Un tema storico nelle Minores: Per una lettura della decl. 292

This article addresses some interpretative issues concerning the text of decl. 292. In paragraph 1 (sermo), the obscure way in which the Master faces the problem of the status confirms the dependence from Quintilian's Institutio, where this particular case appears to be known but is not fully theorized (as will be, later, by Hermogenes). In par. 4 it is advisable to retain (with Shackleton Bailey 2006) the reading of the mss. (Illud enim est tempus doloris), deleted as antintrusive gloss by M. Winterbottom 1984: the sequence recalls Cic. Sest. 52 (on the sufferings of Cicero's exile). In par. 6, the expression perdidi beneficium, used in a pregnant sense, posits a direct relationship between the Master of the Minores and Seneca's De beneficiis.