Aquila Romanus was a
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
grammarian who flourished in the second half of the 3rd century AD.
Life
He was the author of an extant treatise ''De Figuris Sententiarum et Elocutionis'', written as an installment of a complete
rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
al handbook for the use of a young and eager correspondent. While recommending
Demosthenes and
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...
as models, he takes his own examples almost exclusively from Cicero. His treatise is really adapted from that by
Alexander, son of Numenius, as is expressly stated by
Julius Rufinianus, who brought out a supplementary treatise, augmented by material from other sources. According to the
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition, Aquila's style is harsh and careless, and the Latin is inferior.
Work
*"De Figuris Sententiarum et Elocutionis", in
Karl Halm. . Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1863
* ''P. Rutilii Lupi de figuris sententiarum et elocutions libri duo, accedunt Aquilae Romani et Julii Rufiniani de eodem argumento libri'',
David Ruhnken (ed.), Lugduni Batavorum, apud Samuelem et Joannem Luchtmans, 1768
pp. 139 ff.
References
Sources
*Elice, ''Romani Aquilae De figuris'' (Hildesheim : Olms, 2007)
*
Karl Halm, ''Rhetores Latini minores'' (1863)
*Wensch, ''De Aquila Romano'' (1861).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romanus, Aquila
Grammarians of Latin
Ancient Roman rhetoricians
Post–Silver Age Latin writers
3rd-century Romans
3rd-century writers in Latin