Abstract: Abstract: Nature is a highly tendentious Word and was already so in the time of Quintilian. Since the Stoic ideal was "to live according to Nature," the concept can be invoked persuasively in every phase of education. But Nature had other regular functions in rhetoric: to demarcate innate talent from acquired skill (Natura vs. Ars); to distinguish reality, the outside world, from verbal imitation; and to privilege preferred patterns of argumentation. These competing uses lead to inconsistencies, especially in presenting the relationship between Nature and imitation. The purpose of this paper is to detect these contradictions and illustrate the assumptions that underlie them in Quintilian's tieatment of invention, organization, and expression.

Research Article| August 01 1988 Varietas and Satietas; De oratore 3.96–103 and the limits of ornatus. Elaine Fantham Elaine Fantham Department of Classics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Rhetorica (1988) 6 (3): 275–290. https://doi.org/10.1525/rh.1988.6.3.275 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Elaine Fantham; Varietas and Satietas; De oratore 3.96–103 and the limits of ornatus.. Rhetorica 1 August 1988; 6 (3): 275–290. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/rh.1988.6.3.275 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentRhetorica Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1988, The International Society for the History of Rhetoric1988 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.