[8]
are employed as names of fish, to mention no other
cases.1 The third kind of propriety is found in
the case where a thing which serves a number
of purposes has a special name in some one particular context; for example, the proper term for
a funeral song is naenia, and for the general's tent
augurale. Again, a term which is common to a
number of things may be applied in a proper or
special sense to some one of them. Thus we use
urbs in the special sense of Rome, venales in the
special sense of newly-purchased slaves, and Corinthia in the special sense of bronzes, although
there are other cities besides Rome, and many
other things which may be styled venales besides
slaves, and gold and silver are found at Corinth
as well as bronze. But the use of such terms
implies no special excellence in an orator.
1 Lit. i. e. in the proper sense the sole of the foot and a thrush.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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