Line 3 of the preface to book one of Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria begins:
Quamvis autem non tam me vinceret praestandi quod exigebatur fiducia quam negandi verecundia, latius se tamen aperiente materia plus quam imponebatur oneris sponte suscepi,…
Why is onus in the genetive?
Salve dsimo04
Personally, I believe the “oneris” qualifies “materia” and I would put a comma after “oneris”.
Ego equidem hoc puto: oneris vocabulum vocabulo materiae adjicitur et commam post oneris vocabulum scribam.
Quamvis…latiùs se tamen aperiente materiâ plus quam imponebatur oneris, sponte suscepi
Despite…nevertheless the substance of the work being self-evidently more extensive than what was [being] proposed, I volunteered [voluntarily accepted]
Hm, I would rather say that oneris goes with plus: “… sponte suscepi plus oneris quam imponebatur”. I suppose you could translate this literally as “more of work”.
The whole sentence then goes something like this:
“But even though I was not persuaded so much by confidence in fulfilling that which was demanded, as by the shame of refusing, nevertheless, as the subject unfolded, I voluntarily undertook more work than was imposed.”
I didn’t think of that.
Id non consideravi.