Facere enim maluerunt quam promittere: Quintilian’S answer on the discidium linguae atque cordis

Abstract

This paper seeks to shed light on Quintilian’s conception of the orator who combines moral integrity, political wisdom and rhetorical expertise. A key for understanding this concept lies in Quintilian’s polemically distorted depiction of the rude and insolent crowd of contemporary self-appointed philosophers, who serve as counterparts to the orators. While Cicero’s famous word of the discidium linguae atque cordis has enjoyed much attention among scholars, the interpretation of the discidium by one of Cicero’s most fervent admirers has been widely neglected: Quintilian carries out a distinct revaluation of the two parties — philosophers and orators — by constructing a diametrically opposed scenario to the one Cicero had drawn of the origins of the discidium in De inventione and De oratore. In the proem, Quintilian says that men of little intelligence (infirmiora ingenia) had insolently laid claim on the word ‘philosophy’, but in fact never bothered about philosophical truth. The other party, the orators, consisted of men of profound erudition and active political engagement, and were far superior to the so-called studiosi sapientiae. This led Quintilian to the pointed statement decidedly in favour of the orators: facere enim optima quam promittere maluerunt. Quintilian’s polemic against the self-appointed philosophers of his age, who form a considerable part of the Roman aristocracy, is in fact an apologetic construction to save the reputation of the rhetorician and orator from common contemporary accusations.