The Degrees of Similarity in Quintilian’s Discussion of Exempla a Reappraisal

Abstract

Quintilian is the first rhetorician to apply the notion of the degrees of similarity to exempla. The classification which he established, however, is vague to the point that some modern scholars consider it unhelpful. What seems to be causing the most difficulty is the alleged subcategory of dissimile, absent in later Greek theory and somewhat neglected by Quintilian himself. This paper is an attempt to reexamine the discussion of the degrees of similarity in the Institutio oratoria (V 11, 5–14) paying special attention to the ‘dissimilar’. I argue that the dissimile did not in fact form a separate category of exemplum. Apparently, Quintilian introduced this concept to show how a historical example should not look. From this viewpoint, his discussion at Inst. V 11 seems more internally consistent.