latin

Summary

Quintilian cites various remarks and anecdotes, including a debate between Pomponius and Seneca, dramatic declamations by Seneca, views on oath-taking, and Julius Montanus's high praise of Virgil's delivery.

§1."nam memini iuuenis admodum inter Pomponium ac Senecam etiam praefationibus esse tractatum an “gradus eliminat” in tragoedia dici oportuisset. "
"For I remember, when I was still a very young man, that it was discussed between Pomponius and Seneca, even in their prefaces, whether one ought to have said “gradus eliminat” in tragedy."
§2."noui uero et praecipue declamatores audacius nec mehercule sine motu quodam imaginantur, ut Seneca in controuersia cuius summa est, quod pater filium et nouercam inducente altero filio in adulterio deprensos occidit: “duc, sequor: accipe hanc senilem manum et quocumque uis inprime” et post paulo: “aspice, inquit, quod diu non credidisti. ego uero non uideo, nox oboritur et crassa caligo. ”"
"But the moderns, and especially the declaimers, picture things to themselves more boldly, and, by Hercules, not without a certain emotion, as Seneca does in a controversy, the gist of which is that a father killed his son and stepmother whom he had caught in adultery, led there by his other son: “Lead, I follow: take this aged hand, and press it down wherever you wish,” and a little later: “Behold,” he says, “what you have long disbelieved. But I see nothing; night rises up, and thick darkness.”"
§3."nam et in totum iurare, nisi ubi necesse est, graui uiro parum conuenit, et est a Seneca dictum eleganter, non patronorum hoc esse sed testium. "
"For, on the whole, to take an oath, except where it is necessary, is scarcely becoming for a man of gravity, and it was elegantly said by Seneca that this belongs not to advocates but to witnesses."
§4."et Seneca tradidit Iulium Montanum poetam solitum dicere, inuolaturum se Vergilio quaedam si et uocem posset et os et hypocrisin: eosdem enim uersus ipso pronuntiante bene sonare, sine illo inanes esse mutosque. "
"And Seneca has recorded that the poet Julius Montanus used to say that he would have stolen certain things from Virgil, if only he could also have possessed his voice, his expression, and his delivery; for those same verses, when pronounced by him, sounded well, but without him they were empty and silent."

Notes

  1. §1memini iuuenis admodum ... esse tractatum — The verb `memini` governs an accusative and infinitive construction (`tractatum esse`). The phrase `iuuenis admodum` ('as a very young man') is in apposition to the implied subject `ego` of the main clause, predicatively describing the author's state in the past.
  2. §2inducente altero filio — An ablative absolute construction with the noun `altero filio` and the present participle `inducente` ('with the other son leading the way'), describing the circumstance of guiding the father to the scene of adultery.
  3. §3non patronorum hoc esse sed testium — An accusative and infinitive construction in indirect speech. The genitives `patronorum` and `testium` are possessive genitives denoting duty or characteristic ('it is not the part of advocates, but of witnesses'). The subject is the demonstrative pronoun `hoc` (the act of taking an oath).
  4. §4si et uocem posset et os et hypocrisin — In the conditional clause (the `si` clause), the auxiliary verb `posset` (imperfect subjunctive) is used alone, with a verb such as `habere` ('to possess') or `imitari` ('to imitate') implied from the context.

Cite this passage

Seneca the Elder, Fragmenta §1.-4.. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi1014.phi004.humanitext-lat1:1.-4.

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