TJie Rhetor lea of Philodemus. 369 



mathematical faculty. This theory, whether correct or not, was 

 seized by the opponents of certain studies to claim that in the new 

 light of psychology these studies could no longer claim a place 

 in the curriculum. Substitute "mental discipline" for rexv-rj, 

 and many of the arguments of Philodemus have a remarkably 

 modern sound. 



Those who denied that rhetoric was an art took two positions. 

 The milder group granted that there were some principles of 

 rhetoric which could be imparted from teacher to pupil, but 

 that they were the result of the teacher's observation and expe- 

 rience, and needed the supplement of the pupil's own observation, 

 and were thus subjective and individualistic, and did not possess 

 that generality which characterized the arts. This is the position 

 of Philodemus toward the forensic and deliberative branches of 

 rhetoric* This is the view which Cicero puts in the mouth of 

 Antonius when he wishes to represent him as all but granting 

 that rhetoric is an art.^ On the other hand the more severe critics 

 of the art termed it a /caKorexna or perversion of art." 



Philodemus and Quintilian have in common the well known 

 argument from design : the perfect product implies the existence 

 of the artist and the art. If a vase is evidently the product of an 

 art, much more must the sublime products of the orator be the 

 result of art.' There is no indication in either author of the 

 source from which they drew. 



^ I, 40, 18 ^ Suppl. 21, 7. Some unnamed rhetorician is arguing that in 

 rhetoric there is a transmission of knowledge from teacher to pupil; 

 " UcTTrep ifx fiovo'iKrj Kal "ypafj-fiariKri Trapaddcreis tlvQiv etcriv ayvoovfj.^i'wv. ovtojs Kal iirl 

 p7]TopiKfjs. Kai ovK dfj.edo5os i] fMeXirri yiveraL." Philodemus replies, HapadSaeis 

 dyvoovfx^i'wv dvvavTai rives elvaL, Kciv /jlti kuto. tivol r^xvqv evyluwvTai, Kara. 5e 

 LffToplav fj TrapaTTipTjatu ij TLva toiovtov Tpbirov. 



" De Orat. II, 57, 232; Observatio quaedam est earum rerum quae in 

 dicendo valent. Cf. I, 23, 109; Sin autem ea quae observata sunt in usu 

 ac tractione dicendi, haec ab hominibus callidis ac peritis animadversa ac 

 notata, verbis definita, generibus illustrata, partibus distributa sunt — id 

 quod video potuisse fieri — , non intellego, quam ob rem non, si minus ilia 

 suptili definitione, at hac volgari opinione ars esse videatur. 



" Sextus Emp. 12, 49, and 68. It is ascribed by him to Critolaus and 

 Plato. The same expression was used by Epicurus teste Ammiano Marc. 

 30. 4- 



'Quint. II, 17, 3; Philod. I, 44, 16 fif. = Suppl. 22, 5 H. Quintilian 

 repeats the idea in summing up the arguments for rhetoric, II, 17, 42. 



