Institutes of Oratory

...our Institutions Vossius is referring to this specific book, the Institutiones Oratoriae.: specifically because it has been twenty years since they were last printed. When my friends saw these revisions, they rightly thought that more substantial works were suited to my current age. They clearly advised that, to make my work easier, I should use the same words and examples in both of my books. The only distinction would be that in the Partitions The Partitiones Oratoriae, a shorter handbook intended for younger students., everything would be treated more briefly for the benefit of the youth. In this way, nothing else would have been necessary in a new edition of both works than to copy myself. I would have been more entitled to do this than certain men, who are neither unlearned nor of obscure name. These men insert many things from our Institutions word for word into their own commentaries. They sometimes even take whole pages without mentioning the name of the author from whom they drew them.

a Letter 162. b It is more impious to steal the writings of the dead than their clothing, which is called grave-robbing.

If these things happened while I were dead, perhaps someone more irritable would say with Synesius original Greek: "Α’σεβέστερον εἶναι ἀποθανόντων λόγους κλέπτειν, ἢ θοιμάτια, ὃ καλεῖται τυμβωρυχεῖν.": It is more impious to steal the words of the dead than their clothes, which is called grave-robbing. Now they do these things while I am alive. I will not stop valuing these men because of this. However, it will be enough for me if I am not eventually accused of another person's fault by those who have not yet seen our earlier editions. I wish to avoid that old situation where Aemilius sins, but Rutilius is punished. Meanwhile, let those men see how they can sufficiently protect their own integrity.

c Letter 64. d I would be foolish if, when I see others borrowing my things, I alone should abstain from those things which I had said before.

But if I had wished to copy my own writing, I would defend myself with that saying of Isocrates original Greek: "Α’τοπον εἴη, εἰ σοῦ ἄλλους ὁρῶν τοῖς ἐμοῖς χρωμένους, αὐτὸς μόνος ἀπεχοίμην τῶν γ’ ἐμοῦ εἰρημένων.": It would be absurd if, when I see others using my words, I alone should abstain from what I myself have said. But however beautifully these things might be said, it seemed better to me to emulate Tullius Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman statesman and orator.. He dealt with this art often, but always in different ways. Therefore, I sent out both of these "offspring" so equipped that each might say what was unsaid by the other. Where the essence original: "οὐσίᾳ". This refers to the fundamental nature or substance of the subject matter. of the art made it impossible to differ in substance, they should at least explain the matter with different words and examples.

e Repeated cabbage is death.

For I feared that if they sang entirely the same song, that old saying would apply: Twice cabbage is death original: "Δὶς κράμβη θάνατος". This Greek proverb suggests that repeating the same thing over and over is tiresome or even lethal to the reader's interest.. One of these works would easily take away the life of the other. Since I love the offspring of my mind no less than the offspring of my body, I could not have looked upon either with equal favor as a gentle parent. I preferred that these two true brothers should mutually light a torch for one another. I especially wanted the Institutions to provide that service to the Partitions. For this reason, I named the latter "Contracted Rhetoric" and the former "Commentaries on Rhetoric." Although I explain almost everything more extensively here, and scatter many things that pertain not so much to oratory as to general literature, I have taken care not to wander too far from the nature of the art. I also avoided involving it in useless questions.

f Laërtius.

In the judgment of antiquity, Eubulides of Miletus A philosopher known for his complex logical puzzles and paradoxes. had not sufficiently protected himself from either of these faults in his works on logic. He was otherwise a very great man. Indeed,

g Photius in the Library, volume 265.

if we listen to some of the ancients, he was second to no one in that art. He was even

h The same from Plutarch in the lives of the ten orators. i Book 1, letter 76.

the teacher of Demosthenes The most famous of the Greek orators. himself. Perhaps, however, I myself may not seem to have sufficiently escaped what is blamed in Eubulides. I will not be offended by such a judgment, provided that I am not counted among those who, as Symmachus says: affect abundance because of the shame of their own lack, so that those who stammer more, speak more. For truly I have never been ignorant that it matters not how much is written, but what is written. I have sometimes industriously [expanded] the mass of the work...

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