Institutio Oratoria
Quintilian
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.
Further arguments drawn from place may serve to secure approval or the reverse. Ajax for instance in Ovid [*](Met. xiii. 5. Ajax had saved the ships from being burned by the Trojans. The dispute as to whether the arms of Achilles should be awarded to him or to Ulysses is being tried there. Ajax's argument is, Can you refuse me my due reward on the very spot where I saved you from disaster? ) says:—
Again one of the many charges brought against Milo was that he killed Clodius on the monument of his ancestors. [*](pro Ail. vii. 17. i.e. on the Appian Way constructed by one of Clodius' ancestors. )
- What! do we plead our cause before the ships?
- And is Ulysses there preferred to me?
Such arguments may also carry weight in deliberative oratory, as may those drawn from time, which I shall now proceed to discuss. Time may, as I have said elsewhere, [*](III. vi. 25.) be understood in two different senses, general and special. The first sense is seen in words and phrases such as
now,
formerly,
in the reign of Alexander,
in the days of the siege of Troy,and whenever we speak of past, present or future. The second sense occurs when we speak either of definite periods of time such as
in summer,
in winter,
by night,
by day,or of fortuitous periods such as
in time of pestilence,
in time of war,
during a banquet.
Certain Latin writers have thought it a sufficient distinction to call the general sense
time,and the special
times.In both senses time is of importance in advisory speeches and demonstrative oratory, but not so frequently as in forensic.
For questions of law turn on time, while it also determines the quality of actions and is of great importance in questions of fact; for instance, occasionally it provides irrefragable