Méthodes et instruments du travail intellectuel au moyen âge. Études sur le vocabulaire 2503370039, 9782503370033

Text: French, English, German, Italian

245 88 12MB

French Pages 251 [252] Year 1990

Report DMCA / Copyright

DOWNLOAD PDF FILE

Table of contents :
O. Weijers, Préface; O. Kneepkens, The Iudicium constructionis (summary); J.O. Ward, Rhetoric and the Art of dictamen; L.M. de Rijk, Specific Tools concerning Logical Education; S. Brown, Key Terms in Medieval Theological Vocabulary; A. García y García, Géneros juridico-literarios en la Península Ibérica; D. Jacquart, L'enseignement de la médecine: quelques termes fondamentaux; W. Frobenius, Methoden und Hilfsmittel mittelalterlicher Musiktheorie und ihr Vokabular; A. Allard, La formation du vocabulaire latin de l'arithmétique médiévale; R. Lorch, Astronomical Terminology; O. Weijers, Dictionnaires et répertoires; J. Hamesse, Le vocabulaire des florilèges médiévaux; V. Colli, Termini del dirrito civile; Liste des abréviations; Index des termes techniques; Liste des auteurs
Recommend Papers

Méthodes et instruments du travail intellectuel au moyen âge. Études sur le vocabulaire
 2503370039, 9782503370033

  • 0 1 0
  • Like this paper and download? You can publish your own PDF file online for free in a few minutes! Sign Up
File loading please wait...
Citation preview

ETUDES SUR LE VOCABULAIRE INTELLECTUEL DU MOYEN AGE

III METHODES ET INSTRUMENTS DU TRAVAIL INTELLECTUEL AU MOYEN AGE

CIVICIMA COMIT E INTER NATIO NAL DU VOCA BULA IRE DES INSTIT UTION S ET DE LA COMM UNICA TION INTEL LECTU ELLES AU MOYE N AGE President L.M. de Rijk

Secritaire Olga Weijers &presentants nationaux Allemagne Belgique Canada Espagne Etats-Unis Europe de l'Est France Grande Bretagne Italie Pays-Bas Pays scandinaves Portugal

Coordination generale Olga Weijers Bibliotheque Royale BP. 90753 2591 LT La Haye Pays-Bas

Helmu t Walther Jacqueline Hamesse Bernardo Bazan Antoni o Gard.a y Gard.a Richard Rouse Aleksander Gieysztor Jacques Monfri n John Fletcher Tullio Gregory Robert Feenstra Eva Odelm an Isaias da Rosa Pereira

CIVICIMA ETUDES SUR LE VOCABULAIRE INTELLECTUEL DU MOYEN AGE

III

Method es et instrutn ents du travail intellec tuel " au tnoyen age Etudes sur le vocabulaire editees par

OLGA WEIJERS

BREPOLS TURNHOUT BELGIQUE 1990

© Brepols 1990 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopyin g, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

TABLE DES MATIERES Olga Weijers

Preface

7

Onno Kneepkens

The Iudicium constructionis (summary)

John 0. Ward

Rhetoric and the Art of dictamen

11 20

Lambert M. de Rijk Specific Tools concerning Logical Education

62

Key Terms in Medieval Theological

Stephen Brown

Vocabulary

82

Antonio Garcia y Garcia

Generos juridico-literarios en la Peninsula Iberica 97

Danielle Jacquart

L' enseignement de la medecine: quelques termes fondamentaux 104

Wolf Frobenius

Methoden und Hilfsmittel mittelalterlicher Musiktheorie und ihr Vokabular 121

Andre Allard

La formation du vocabulaire latin de l' arithmetique medievale 13 7

Richard Lorch

Astronomical Terminology

182

Olga Weijers

Dictionnaires et repertoires

197

Jacqueline Hamesse

Le vocabulaire des florileges medievaux

Vincenzo Colli

Termini del dirrito civile

Liste des abreviations

243

Index des termes techniques Liste des auteurs

252

244

231

209

OLGA WEIJERS

Preface. Lorsque nous avons forme le projet de ce livre, en fevrier 1987, j'ai ecrit, clans la lettre adressee aux auteurs pressentis, qu'il s'agirait d'une publication incitant a la reflexion et a des recherches plus elaborees. C' etait sans doute une vue plus realiste que le schema presentant un tableau du contenu escompte que nous avions joint a notre lettre. J'avais divise le theme, le vocabulaire des methodes et instruments du travail intellectuel au moyen age, en deux parties principales. La premiere etait consacree a cette matiere telle qu'on la rencontre clans les diverses disciplines (en grammaire, en rhetorique, etc.). Pour guider les auteurs des contributions j'avais precise que les questions a traiter etaient: Quels sont les termes utilises? Depuis quand existentils? D'ou viennent-ils? J'avais ajoute qu'en recensant le vocabulaire dont il s'agit, il fallait porter attention aux termes employes par les medievaux pour designer entre autres les methodes de recherche, les sources, la composition d'un ouvrage, la division du texte, les commentaires et les gloses, les traductions, les extraits, abreviations, compilations, et la critique des textes. La seconde partie annorn;ait une vue d'ensemble interdisciplinaire pour chacun des aspects du travail intellectuel mentionnes et pour I' ensemble des disciplines. Cela s'est avere largement premature. Comme le lecteur le decouvrira lui-meme, le schema initial ne se retrouve guere clans le present volume. D'abord, certaines disciplines font defaut, non parce que nous n'y avions pas songe, mais du fait d'un retard inadmissible de la part de quelques auteurs. Ainsi, nous regrettons particulierement !'absence de chapitres clans les domaines de la geometrie et de l'historiographie. 1 Relevons ensuite que le theme n'a pas ete traite par tousles participants de la meme fac;on. J'avais specifie que nous ne visions en aucun cas le vocabulaire du contenu des diverses disciplines, mais uniquement celui des methodes et instruments dont elles se sont servies, par exemple, en theologie, disputatio, postilla, etc., mais non des termes comme anima ou fides. J' avais demande que les contributions soient basees sur l' etude des termes et qu'elles concernent a la fois le contexte historique et l'aspect semantique des mots, ou, autrement dit, qu'elles se situent a trois niveaux: les realites, les concepts, les termes. C' etait sans doute 1. La contribution de Vincenzo Colli concernant le droit civil nous est parvenue alors que le volume etait en cours d'impression. Nous l'avons placee a la fin du livre, car il n'etait plus possible de l'inserer a sa place logique clans la serie.

8

OLGA WEIJER S

une contrain te par trap radicale. Cepend ant nous avons decide d'exclur e les articles bien qu'excel lents, mais qui ne traitaien t point de vocabul aire, meme de fas:on plus libre. Venons- en a la realite. Le volume que nous vous presento ns ici contien t une serie d'article s au sujet du vocabul aire utilise clans diverses disciplines pour decrire des aspects du travail intellect uel, essentie llement les methode s et les instrum ents dont elles se servaient. Il est clair que clans certaine s disciplines ce vocabul aire est tres riche et tres etendu, tandis que clans d'autres il est plutot limite. L'exhau stivite n'a jamais ete notre but. Ce serait d'ailleur s une illusion que de s'en rapproc her des a present. Certains auteurs ant cherche a etre le plus complet possible, d' autres ant fait un choix de quelque s termes pour en approfo ndir l' etude ou se sont impose des limites externes dictees par les sources pour mieux cerner le sujet. A la place d'un chapitre sur le vocabul aire de la gramma ire, qui aurait du commen cer la serie, la gramma ire etant la disciplin e de base ouvrant la voie aux etudes, Onno Kneepk ens, qui n'a pas pu achever sa contribu tion clans les delais, nous a permis de reprodu ire ici le resume de sa these parue en 198 7, en neerland ais, sous le titre Het Iudicium constructionis. Het leerstuk van de constructio in de 2de he(ft van de 12e eeuw. (Nijmegen, Ingeniu m Publishers). On y rencont rera des termes comme suppositio et appositio, qui nous paraisse nt du plus grand interet. De son cote, John Ward s'est charge du vocabul aire de la rhetoriq ue et de l' ars dictaminis clans une etude tres fournie qui, sur le terrain des instrum ents, touche aussi aux florileges, aux collectio ns de modeles, d' exempla, etc. Dans ces disciplines etroitem ent liees a la langue le vocabul aire joue naturell ement un role particul ier. Ward conclut que !'attenti on accordee a la classification et a la termino logie est l'un des traits les plus caracteristiques de la culture intellect uelle de l'epoque . Quant a la troisiem e disciplin e du trivium, la dialectique, L.M. de Rijk etudie certains instrum ents employes clans la logique - et de la clans d'autres disciplines - pour servir a l'enseig nement, la procedu re 'Utrum' d'une part, la theorie de !'inferen ce de l'autre, clans laquelle on rencont re des termes comme instantia, obligatio, institutio, petitio, positio. Il faudra faire un jour un travail compara ble pour d'autres branche s de la philosop hie, par exemple la metaphy sique. Dans le domain e de la thfologi e, il est evident que le vocabul aire des methode s et instrum ents est d'une telle importa nce qu'une etude de longueu r restrein te clans le cadre d'un livre collectif ne pourrait lui rendre justice. Cepend ant, Stephen Brown a choisi certains termes essentiels (lectio, quaestio, disputatio, theologia, ancilla, famulatus) a travers lesquels il nous montre tout l'interet de ce genre de recherch es. En ce qui concern e le droit canon, I' article d' Antonio Garcia y

PREFACE

9

Garcia se limite a l' etude des titres donnes aux genres de textes produits - et par consequent utilises - clans cette discipline, certains etant tres repandus comme Ars OU Sinodal, d'autres plus particuliers, tels Peregrina ou Reprehensorium. La medecine avait naturellement un vocabulaire particulier. Danielle Jacquart a choisi quelques termes importants qui illustrent bien le caractere de cette discipline en meme temps que son evolution entre le xne et le xve siecle: theorica - practica, doctrina, ingenium sanitatis. Au sujet de la musique, discipline appartenant au quadrivium mais ayant des liens avec celles du trivium, Wolf Frobenius montre a travers l'exemple de trois textes datant du rxe a la fin du xnre siecle que la aussi il y a un vocabulaire technique assez riche. Un postscriptum sur les appellations des divers textes musicaux renforce encore cette impression. Pour l'arithmetique medievale, Andre Allard a recense un vocabulaire tres important provenant de nombre de sources medievales. 11 s'agit d'une liste complete des mots propres aux reuvres retenues, a la seule exception des termes d'usage banal (unus, duo ... ) et de ceux qui sont etrangers a l'arithmetique (scribere, etc.). Cette liste est precedee d'une introduction substantielle sur les sources et leurs rapports. La geometrie devra elle aussi beneficier dans l'avenir d'une etude de ce genre. Richard Lorch a egalement puise dans les textes traduits de l'arabe pour decrire le vocabulaire de l'astronomie. 11 etudie certains motsclefs appartenant a l'astronomie spherique, a l'astronomie planetaire et concernant les instruments comme l'astrolabe. On y trouve des mots familiers comme horizon, mais aussi des termes moins communs comme equans ou mediclinium. A cote du terrain des disciplines se situent certains instruments de travail connus de tous, tels les tables, les dictionnaires, les concordances, les encyclopedies, les florileges. Les derniers font l'objet d'une etude de la main de Jacqueline Hamesse, qui, tout en precisant que leur vocabulaire technique est souvent proche de celui d'autres genres comme les tables et les concordances, traite d'une serie de termes se rapportant soit a l'acte de rassembler des extraits (/lores, defloratio, excerpta, colligere, etc.), soit au contenu des recueils (auctoritates, axiomata, sententie) et elle decrit la terminologie illustrant la methode de travail et les buts vises par les compilateurs. D'autre part, j'ai moi-meme essaye de donner un aper~u du vocabulaire utilise par les lexicographes, les auteurs d'index, de concordances et d'autres repertoires, sans cependant inclure les encyclopedies qui constituent un domaine a part et dont la terminologie technique devra etre etudiee ulterieurement. En relisant les contributions, j'ai constate que tout en etant tres

10

OLGA WEIJERS

differentes aussi bien clans l'approche choisie que par leur etendue, elles ont une chose essentielle en commun: elles traitent d'un sujet nouveau. Car si l' on a discute clans le passe des methodes et instruments en usage aupres des intellectuels de diverses disciplines, on ne s'est pas penche sur les termes clans lesquels ceux-ci les definissaient. Cette nouveaute meme entraine des inconvenien ts: ii n'est pas possible pour le moment de dresser un bilan. Mainte recherche devra etre faire clans ce domaine pour arriver un jour a une certaine connaissance du vocabulaire propre aux intellectuels du moyen age lorsqu'ils parlaient de leur travail, de leurs methodes, de leurs outils. L'ambition de ce volume est d'inciter les chercheurs a s'avancer sur ce terrain, convaincus de la richesse de la recolte.

C.H. KNEEPKENS

The 'Iudicium Constructionis' (Summary) 1 It is commonly accepted that the second half of the 12th century was crucial for the development of that part of grammar which deals with the syntagmatic relationships between words and their position in sentences, viz. syntax. According to modern scholarship, it is especially during this period that the foundations were laid for organizing a grammatical syntax, the influence of which can still be felt up to the present. Yet, notwithstanding the obvious interest that age holds for the history of grammar, our factual knowledge of the activities of contemporary grammarians in the domain of syntactical thought is still based upon the fragments that Thurot published in his pioneering work now more than a century ago. This "gap" in our knowledge, as it is usually called, has been the immediate motive for this study, for the aim of this thesis is to supply material which can foster further research into the development of 12th-century speculation on syntax. This study attempts to achieve this end in a twofold, but interrelated way. First of all some texts are made accessible for research by supplying the definitive edition of two important voluminous syntactical texts and the preliminary, working edition of a third one, all dating from the second part of the 12th century. The definitive editions are those of Robertus of Paris' Summa 'Breue sit', preserved in the MS London, BL Harl. 2515, and of Robert Blund's Summa in arte grammatica, which has come down to us in only one manuscript: London, Royal 2 D XXX, rather damaged near the end, unfortunately. The working edition concerns Petrus Hispanus' (non-papa) widely spread 'Absoluta cuiuslibet'. Secondly, this thesis presents a preliminary and introductory study, in which the texts are analyzed and in which some central notions pertaining to the doctrine of the constructio are examined with special reference to the development of these notions during the 12th century. In this study the discussion on the development of syntactic thought has been divided into two sections, viz. concerning the period before and after the appearance of the Summa super Priscianum of Peter Helias, respectively. This split is based not so much upon arguments relating to the doctrine of the constructio itself - and the suggestion of a serious doctrinal break should therefore be abandoned -, as upon considerations concerning the structure of science. For Helias' Summa closes the period 1. This text is the summary of the thesis published by the author, in Dutch, in 1987, under the title Het Iudicium constructionis. Het /eerstuk van de constructio in de 2de he/ft van de 12de eeuw, Nijmegen (Ingenium Publishers) 1987.

12

C.H. KNEEPKE NS

of grammar in which as an object of reflection syntax was actually subordin ate to the doctrine of the partes orationis, their signification and their grammat ical accidentia, a period which started in the second part of the eleventh century. On the other hand this work is also the starting point of a more independ ent approach to, almost a sort of emancipa tion of, syntax. Within the discussion on the doctrine of the constructio emphasis has been laid upon (1) theories on the definition of the term 'constructio', (2) the complex of notions which has been develope d around the (central) notion "transitio n", with special reference to the constructio, and (3) the developm ent of grammat ical thinking about the subject and predicate , with special reference to the complexes of terms of 'supponere' and 'apponere'. The first chapter has an introduct ory nature and presents the state of affairs as regards modern research into 12th century syntax. In reading this, one also should bear in mind that, for the most part, the achievem ents in the syntactical domain far into the 13th century, even up to the modistic period, are still a rather unexploi ted field. Next the aim and a justification of the structure of this thesis are presented . Thirdly, an attempt is made to establish - tentative ly and with special reference to syntax - the status of the activities of 12th century grammar ians within the whole field of mediaeval linguistic thought. Emphasi s is laid on the discussions on the well-kno wn interactio ns between logic and grammar , and grammar and theology, and on the gradual developm ent of grammat ical thought in spite of the three scientific catastrop hes, which were the direct result of the three phases in which the corpus of the Aristotel ian writings were discovere d, not leaving grammar untouche d. Moreove r it is argued that there is a striking and increasin g divergen ce between normativ e grammar and speculati ve grammar within the art of grammar . The second chapter presents a survey of the developm ents within the doctrines of the definition of constructio, of transitivi ty and intransitivity, and of subject and predicate during the period which extends from the end of the eleventh century to the appearan ce of Helias' Summa. For this purpose the following texts are subjected to a closer investiga tion: the Glosule tradition and especially Master Guido's gloss comment ary on the minor, Hugh of S. Victor's Grammatica, William of Conches' Glosule, the anonymo us Close 'LMIA' and Peter Helias' Summa. The early 12th century views on the nature of constructio are closely related to Priscian's reflections on oratio. We must bear in mind that the grammat ical legacy from Antiquity did not present mediaeval

THE IUDICIUM CONSTRUCTIONIS

13

grammarians with a formal approach to word combinations on the level of the sentence or clause. In consequence of this lack and, moreover, misled by several obscure, or rather opaque, passages in Priscian's Institutiones they felt inclined and justified to identify the oratio and the constructio with the result that they applied Priscian's definitions of the oratio to the constructio. The result of this intermingling of oratio, i.e. the correctly construed - and for the early grammarians perfect or complete - sentence, and constructio, i.e. the syntactic component of the construed sentence, was that throughout the entire 12th century (and for a long period after that) many grammarians, as e.g. the masters of the Glosule tradition, Peter Helias and Peter Hispanus (/Ion-papa), only interpreted 'constructio' on the sentence level as the oratio (peifecta) constructa, leaving no room in their theories for a "formal construction" on the level of the sentence. Other grammarians, however, as William of Couches, the Anonymous of the Glose 'LMIA' and Robert Blund, maintained the distinction between the oratio constructa and the constructio orationis, and claimed that the constructio and not the oratio was the real subject of syntax. Another aspect of Priscian's approach to syntactic matters, although not apparent in an elaborate or operative way, concerns the distinction between the binary combination, i.e. the constructio of a word with another word, and the combination on sentence level. William of Couches overtly refers to this distinction of level, but it does not become operative until Helias' Summa. From that time onwards a distinction between the construction of two words, considered strictly formally, i.e. the binary relationship, and the oratio constructa was commonly accepted in 12th century grammatical speculation. An important innovation in the doctrine of the definition of constructio concerns Peter Helias' interpretation of the term 'congruus', which in many theories forms part of the definition of the term 'constructio'. Up to that time this term had always received a purely morfo-syntactic interpretation, i.e. on the level of grammatic.al congruity. Now Helias introduces semantic congruity in the doctrine of the constructio by means of the distinction between 'congruus voce', which concerns grammatical congruity, and 'congruus sensu', which concerns semantical congruity. In Priscian's Institutiones the mediaeval grammarians found the central notions of the doctrine on transitivity and intransitivity, but looked in vain for a systematic treatment of these notions in this work. During the first half of the 12th century the grammarians paid substantial attention to these concepts within the framework of their reflections on constructio, leading to systematize a doctrine on transitivity and related concepts, which, in this form, was wholly incorporated into the doctrine of constructio. We must also bear in mind that the early 12th century

14

C.H. KNEEPKE NS

grammar ians interpret ed the concepts "transitio", "intransitio", "reciprocatio'', which also covers grammat ical reflexivity, and "retransitio" in what has been called in modern literature a "notiona l" way and not formally: a more or less referentia l diversity and identity were at the basis of their considera tions. During this period the distinctio n, which had originate d from Priscian, between transitio personarum and transitio actus et personarum is develope d into a complete ly operative oppositio n with its own field of problems . The occurren ce of both transitio and intransitio in construct ions which consist of compartm ents of different quality, sometime s led to the unfortun ate ad hoc solution of creating mix-categories; on the other hand it undoubte dly exerted a stimulati ng influence resulting in a thorough introduct ion of the distinctio n, already mentione d above, between the binary construct ion, formally considere d, and the construction on the sentence level. The ingredien ts for the third doctrine, discussed above in chapter IL 3, viz. the doctrine of the subject and predicate , were mainly taken from Boethius and Priscian. In Boethius ' treatises the mediaeva l grammar ians came across the notions of "subjectum" and ''praedicatum", although not yet defined in a complete ly technical manner, and the beginnin gs of an analysis of the sentence or propositi on in a subject phrase and a predicate phrase. Furtherm ore in Boethius ' works these notions were linked up with Priscian's claim that any oratio peifecta has to consist of at least a noun and a verb. As early as in the writings of the masters of the Glosule tradition we may find the complex of the term 'subicere' generally employed to describe - on the semantic -syntactic al level - the placing of an extraling uistic entity as the subject of a sentence, and - on the grammat icsyntactical level - the use or function of a linguistic entity as the subject term of a sentence. The complex of the term 'praedicare' is used for describin g what is said about the extraling uistic subject or the function or use of a linguistic entity as the predicate term of a sentence. Furtherm ore, we may find the terms 'subiectum' and 'praedicatum' used to indicate the subject and the predicate compartm ent of a sentence, respectively. The use of the complex of the term 'supponere' was derived from Priscian's Institutiones and had a very restricted applicati on in the domains of the locutiona ry subject (the "subject of discourse") and the nominal signification. An importan t enlargem ent of its use may be observed in the comment aries of Gilbertus Porreta on Boethius ' theologic al treatises, who used this complex to describe the placing of an extraling uistic entity as the subject of a propositi on. In all probabili ty it was this

THE IUDICIUM CONSTRUCTIONI S

15

Porretanean tradition from which Peter Helias derived, for the first time in grammar, its use at the semantic-syntac tical level. The complex of the term 'apponere' is not found as a technical term in the doctrine of the subject and predicate in the first half of the 12th century. The third chapter discusses the three texts, of which an edition is supplied in this study. It gives a comprehensive analysis of two of these texts, viz. of Robertus of Paris' Summa 'Breve sit' (III.1.4) and of Robert Blund's Summa in arte grammatica (III.2.4), whereas only a concise analysis is given (III.3.4) of Petrus Hispanus' Absoluta cuiuslibet, since its edition is not considered to be definitive. The summa discussed first, viz. Robertus of Paris', is preserved in only one codex (London, BL Harl. 2515). However, Robertus' tract has also served as the master text of the Summa gramatice of the Italian master Uguccio, of which a copy is preserved in the MS Munich, CLM 18908. Although Robertus' Summa has been handed down anonymously, there is substantial evidence that this work was written in Paris or its intellectual environment by a certain master Robertus, a Frenchman by birth, in the 1160s. The Summa consists of four chapters and an appendix. The contents of the first three chapters largely correspond with the first chapters of Priscian's eighteenth book. The constructions of the nominative with the verb, the nominative with the oblique cases and of the verbs with the oblique cases are discussed in that order. An extensive chapter on the constructions of the indeclinabilia is added. Apart from the fact that this Summa acquaints us with the doctrinal achievements and the particularities of its author, the importance of this text lies in the circumstance that it is the oldest independent mediaeval treatise on syntax hitherto known. Another point which deserves our special attention is the frequent use which has been made of the instantia-technique. And as far as doctrinal matters not discussed in chapter IV are concerned, the attention Robertus gives to syncategoremat ic terms and to the phenomenon of what is nowadays called "scope" is noteworthy. The second text, already brought under the attention of modern scholarschip in 19 50 by the efforts of R. W. Hunt, is the Summa in arte grammatica written by the English master Robert Blund, who must have been active as a grammarian in the 1170s in Paris or its intellectual environment. This Summa is also preserved in only one manuscript (London, BL Royal 2 D XXX). Unfortunately the text breaks off in the discussion of appositio, so that we lack the chapters on conceptio, regimen and figurative speech. Its structure shows affinity with that of the seventeenth book of Priscian's Institutiones. He discusses construction,

16

C.H. KNEEPKENS

interrogative s, demonstrativ es, relatives, evocation and apposition to which we must add the missing three topics mentioned above. In analyzing Blund's text one is immediately struck by his elaborate theory of the construction , in which he distinguishes three levels: the constructio dictionis cum dictione, the constructio dictionum and the constructio orationis. On each level, the term 'constructio' is used to denote the formal, syntactic aspect and not the oratio constructa. An especially important aspect of Blund's theory of the constructio is that he always considers the constructio dictionis cum dictione to be a single relationship, i.e. the construction of word A with word B is not identical with the construction of word B with word A. Both construction s may even be of a different quality. Furthermore , his interpretatio ns of the term 'transitio' in the expressions "transitio actus" and "transitio personarum", his theories on demonstratio and on relatio, and his emphasis on the nuncupative use of the noun in a sentence as a separate semantic domain also deserve our special interest. The third text, Petrus Hispanus' (non-papa) Absoluta cuiuslibet, is one of the most influential syntactic treatises of the Middle Ages. Hunt has definitively dismissed Peter Helias as a possible author and has attributed it to the still somewhat mysterious master Petrus Hispanus, who is in no way to be identified with Peter of Spain, the author of the famous Tractatus logicales. The Absoluta has been preserved in no less than fourteen manuscripts, most of them presenting a heavily interpolated text. This Summa follows the structure of the Priscianus minor more closely than both foregoing texts, and shows a striking resemblance to Peter Helias' Summa super minorem in this respect. The critical edition of this text is in preparation, and although its appearance in print will take some time, I have added a working edition of the Absoluta, which notwithstand ing its preliminary nature allows the student of the history of grammar to get a substantial impression of the theories held by its author. This working edition is based upon the collation of the three oldest MSS, sc. Vienna, CVP 2498, London, BL Royal 2 D XXX and Paris, BN lat. 5505. In order to avoid even the suggestion of a critical edition no apparatus criticus has been added. The fourth chapter discusses the developmen t and achievement s within the doctrine of the constructio during the second half of the 12th century. It appears that during this period as well there is no consensus among the grammarians , not even about the most important tenets of this part of grammar. Within the doctrine of the definition of 'constructio' we are confronted with a distinction, shared by most of the grammarians , between the constructio dictionis cum dictione, which they always interpreted formally as

THE IUDICIUM CONSTRUCTIONIS

17

a (single or mutual) syntagmatic relationship between two words, and the constructio on the sentence level. The latter is accepted by some authors as Robertus of Paris, Petrus Hispanus and master Nicholas as the oratio constructa, by others, such as Robert Blund, as the constructio orationis. Although on the binary level of the word construction the term 'constructio' denotes the syntactic relationship and is even opposed to 'determinatio' and 'efficium', terms which really belong in the domain of semantics, we must bear in mind that this syntactic relationship is always established within a semantic frame-work. Strictly speaking, a construction is possible between two words if and only if there is also an exigentia- or a determinatio-relationship between them. The doctrine of the regimen and the exigentia, which may also be considered a typically mediaeval achievement, became totally interwoven with the doctrine of the constructio. Within this doctrine we may observe a tendency to use the complex of the term 'regere' especially for those relationships in which the rectum is a substantive noun or its substitute which receives its proper case by the dictio regens, whereas the complex of the term 'exigere' has a wider range and can also be applied to relationships between a verb and an adverb or an adverbial expression. We must remember, however, that in the greater part of the texts they are used promiscuously without any distinction in meaning. The second part of this chapter (IV.2) presents a discussion of the theories held by the three grammarians whose texts are edited here, which deal with the notions of "transitivity", "intransitivity", "reciprocity" (including "reflexivity") and "retransitivity" with special reference to the construction. A summary of the theory of master Nicholas, a discussion of the hitherto known views on this subject held by the Porretanean grammarians, and a short outline of the changes within the doctrine of transitivity and related concepts due to the discovery and use of Aristotle's Physics in the first decennia of the 13th century are added. Points of interest are Robertus of Paris' attempt to introduce three categories of transition by adding the transitio in actu tantum to the usual transitio actus et personarum and the transitio personarum tantum, and the rejection of this theory by Robert Blund, who for his part defends a rather complicated system of application of the categories of transitio and intransitio far judging the constructions. An interesting aspect of Blund's theory are his fundamentally different interpretations of the term 'transitio' in the expressions 'transitio actus' and 'transitio personarum', viz. as processus and diversitas respectively. This view allowed or rather urged him to reject the quite traditional complex notion of "transitio actus et personarum" as nonsensical. Though there had already been evidence of the existence of two

18

C.H. KNEEPKE NS

competin g systems of classifying construct ions during the first part of the century, in this period we see them earning a permane nt place within mediaeva l grammat ical thought. They each maintain ed their positions by obtaining a famous and often read grammar ian as their advocate: Alexande r de Villa Dei considere d "transitio" and "intransitio" the major concepts to which "retransitio" and "reciprocatio" were subordin ate; Petrus Hispanus , on the other hand, following Peter Helias, retained the ancient Priscian four-pron ged division based upon "transitio", "intransitio'', "reciprocatio" and "retransitio" as notions of the same level. Furtherm ore, we may observe that the judgmen t of construct ions which consisted of an intransiti ve and a transitive compartm ent, was removed from a more or less etymolog ical approach , and was now based upon the quality of the predicate . The third part of this chapter (IV.3) discusses the theories on subject and predicate of the period at issue, in which the complexe s of the terms 'supponere' (IV.3.1) and 'apponere' (IV.3.2) obtain a central position. These complexe s of terms are subjected to a closer examinat ion, especially the use made of them (1) on the semantic level of the nominal and - as far as 'apponere' is concerne d - verbal significat ion, (2) on the semantic -syntactic al level of (a) the locutiona ry subject and (b) the placing of an extraling uistic entity as the subject or as the predicate of a sentence by means of a noun, a pronoun or a verb, and (3) on the grammat ical-synta ctical level of the use or function of a linguistic entity as the subject or - in the case of the complex of the term 'apponere' - as the predicate term or the predicate noun. It appears that the efficium supponendi is only attributed to substanti ve nouns or substanti ve expressions and that it is based on the substantia significat ion, actualized in a sentence, i.e. the persona significat ion, of a noun or a pronoun: it is immediat ely related to the referentia l function of a noun or pronoun used in a sentence. The efficium apponendi of both verbs and nouns - and in some theories, as e.g. in Robert Blund's, even of pronouns - is based on their proprietas or qualitas signification. In a separate section (IV.3.2.2) it is examined to what extent the semantic status of a noun used in predicate noun position is subjected to change or reduction with the result that it loses or is reduced in its nominal substantia signification. In this discussio n special attention is paid to the various interpret ations of the term 'substantia' in the proprium of the noun, which in some theories as e.g. of Peter Helias and Petrus Hispanus heavily bear upon the 'substantia' interpret ations to be found in the theologic al treatises of Boethius. The fifth chapter recapitula tes and summariz es the results of this explorati ve and introduct ory study and gives in appendice a short note

THE IUDICIUM CONSTRUCTIONIS

19

on the use of the complexes of the terms 'resolvere' and 'exponere' in the writings of 12th century grammarians.

JOHN 0. WARD

Rhetoric and the art of dictamen . The arts of rhetoric and dictamen may be defined - in medieval terms - as the arts of teaching not just loqui, but dicere1, "non tantum ... simplicit er loqui sed verbis curialibu s et ornatissim is" 2 . The numerou s more specific definition s of the ars rhetorica, preceptio oratoria, dictamen, all stress in one way or another, the notion of elaborate d, taught, formal discourse: "rethoric a vero distincte ornate expolite compone re unicuiqu e sexui et persone et etati necnon ordini et dignitati congrua accidenti a distribue re, ordinem et modum discerner e" 3 , "scientia proferend i condicta cum ornatu verborum et pondere sententia rum" 4 , "litteralis edicio venustate verborum egregiisque sententia rum coloribus adornata vel .. . sermonis in mente concepti vel necessita te negotii ordinata conpositi o" 5 , "congrua et apposita litteralis editio de aliquo vel mente concepta vel sermone vel litteris declarata ... triplex . .. men tale, scriptura le, vocale" 6 , "congruu s et appositus cuiuslibe t rei tractatus ad rem ipsam conveniente r applicitu s" 7 , "de una quaque materia et congrua et decora locutio ... dictamin is species sunt quatuor: metricum , ritimicum , prosaicum , permistu m" 8 . The arts so defined thus professed to inculcate , by precepts and regulated practice, measured , effective, practised speaking and writing; 1. NB: abbreviatio ns used in the present chapter: L&S: C.T. LEWIS and C. SHORT, A Latin Dictionary (Oxford, 1879 etc.); N = ].]. NIERMEYER, Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, 1976; M = ].]. MURPHY), Medieval Rhetoric, a bibliography, Toronto, 1989 (the letter 'M' will be followed by the entry [not the page] number used within the volume).

1."unde dicimus ex arte loquimur a natura" (GUARINO DA VERONA on Ad Herennium 1.1.1.). 2. Vatican City Bibi. Apost. Vat. MS lat. 1700 fol. 1r (s. xii). 3. E.H. KANTOROWICZ, Anonymi "Aurea Gemma" in Medievalia et Humanistica 1 (1943) p. 53. 4. P.O. KRISTELLER, Un "ars dictaminis" di Giovanni def Virgilio in Italia Medioevale e Umanistica 4 (1961) p. 193. 5. L. ROCKINGER, Ober Briefsteller und Formelbiicher in Deutsch/and wiihrend des MA, Munich, 1861, p. 31. 6. BENE FLORENTINUS, Candelabrum, ed. G.C. ALESSIO, Padua, 1983, p. 181. 7. Ibid. p. 155. 8. KRISTELLER (n. 4 above).

RHETORIC

21

they urged "artem sine adsiduitate dicendi non multum iuvare ... rationem praeceptionis ad exercitationem, adcommodari oportere" 9 . Within the fields of rhetoric and dictamen, the principle instrument of intellectual research and teaching was a constructed terminological field or network. The network was in part original to the middle ages, in part borrowed [with refinement] from antiquity. It was established by de.finitio, enumeratio partium (jormarum, generum), by citation of authority and by dijferentia (all topics of argumentation discussed in Cicero's Topica 1 o). It was illustrated by pictorial tables, and by verse or prose examples (letter, poem, lawsuit, short speech or speech opening, etc.). It was presented in accordance with a certain inherited or devised ordo, as a set of modi for the theoretical accomplishment of the goals of the art. The distinction between the theory of the art and introductory considerations about the art was normally set forth in a proemium or introductory accessus to the gloss or tractate through which an art or author was taught. The major framework for presentation of research and inculcation of precepts selected for teaching was - in case of the classical art of rhetoric (arti.ficiosa eloquentia) - the commentary (glosa, commentum), presented either marginally around the base or antique text (auctor), or else as an independent work citing only key lemmata or portions of the base text, and assuming access on the part of the student to the original auctor. In the case of the 'new' rhetorical arts - the ars poetriae, the ars dictandi (dictamen) and the ars predicandi, for example - the independent treatise (summa, tractatus), composed by medieval teachers for medieval conditions, was the norm. Exceptionally in the theoretical ars rhetorica, more often in the applied arts, ftorilegia or excerpt collections were put together as a teaching medium, taken either from major antique works or from texts that were felt to represent models for student composition in the selected art. The practice of composing in accordance with these models was known as usus or exercitatio 11 • Distribution of teaching materials was effected by private or institutional copying, usually of booklets or fascicules, which were often assembled for preservation in the form of books by later librarians 12. In the early days of formal teaching in the art of rhetoric (circa 1000-1150) oral diffusion seems to have been common, with a reduced level of reliance upon the written word. Titles and clear indication of authorship for teaching texts were not common and works were excerpted and plagiarized 9. Rhetorica ad Herennium 1. 1. 1. 10. E.g. 2.9-10, 3.13-14,16, 4.26, 5.28, 8.34, 9.39, 11.46 etc. 11. See below [3]. 12. See the MSS discussed in ALESSIO (above, n. 6) pp. xxxii-lxi.

22

JOHN 0. WARD

without system or acknowled gement. Diffusion via the fragment was thus common. We thus have three major aspects of didactic method and instruction in the field of rhetoric: [1] the creation of an ars, techne, disciplina; that is, the reduction of materia to rules (precepta) and terms (res, verba); [2] the embodime nt of the above in treatises, with or without glosses, for theoretical study, and in models presented for imitation; [3] the inculcation of [1] via [2] in the classroom. The present chapter will discuss [1] and [2] primarily from the point of view of theoretical rhetorical lore and to a lesser extent from the point of view of the 'applied' arts - dictamen, the ars poetriae, the ars predicandi. The third topic, about which we are much less fully informed, will have to be traced, very briefly, by way of both theoretical manuals and non-theore tical works, from the time of Abbo of Fleury to that of Nicholas Dybinus.

1. THE TERMINOL OGICAL FIELD.

A. Introduction. The terminolog ical field for the ars rhetorica used throughou t the middle ages was based on that of the pseudo-Ci ceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium. Variations on the system put forward in this latter treatise were effected to accommod ate the following factors: (1) a primary fascination with the doctrine set out in the De inventione of Cicero and its early commenta tors (Victorinu s, Grillius 13 ), which was used in late antiquity and in the early middle ages in place of the Ad Herennium (for reasons not nowadays clear); (2) a less pronounce d but occasionally manifested interest in the varying terminolog y of subordinat e texts, for example, the relevant book in Martianus Capella's De nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae, or Quintilian 's Institutes ef Oratory 14; (3) a sense of scholastic thoroughn ess which urged commenta tors between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries to [a] systematise and [b] fill in the gaps in the terminolog y of the Ad Herennium; (4) a reduction in the Classical latin tendency to avoid abstract nouns; 13. Ed. C. HALM, Rhetores latini minores, Leipzig, 1863, pp. 155ff, 598ff, and]. MARTIN, Grillius, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Rhetorik, Paderborn, 1927 (Studien z. Geschichte und Kultur des Altertums XIV 2-3). 14. See below [2] [DJ and [CJ for interest in Quintilian.

RHETORIC

23

(5) the special interests and requirements of the subordinate, or 'applied' arts of rhetoric (dictamen, ars poetriae, ars predicandi, ars memoriae, ars notaria, the rhetorica ecclesiastica, etc.); (6) growing interest in and knowledge of the full panoply of classical, especially Greek, rhetorical terminology during the Italian Renaissance 15 . Tables I-VI give some idea of the constructed terminological field as found in the basic medieval rhetorical textbook, the pseudo-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium. The tables have been set out in a manner dear to the medieval rhetor and dictator: numerous medieval manuscripts, whether treatises, commentaries or summae, contain such tables: they form a basic mnemonic device and derive their underlying principle from the notion of divisio, the principal didactic tool adopted in the medieval schools, a tool well pioneered by the teachers of antiquity, from Hellenistic times on 16 . The Ad Herennium is not a very sophisticated treatise as far as terminology goes. It will often present a periphrasis rather than a term as such 17 . There is seldom any actual word for 'term', though occasionally the words genera and partes are used. The commonest word for 'method' or 'mode' is ratio. At one point in his De inventione Cicero actually refers in parenthesis specifically to the structuring, terminological impulse: ut certas quasdam in partes tribuamus, and elsewhere he uses the word modi18 • B. The significance

of terminology.

A term, narrowly defined, is 'a word or expression, having a precisely limited meaning or peculiar to a science, art or the like; as, a technical "term" ' 19 . From a semiotic viewpoint, a term is a 'cultural unit': that is, it denotes a 'referent' an 'abstract entity which moreover is only a cultural convention' 20 . 15. See]. MONFASANI, George of Trebizond; a biography and a study of his Rhetoric and Logic, Leiden, 1976. 16. It should be noted that these tables differ from the summaries of the contents of the Ad Herennium provided in the Loeb Classical Library edition of Harry CAPLAN (Harvard, 1964) pp. xlv-lviii or in G. CALBOLI ed. Cornifici Rhetorica ad Herennium, Bologna, 1969, pp. 54-74 (which, from the point of view of the present chapter is the better of the two in that it highlights the Latin and Greek words for terms and near-terms) in that they direct attention specifically to the terminology actually used in medieval MSS. Beyond the terms listed in these tables there are other, further, categories of detailed division (e.g. Ad Her. 3. 7.13 sqq.) which are not subjected rigorously to the process of terminological classification. 17. In the Tables I-VI, areas of the didactic structure of the Ad Herennium not reduced to terminology as such, and any connecting phrases, are given between round brackets. 18. De inventione, 1.30.47. 19. Websters New Collegiate Dictionary (1949). 20. U. Eco, A Theory of Semiotics, Indiana U.P., 1979, pp. 66-67.

24

JOHN 0. WARD

A term or sign indicates an accepted abbreviati on known to, and hence readily expandable into a larger entity by, a given audience. A periphrasis or non-termin ological 'explanatio n' is designed to convey meaning with less use of abbreviatio n to an audience less familiar with the semantic field/ meaning/ understand ing-system of the 'speaker', whilst a term will be designed to function as an abbreviati on unit in a shared meaning system. Once explained (i.e. once the shared meaning system is constructe d) the term will serve to abbreviate and speed up learning, that is, the process of transmissi on of informatio n. One might recall, though the reference is necessarily imprecise, Eco's notion of 'overcodin g' and 'undercodi ng' 21 . The 'shared-me aning-syst em' indicates the 'closed' environme nt, the 'school', the 'cloister', etc. Terminolo gy thus betokens scholasticism, whilst a retreat from terminolog y may be labelled humanism , that is, the meeting of unfamiliar environme nts and meaning systems. The process of reduction of preceptive instruction in rhetoric to the level of terminolog y is progressive and has not been effected evenly across the ars, as the latter stands exposed in the Ad Herennium. The Romans, after all, seem to have been less fond of abstract nouns than their medieval or modern successors. Thus, where Caplan translates (3.23.39) 'it is the instructor' s duty to teach the proper method of search in each case', the Latin has "praecepto ris est docere quemadmo dum quaeri quidque conveniat" : the italicized nouns in the English translation are all absent from the Latin original. The partial resort to terminolog y in the Ad Herennium can be readily illustrated. The loci, for example, by which we effect amplijicatio in a conclusion (2.30.48ff) , are numbered but not given names or described in 'terms'. So too the subdivisio ns of ab nostra persona (1.5.8) are not terms: "si nostrum officium sine adrogantia laudabimu s, atque in rem publicam quales fuerimus, aut in parentes, aut in amicos, aut in eos qui audiunt aperiemus ... ". There are terms here (the sequence "in rem publicam ... in parentes," etc.) but they are not peculiar to the usages of the art of rhetoric: they do not convey any 'precisely limited meaning' with regard to that ars. With some small change of wording, they could be made to convey a summary idea of procedure within the subdivisio n ab nostra persona. For example, if the sentence read: "laudation e officiorum nostrorum / in rempublic am/ in parentes/ in amicos/ in eos qui audiunt" etc. Just such phraseolog y is adopted for "adversari orum persona: si eos in odium, invidiam, contempti onem adducemus ". What is at stake here? Not the adoption of a term peculiar to rhetoric, that is, found in no other context (few rhetorical terms met 21. Ibid. pp. 133-136.

RHETORIC

25

with so far would fit this definition), but rather the formulaic schematization of phraseology and language in such a way as to convey to students with a minimum of words, a precise procedural segment within the discipline that is being propounded ("perspicuam rationem [exordiorum] haberemus", 1. 9 .16). Essential here is a didactic tradition, a preceptive tradition; the more a subject is explained in more or less unvarying form, the more precise and economical will its language become. Such a process can be observed in the various stages through which the Latin ars rhetorica passed between antiquity and the Renaissance: the Ad Herennium and De inventione, for example, represent an early, though by no means an initial, stage whilst the rhetores latini minores reflect a more sophisticated phase. In the field of rhetorical commentation during the medieval period, Menegaldus (11th c.), Thierry of Chartres (12th c.), Bartolinus (14th c.) and Guarino da Verona (15th c.) are each associated with a movement towards, or away from, the reduction of the art to new levels of terminological sophistication. From the eleventh century onwards, the new, or 'applied' arts of rhetoric, developed new terminological fields to serve the patterns of didactic instruction that society demanded, and, for the later medieval period in general, a complicated strait-jacket of terms and procedures developed for the commentation of texts in a systematic, homogeneous, uniform way. The art of rhetoric, no less than the other arts of the trivium, law, medicine and the three philosophies, provides much evidence of this last development, as shall be indicated below. C. The De inventione and the Ad Herennium.

Cicero's De inventione and his Topica provided later generations with a few serious additions to/ departures from the pattern of terminological use as set out in the Ad Herennium. The introductory heads "de genere ipsius artis, de officio, de fine, de materia, de partibus" (De inventione 1.4.5.) were to have an influential future, when combined with Boethius' "de speciebus ... de instrumento ... de opere artis ... de instrumenti partibus" 22 , his notion of the genus of rhetoric as a jacultas23 , the distinction Victorinus derived from Varro between 'extrinsic' and 'intrinsic' aspects of an art24 , and certain other antique elements. These heads, arranged in various ways, were by the second half of the twelfth century AD to form a compulsory framework within which all arts and disciplines had to be considered. The formulation of Thierry of Chartres, whether he invented it or derived it from his teacher(s) 22. PL 1207A, E. STUMP, Boethius' "De topicis differentiis", Cornell U.P., 1978, p. 80. 23. Cf. CICERO, De inventione 1.5.6. (civilis ratio). 24. HALM (above n. 13) p. 170.

26

JOHN 0. WARD

we are as yet not clearly aware of the scholarly lead-up to his innovative De inventione commentary - was to be highly influential: ten heads must be considered in approaching any art: genus, [quid sit) (difinitio 25 ), materia, efficium, finis, partes, species (genera/es causarum qualitates), instrumentum, artifex, (quare [rhetoricaJ vocetur). These heads constitute the introductoria scientia or ars considered extrinsecus, together with those concerning the book itself: auctoris intentio and libri utilitas2 6 • Some measure of the extent to which a homogeneou s institutional climate had systematised the introductory treatment of the Ad Herennium by the early fourteenth century is provided by the easily accessible introduction to the long or 'Justitianus' version of the Ad Herennium commentary by Bartolinus de Benincasa de Canulo (Bologna, early 14th c. 27). A summary, underlining all terminology (borrowed or indigeneous to the art), should make this clear: facundia or eloquentia must be considered absolute (not coupled with wisdom) or iuncta sapientie. Considered absolutely, it is detestable, for four reasons. Firstly: it is like a sword in the hands of a madman. The antecedens proposition here is that such a sword strikes indiscriminately. The consequent proposition (consequens) is that eloquence without wisdom is like a sword in the hands of a madman. Second: eloquence without wisdom produces evils and disadvantages and so is detestable. Antecedens: De inventione 1.1.1: "nam cum et nostre rei publice ... ". Consequentia: an evil effect argues a bad cause. Third: eloquence without wisdom is like a prodigal person who is detestable because he wastes his assets. Maior and minor proofs for this will be found in Jordanus of Saxony's gloss on Priscian. Fourth: appetite without ratio = eloquence without wisdom. The maior proof derives from the locus a simile. The minor is clear, for an appetite not guided by reason desires good just as it does evil (four proofs auctoritate follow from Cicero's De inventione and De efficiis). The same procedure is adopted for proving that facundia sapiencie coniuncta is desirable, with the same use of syllogistic terms. Two printed pages in the modern edition are required to complete the demonstratio n, whereupon the author proceeds to the causae libri huius (see Table VII). The final categories of Bartolinus' introduction are titulus libri (materialis, farmalis, e.fficiens, .finalis) and cui parti phylosophiae supponatui2 8 . There is no 25. So at p. 51 line 49 of KM. FREDBORG ed., The Latin Rhetorical Commentaries by Thierry of Chartres, Toronto, 1988 (Studies and Texts 84=M 401). 26. FREDBORG, op. cit. pp. 49-55 and p. 377 (WARD, 'The date .. .'); also: FREDBORG (M 400); HUNT (M 600, now reprinted M 584 pp. 177ff); E.A. QUAIN, The Medieval "Accessus ad Auctores" in Traditio 3 (1945) pp. 215-264. 27. S.K. WERTIS, The commentary of Bartolinus de Benincasa de Canulo on the "Rhetorica ad Herennium" in Viator 10 (1979) pp. 302-310. 28. WERTIS, pp. 309-310.

RHETORIC

27

space here to indicate what these terms mean 29 but plainly apparent is an extreme reduction of materia to a terminological structure based on the assumption that knowledge was a unified theoretical whole neatly compartmentali sed into the disciplines taught at the medieval school or university. Guarino da Verona was to blow many of these structures away with an assertion at once simple and epochal: "solebant maiores in exponendis libris preponere quedam extrinseca et intrinseca que nunc ommittuntur"30 . The scholastic impulse, though completed in the major Italian glosses of the early fourteenth century, is evident early in the glossing tradition, and, indeed, can be traced back to antiquity 31 . The commentator known to some as William of Champeaux and to others by the De inventione gloss incipit In primis3 2 , for example, subdivides civilis ratio in a characteristicall y scholastic way (see Table VIII). The underlying concept behind glossing of this sort is that the terms of the art are real because the art as a theoretical structure is real. This 'realist' approach to the art of rhetoric produced a distinctive attitude towards terminology which will be investigated below in connection with the gloss found in MS Oxford, Bodl. Lib. CCC 250. The relevance of the above remarks is evident when we consider certain further features of the terminological structures of the De inventione. In the first place, the celebrated 'controversy' between Cicero and Hermagoras over whether III(a) (b) (c) above 33 above are genera causarum or partes alicuius generis causae (De inventione 1.9.12 sqq.) proved decisive because it enshrined an attitude of meticulous exactitude in regard to the terminological structure of the art of rhetoric. Thus, when the medieval reader of the De inventione encountered discrepancies between the terms used there and in the Ad Herennium, what was he to think? Such cruces did occur, most noticeably thus: (1) a different system of constitutiones3 4 ; (2) VI(a)(a)(1)-(4) 35 become in the De inventione 1.15.20 five, with only two terms in common;

29. See n. 27 above. 30. From the introduction to his Ad Herennium commentary. 31. As is clear from the texts edited in HALM (above n. 13) and, for example, from CICERO, De inventione 1.30.4 7. 32. WARD (M 407) p. 47 n. 60: MS York Minster XVI M 7 fol. 5rb. 33. Table I. 34. CALBOLI (above n. 16) pp. 218ff; L. CALBOLI MONTEFUSCO, La dottrina deg/i "status" nella retorica greca e romana, Olms-Weidmann, 1986; J. WARD, The "constitutio negotialis" in antique Latin Rhetorical Theory in Prudentia (Auckland, N.Z.) 1:2 (1969) pp. 29-48. 35. Table I.

28

JOHN 0. WARD

(3) Under VI(d) 36 a generalised topical system is provided : "quandam silvam atque materiam universam ... omnium argumen tation um", divided up as in Table IX. Any argumentatio derived from these topics will be either probabilis or necessaria, subdivide d as in Table X. There follows a section which must be seen as the equivalen t of VI(d)(A) /(B)(a)II above 37 , though again the terms differ (1.31.51 sqq., see Table XI); (4) partitio (1.22.31) replaces divisio (VI(c)) 38 and reprehensio replaces confutatio (VI(d)(B)) 39 . The latter is divided into four types (numbere d modi without terms); (5) false argumen ts (1.48.89) are divided into a variety of vitia40 which overlap VI(d)(A) /(B)(a)II (d) 41 , but, interestingly, the Ad Herennium does not choose to use terminolo gy; (6) Cicero is closer to Hermago ras than the author of the Ad Herennium and occasionally introduce s - sometime s only to reject - the Greek's terms (digressio 1.51.97, for example). Cicero's conclusio has, as partes, enumeratio, indignatio, conquestio, which again differ from VI(e)(i)· · ·)42 • ( 111

The resolutio n of the problems raised by such differences of terminolo gy preoccup ied most of the medieval glossators for much of their time: since the ars and its modi, or partes, existed as real theoretic al structure s, there could, ultimately, be no residual discrepan cy or inexactitude. Various reasons were alleged for the occurren ce of differences at the literal (or textual) level: - Cicero's youth and inexperie nce (as evident in the De inventione), the clash between Greek and Latin rhetorica l systems for example - and, where terms proved inscrutab le - for example the constitutio negotialis - medieval optimism cut through the Gordian knot43 . Margaret a Fredborg has provided an illuminat ing illustratio n of the problems involved in resolving many of these discrepancies as far as the labours of Thierry of Chartres - the most intelligen t of the rhetorica l comment ators - were concerne d. Her discussion elaborates Thierry's ideas in the following principal areas: (1) the loci argumentationis44 , where, apparently, between the time of 36. 3 7. 38. 39. 40.

Table II. Table III. Table II. Table II. commune, vulgare, Jene, remotum, ma/a definitione, controversum, perspicuum, non concessum, turpe,

ojfensum, contrarium, inconstans, adversarium.

41. Table Ill. 42. Table Ill. 43. See CALBOLI MONTEFUS CO (above n. 34) pp. 99ff; WARD (above n. 34) and WARD, "Artificiosa Eloquentia" in the Middle Ages, Diss. Toronto, 1972, II pp. 428ff. 44. FREDBORG (M 400 M 401 pp. 21f).

J.

RHETORIC

29

Victorinus45 and that of Boethius46 it had become customary to refer to the headings of Cicero's quaedam silva as circumstantiae, and to see them as the decisive element constituting the difference between rhetoric and dialectic 4 7 • Fredborg48 has shown how portions of these circumstantiae (adiuncta negotio) bring the discussion of Cicero's Topica into the art of rhetoric. Boethius' In topica Ciceronis and his De dijferentiis topicis provided an extensive analysis of the dense terminology of the ancient topical system, which is more properly part of the art of dialectic; (2) discrepant types of .ryllogismus49 ; (3) arrangement and terminology of con.firmatio and reprehensio50 ; (4) the constitutiones 51 •

D. The terminological field after Cicero. Quintilian's Institutes worked further refinements into the ancient Latin rhetorical system but, though reinforced by Julius Victor, his influence is largely confined to one medieval glossator (whose work is found in MS Oxford, Bodi. Lib. CCC 250) and is therefore best left until that glossator is discussed below. The intrusion of Hellenistic and Second Sophistic Greek rhetorical terminology into the rhetores latini minores also had only limited impact on the medieval rhetorical tradition and so can be noticed only in passing here. The rhetores latini minores present the Greek terms for the co/ores and much Greek rhetoric from, for example, Hermagoras 52 . Much of their terminology cannot be traced in earlier sources 53 , and, since it deviates markedly from the terminology of the Ad Herennium, had little or no influence in the Middle Ages. A treatise such as that by Fortunatianus 54 serves, however, to illustrate the catechetical extremes of Graeco-Roman terminological profusion to which rhetorical instruction had been reduced: Fortunatianus' work is little more than a 45. Ed. HALM (above n. 13) pp. 206-207. 46. PL 1205C, 1212C-D, trans. STUMP (above n. 22) pp. 79, 89ff. 47. PL 1205C, trans. STUMP, p. 79. 48. M 400 pp. 18-19 (242-243). 49. FREDBORG (M 401) pp. 22-23. 50. Ibid. pp. 23ff. 51. Ibid. pp. 25f. In many cases, of course, these areas of the ars rhetorica were controversial in antiquity, for example, De inventione 1.11.18 etc. 52. E.g. asystata: FORTUNATIANUS, Ars Rhetorica ed. L. CALBOLI MONTEFUSCO, Bologna, 1979, pp. 270-271 sqq., HALM (above n. 13) pp. 82, 146, 374f, 586, GRILLIUS ed. MARTIN (above n. 13) p. 6 etc. 53. E.g. ductus (CALBOLI MONTEFUSCO ed. FORTUNATIANUS p. 288, HALM pp. 84ff), or cf. peculiar terms such as concertivae causae, HALM p. 318.22 and FORTUNATIANUS ed. CALBOLI MONTEFUSCO p. 307. 54. See above n. 52.

30

JOHN 0. WARD

string of definitions of terms in question-a nd-answer form. Some of this approach is also found in Victorinus ' gloss on the De inventione. Victorin us defines numerous terms in his commenta ry55 , but his main impact took the form of a refinement , clarificatio n and entrenchm ent of the system of explanator y comment on the De inventione, using 'modern' terminolog y 56 and terminolog y from related arts 57 . By basing their instruction , in fact, so solidly upon the texts of the Ciceronian age, medieval rhetors, from Carolingia n times onwards, avoided the avalanche of Graeco-lat in terminolog ical sophistica tion that had marked the high rhetorical scholasticism of late antiquity. It is doubtful what medieval scholars would have done had they chosen to confront the terminolog y of the late Latin rhetors (who were, of course, available to them). Fortunatel y, the influential early medieval encycloped ist Cassiodorus, like his successor Alcuin, chose to adapt the De inventione, although their Iberian companio n Isidore of Seville, did present what would have struck later Cicero-inf luenced rhetorical teachers as an idiosyncra tic system, influenced by Greek terms taken from the rhetores latini minores. Even Alcuin adapted much of Julius Victor's treatise 58 and permits himself such turns of phrase as: "est et synechdoc hica translatio pulchra" 59 . On the borderland between grammar and rhetoric such popular late Latin rhetorical manuals as Priscian's translation of Hermogen es' Progymnasmata (praeexercitamina) introduced other terms which extended the range used in central texts such as the Ad Herennium 60 . An anonymou s extract such as Halm's treatise XX 61 contains a mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar : civilis quaestio, finis, thesis/~pothesis, circumstantiae would have provided students with no problems. Aetion (causa), .rynechon, crinomenon, catafasis and apofasis, asystata, however, take the Latin student back to Hermagora s, as does the division of .figurae controversiarum into endoxon, amphidoxon, paradoxon,

55. E.g. HALM (n. 13 above) pp. 155-156, 219.6ff etc. 56. E.g. hypotheticam HALM 183.14, auxesis criminis 207.26 etc. 57. HALM pp. 183.35ff, 232 etc. Incipient terminology in the De inventione becomes fully fledged in Victorinus' commentary (for example, 1.19.27 "alterum in quo digressio aliqua ... interponitur" becomes "secundum genus narrationis ... quae digressio dicitur". Implicit tables of terms in the De inventione become explicit (1.24.35 in the De inv. becomes Viet. ed. HALM 216.2ff) and are sometimes termed pictura and given a specific relationship to didactic method: "quod ut melius intelligamus, propter vim expositionis haec prius nobis etiam pictura cernantur" (HALM 234.17 and see 236.33). Greek terms, too, play some role in Victorinus' commentary. 58. See W.S. HOWELL (M 211) and HALM pp. 525ff. 59. HALM 545.19 and cf. Ad Herennium 4.34.45. 60. HALM pp. 551ff; e.g. usus/xp£ia, ad!ocutio, descriptio, positio, legislatio, ethopoeia. 61. Printed HALM pp. 585ff from the celebrated MS Paris BN lat. 7530 'saeculo octavo litteris longobardici s scriptus' (to cite HALM p. VI).

RHETORIC

31

adoxon 62 • This latinised Hermagorean terminology, however, had little future in the Latin west. The best indication of the terminological priorities of the rhetorical schools of the Middle Ages is a gloss on the Ad Herennium written in the twilight of the Twelfth Century Renaissance and now contained in MS Oxford Bodl. Lib. CCC 250 63 . The pattern of commentation in this gloss is incipiently scholastic and leads into the iron rigidity with which the classical text is treated in the later Italian glosses, such as that by Bartolinus of Bologna, in the first quarter of the fourteenth century. After an introduction based, in a novel way, on Quintilian Inst. 2.15-17, the glossator exposes the system of the classical author's preface in a manner that would have certainly surprised the latter: "more scribentium premittit prohemium" in which "auditorem reddit docilem, ostendens" what he is going to deal with, "attentum" by expounding the utility of the work, "benivolum in modo tractandi". The proemium is therefore in four parts: I in which "ostenditur" concerning what the author "tractaturus" and why; II commends rhetoric; in III "modus tractandi exprimitur", in IV 'Cicero' advises that art without practice is of little value. The gloss unfolds thus: I (gaining docilitas) etsi... , II (gaining attentio) non enim in se parum... , III (gaining benivolentia) quas ob res.. ., IV nunc ne nimium... . Throughout, the classical author's procedure is carefully enclosed in set phrases such as hoc ordine agit, dijferentiam assignat, tractaturus ... distinguit, di.ffinit, docet, instruit, agit, repetit, pertractat, proposuit, ostendit, appellat, exemplificat, aperit, tractationem ordinat, etc. The standard term for the operation of the art is the modus (the author treats the modi insinuationis, the modus tractandi is the way in which the parts of the art are to be carried out in teaching). Controversial material and additional didactic points are introduced with set phrases such as ut aliis videtur, et attende, queritur, hie so/et queri, est questio, hie est notandum, etc. The conclusion to any section is noted by phrases such as su.fficiat, hec su.fficiant. Impersonals such as subicitur, obicitur, solvitur, accipitur, ponitur, dubitatur, investigatur recur frequently, permitting a systematic, objective gloss procedure. The term for illustrations found in the Ad Herennium is thema. Everywhere there is a preoccupation with ordo, the order of the text ("talis est ordo propositi" etc.). A typical pseudo-Ciceronian sentence - "quemadmodum possit oratio adcommodari dicendum videtur" - will be rearranged and expanded thus: "oratoris oratio, que sex partibus constat de quibus inferius dicetur, possit, i.e. debeat, accommodari, tamquam proprium huius artis instrumentum, ad rationem efficii, i.e. ad officium rationabiliter 62. HALM pp. 585-87, CAPLAN, Ad Herennium pp. 10-11, 52. Cf. n. 52 above. 63. See WARD, 'Artificiosa Eloquentia' (n. 43 above) II pp. 310ff.

32

JOHN 0. WARD

exequendum" (Ad Her. 1.2.3). Again, in the Ad Herennium initial presentation of the types of narratio (1.8.12), pseudo-Cicero uses only three terms: fabula, historia, argumentum, for three types of fictitious narratio not used in court but useful for rhetorical training. 'Fictitious narrative' (our term) is the third genus narrationis for pseudo-Cicero. Our glossator coins the term oratoria narratio and observes that "Tullius non posuit diffinitionem oratorie narrationis sed ex verbis predictis colligitur eius definitio". The medieval author cannot refrain from calling the second type of narratio 'digressio' and the third type poetica narratio persona/is and poetica narratio negotialis. It is perhaps this urge towards expansion, clarification and systematisation which has lead the medieval author to 'complete' the Ad Herennium by working into his gloss unprecedented portions from Quintilian's Institutes and Boethius' De dijferentiis topicis IV. This procedure is productive of new terms 64 , new definitions 65 , new auctores66 , and new perspectives 67 . In general the 'new' authors have greatly helped to expand the quaestiones which generally follow the gloss proper on each passage. On a typical passage the gloss will announce the method adopted by the classical author ("primo docet ... secundo instruit ... " etc.), then proceed to the ad litteram gloss ("et hoc est quod