Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.

Above all, it is most desirable that we should familiarise ourselves with the facts of the case with which the speech deals, and it will be well also, wherever possible, to read the speeches delivered on both sides, such as those of Aeschines and Demosthenes in the case of Ctesiphon, of Servius Sulpicius and Messala for and against Aufidia, [*](See iv. ii. 106 and VI i. 20.) of Pollio [*](See § 113.) and Cassius [*](See § 116.) in the case of Asprenas, [*]( C. Nonius Asprenas, a friend of Augustus, accused by Cassius and defended by Pollio on a charge of poisoning. ) and many others.

And even if such speeches seem unequal in point of merit, we shall still do well to study them carefully with a view to understanding the problems raised by the cases with which they deal: for example, we should compare the speeches delivered by Tubero against Ligarius and by Hortensius in defence of Verres with those of Cicero for the opposite side, while it will also be useful to know how different orators pleaded the same case. For example,

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Calidius [*]( Probably before some other tribunal. Cicero's de Domo Sua was delivered before the pontifices. ) spoke on the subject of Cicero's house, Brutus wrote a declamation in defence of Milo, which Cornelius Celsus wrongly believes to have been actually delivered in court, [*](cp. III. vi. 93. Cornelius Celsus was an encyclopedic writer of the early empire, whose treatise on medicine has survived. ) and Pollio and Messalla defended the same clients, [*](Liburnia. See IX. ii. 34.) while in my boyhood remarkable speeches delivered by Domitius Afer, [*](See § 118.) Crispus Passienus [*](Stepfather of Nero. See VI. i. 50.) and Decimis Laelius [*]( Probably the Laelius Balbus of Tac. Ann,. VI. 47, 48. ) in defence of Volusenus were in circulation.

The reader must not, however, jump to the conclusion that all that was uttered by the best authors is necessarily perfect. At times they lapse and stagger beneath the weight of their task, indulge their bent or relax their efforts. Sometimes, again, they give the impression of weariness: for example, Cicero [*]( In a lost letter: cp. Plut. Cic. 24. ) thinks that Demosthenes sometimes nods, and Horace [*](A. P. 359. ) says the same of Homer himself.