The original translation of the Reverend John Selby Watson has been revised in a number of places by the editor of this volume. Changes were mainly to achieve greater clarity, either through modernization of the punctuation or through alterations of the translation itself. Watson’s 1856 translation follows very closely Quintilian’s own Latin style, which is characterized by the frequent use of lengthy periodic constructions, often involving several parallel structures within a single sentence. In some cases the editor has divided the longer sentences for clarity.
Two modern editions of the Institutio oratoria have been used to check the accuracy of the translation, and to verify the form of Latin and Greek terms retained in the text. One edition is that of Ludwig Radermacher (Teubner Series: Leipzig, 1907) and the other is that of Michael Winterbottom (Oxford: Clarendon, 1970). Greek terms have been either transliterated into Roman alphabet or translated where possible. Chapters 4 through 7 contain a number of Latin terms which have been retained without translation, since Quintilian uses them in his first book to illustrate grammatical points best understood in the original forms.
Notes are provided to identify direct quotations and literary allusions. No attempt has been made to treat Latin textual problems except in those cases in which such notes are necessary to understand the translated text.