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Chapter 3 - Brief Encounters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2019

Christopher Whitton
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Chapter 3 begins an inductive argument for establishing Quintilian’s presence in the Epistles and establishes a method for reading it. It considers ten brief liaisons in which Pliny culls an epigram, metaphor or other distinctive detail from the Institutio. I argue that these similarities show imitation, not accident, and situate them within an imitative culture where declaimers, poets and prose writers routinely borrowed and improved on each others’ sententiae. These encounters are routinely self-conscious, but not necessarily (I argue) systematic or invested in allusively taking position against Quintilian: their function is also, and importantly, aesthetic. Lexical signatures play a part, but a much more discreet one than usually supposed – suggesting that we might all do well to spend less time with concordances and word searches and more time reading for the idea.

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The Arts of Imitation in Latin Prose
Pliny's <I>Epistles</I>/Quintilian in Brief
, pp. 69 - 107
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Brief Encounters
  • Christopher Whitton, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Arts of Imitation in Latin Prose
  • Online publication: 10 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108688550.003
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  • Brief Encounters
  • Christopher Whitton, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Arts of Imitation in Latin Prose
  • Online publication: 10 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108688550.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Brief Encounters
  • Christopher Whitton, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Arts of Imitation in Latin Prose
  • Online publication: 10 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108688550.003
Available formats
×