Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

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

The same result is produced by

v4-6 p.81

preparatory remarks such as the following:

The accused is a strong man and was fully armed, while his opponents were weak, unarmed and suspecting no evil.

We may in fact touch on everything that we propose to produce in our proof; while making our statement of facts, as for instance points connected with persons, cause, place, time, the instrument and occasion employed.

Sometimes, when this resource is unavailable, we may even confess that the charge, though true, is scarcely credible, and that therefore it must be regarded as all the more atrocious; that we do not know how the deed was done or why, that we are filled with amazement, but will prove our case.