Il de con ablativo nelle controuersiae di Ennodio (dict. 21-22)

This paper investigates the use of the preposition de with the ablative in Ennodius’ Dictiones 21-22 and compares it not only with other prose texts of the author, but also with the declamatory corpus of Ps. Quintilian, to which Ennodius explicitly refers, and, in particular, with the Major Declamation 5, of which the Dictio 21 constitutes the opposing discourse. Compared to previous studies, the analysis shows the great variability in Ennodius’ use of the nexus de with the ablative. Furthermore, it seems plausible that the Declamations of Ps. Quintilian may have influenced the high frequency of this syntagma in the declamatory texts of Ennodius, although we never find repetitions but variations and adaptations. However, the main peculiarity in its use in the Dictiones 21-22 is that it becomes one of the tools at the author’s disposal to realise his literary and stylistic ideal.