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Quantum Ingenio Possum: On Sallust's Use of ... - Historia Antigua

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<strong>Quantum</strong> <strong>Ingenio</strong> <strong>Possum</strong>: <strong>On</strong> <strong>Sallust's</strong> <strong>Use</strong> <strong>of</strong> Ingenium in Bellum Catilinae 53.6Author(s): William W. BatstoneSource: The Classical Journal, Vol. 83, No. 4 (Apr. - May, 1988), pp. 301-306Published by: The Classical Association <strong>of</strong> the Middle West and SouthStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3297845Accessed: 20/10/2010 14:17Your use <strong>of</strong> the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance <strong>of</strong> JSTOR's Terms and Conditions <strong>of</strong> <strong>Use</strong>, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions <strong>of</strong> <strong>Use</strong> provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue <strong>of</strong> a journal or multiple copies <strong>of</strong> articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.Please contact the publisher regarding any further use <strong>of</strong> this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=camws.Each copy <strong>of</strong> any part <strong>of</strong> a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage <strong>of</strong> such transmission.JSTOR is a not-for-pr<strong>of</strong>it service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range <strong>of</strong>content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms<strong>of</strong> scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.The Classical Association <strong>of</strong> the Middle West and South is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to The Classical Journal.http://www.jstor.org


302 WILLIAM W. BATSTONEsuperlative degree," and so must refer to <strong>Sallust's</strong> effort to discover the truth.This effort, Btichner argues, will have two dimensions: 1) to use all the meanspossible to reach the truth (external), and 2) to exert oneself to the extent thatone can (internal). It is this exertion in the discovery <strong>of</strong> truth which requires theinner resources <strong>of</strong> ingenium (= Vermi6gen), and this is the ingenium to whichSallust refers at Bellum Catilinae 53.6.In his 1976 commentary, Vretska followed BUichner's argument: "quantumingenio possum, 53, 6, is important; for in this variation it shows an essentialrecognition, namely this, that in all cases the truth can be reached only byapproximation in accordance with the measure <strong>of</strong> an individual's ingenium andconsequently there must be a struggle for it. The number <strong>of</strong> references [to truthand ingenium] and a comparison <strong>of</strong> their linguistic form show the strongpersonal engagement <strong>of</strong> the author in the investigation <strong>of</strong> the truth."6Elsewhere, when Vretska comments on quam verissume potero, 4.3, followingBUichner, he also comments on quantum ingenio possum. In fact, hisremarks on 4.3 (verissume) can hardly be distinguished from those on 53.6,quantum ingenio possum: "In the midst <strong>of</strong> these disorders a considerableingenium is required to come to a quam verissume judgment: We ought tounderstand <strong>Sallust's</strong> labor as one over the facts."If one takes quantum ingenio possum out <strong>of</strong> context and notes its similarityto quam verissume potero, the position <strong>of</strong> BUchner and Vretska has a certainplausibility. This plausibility derives from the fact that it does take talent(ingenium) to discover the truth. That fact, however, may not be applicable toall instances <strong>of</strong> <strong>Sallust's</strong> use <strong>of</strong> ingenium: it also takes talent, a rhetoricaltalent, to express one's judgment effectively.In order better to distinguish rhetorical ingenium from investigative ingenium,we may turn to the only passage in Sallust where ingenium clearlyrepresents investigative talent. In words reminiscent <strong>of</strong> <strong>Sallust's</strong> own claimsSSee also McGushin 124, who on 18.2 assents to "a recognition by S. <strong>of</strong> the corrupt state <strong>of</strong> hissources and the expression <strong>of</strong> a desire to do the best he can in the circumstances."6". . . wichtig ist 53,6 quantum ingenio possum; denn in diesen Varianten zeigt sich einewesentliche Erkenntnis, niimlich die, da3 die Wahrheit immer nur anndiherungsweise und nachMa3gabe des eigenen ingenium erreicht werden kann und um sie somit gerungen werden mu3.Die Zahl der Erwdihnungen und ein Vergleich ihrer sprachlichen Formung zeigen das starkepersinlich Engagement des Autors an der Wahrheitsfindung." C. Sallustius Crispus, DeCatilinae Coniuratione, komm. v. Karl Vretska (Heidelberg 1976) [hereafter VRETSKA] note ad4.3, vol. I, p. 117. See also his comment on 53.6, vol. II, p. 617: "quantum ingenio possum:feierlicher als 4,3; 8,2 [sic; should be 18,2], wo es vor allem auf die Erfassung der Wahrheitankam" and p. 618: "In diesen Wirren bedurfte es wirklich eines bedeutenden ingenium, zueinem Urteil quam verissume zu kommen."

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