Quintilian, Seneca, Imitatio

Re-Reading Institutio Oratoria 10.1.125-31

Bibliographic Data

ID9322554
AuthorsYasuko Taoka (corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume44
Issue1
Pages123-137
Publication date2011-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueArethusa (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0004-0975 • E-ISSN: 1080-6504
PublisherJohns Hopkins University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/are.2011.a413527
OpenAlexW2125875396
LanguageEN
Citations received28
References cited16

Quintilian's assessment of Seneca at Institutio Oratoria 10.1.125–31 has often been read as a diatribe against Seneca. However, in this paper I assert that the passage reveals more about Quintilian's construction of authority than his opinion of Seneca. I read the assessment as an imitation of Seneca's Epistulae Morales 114. The imitation establishes Quintilian's authority over his readers and Seneca, and thus reduplicates the stratification that rhetorical education claims to overcome. I also suggest that the use of methods of analysis traditionally applied to didactic poetry is productive in the consideration of authority in rhetorical textbooks such as Quintilian's

Art · Imitation · Linguistics · Literature · Poetry · Reading (process · Rhetorical question · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Studies and Philology · Historical and Literary Analyses · Philosophy · Psychology

Tools

Open DOI