Status ubi inuenitur? (Fort., Rhet. I 28)

Abstract

The different point of view on status, that Fortunatian (Rhet. I 28) attributed to Theodorus of Gadara and Hermagoras of Temnos, can be explained, basing on a survey of the treatment of the example cited in the passage (the famous causa Milonis) by all late Latin rhetoricians and Quintilian: according to Theodorus the status (caput or κεφάλαιον in his jargon) can be found in iudicatio (κρινόμενον), to Hermagoras in quaestio (ζήτημα). So it is possible that Iulius Victor in Rhet. p. 4, 26 ff. G. C., should have quoted the Theodorean doctrine on αἲτιον-συνέχον whose meanings result overturned in comparison with the Hermagorean opinion. Finally with good probability Theodorus was the first who treated of status principales and incidentes (capila generalia and specialia in his jargon) within the limits of a civil or criminal cause.