Tag: Quintilian

How to Persuade the Judge: Quintilian, 3.7.24-5

~ Erik ~ 1 Comment

“In Sparta, literary pursuits will win less honor than they would in Athens, while endurance and bravery will earn more. Some people think it a fine thing to live by plunder, while others are more inclined to consider the law. Frugality might be hateful to the Sybarite, but among the old Romans luxury was the gravest charge which one could level against another. The same difference holds among individuals. A judge will be most favorably inclined to someone with whom he thinks he agrees.”

Minus Lacedaemone studia litterarum quam Athenis honoris merebuntur, plus patientia ac fortitudo. Rapto vivere quibusdam honestum, aliis cura legum. Frugalitas apud Sybaritas forsitan odio foret, veteribus Romanis summum luxuria crimen. Eadem in singulis differentia. Maxime favet iudex qui sibi dicentem adsentari putat.

Tibullus, 1.1-6: Poverty is Better than Gold

~ sententiaeantiquae ~ 2 Comments

“Let someone else pile up gleaming gold
And hold as many lots of well-plowed land,
Let constant labor frighten him when an enemy’s near
As war’s clarion blasts send his sleep to flight.
But may my poverty guide me through a settled life
as long as my hearth shines with a tireless light.”

 

 

Divitias alius fulvo sibi congerat auro
Et teneat culti iugera multa soli,
Quem labor adsiduus vicino terreat hoste,
Martia cui somnos classica pulsa fugent:
Me mea paupertas vita traducat inerti,               5
Dum meus adsiduo luceat igne focus.

Yeah, I am still a sucker for Tibullus. But Quintilian agrees with me. And with recent fluctuations in the commodity market, who’s to say that leisure might not be worth more than gold? (It is certainly more pleasant than war…)