"I Have No Predecessor to Guide My Steps": Quintilian and Roman Authorship

Abstract

Quintilian is known primarily as an advocate of a pedagogical system grounded in imitation. But in Book XII of the Institutio Oratoria, Quintilian states that he has left the work of his predecessors behind and, further, that he is offering an original contribution to the rhetorical tradition. Quintilian's claims of originality and proprietary interest throughout his texts demonstrate that he is continually announcing himself as an author, in surprisingly modern terms. This paper argues that Quintilian honors his own demand that the ideal rhetor move beyond quotation and canny arrangement of his predecessors' work.