As tragédias pessoais de Quintiliano na Institutio oratoria: captatio beneuolentiae, interlúdio ou desabafo público? (Inst. 6, Proêmio)

Abstract

This paper aims to present a translation of the Proem to the sixth book of Institutio Oratoria by Quintilian, analyzing the rhetorical strategies used by the author to move the audience through his narrative. In the Proem to this book, which concludes the first half of the work, Quintilian exposes the dramas of his personal life and cries out for the premature death of his wife and two sons, in a tragic and involving narrative, strongly marked by the pathetic tone. Based upon the study of the original Latin text, the Aristotelian influences and the previous studies of the researchers that had already focused on this matter, we will try to put under suspicion the prerogative that the proem would be only a public outburst written by Quintilian about his own tragedies, as the empirical author. In order to do so, we will attempt to point out some textual evidence that allows us to confirm that the Proem of this book also stands as a rhetorical exercise for the application of the lessons prescribed throughout his rhetorical manual, particularly regarding the manipulation of emotions.