Institutio Oratoria

it is granted that they were adulterers.

But,

says the accuser,

you had no right to kill them, for you were an exile

or

had forfeited your civil rights.

The question is now one of law. On the other hand, if when the prosecution says,

You killed them,

the defence at once replies,

I did not,

the issue is raised without more delay. If it requires some search to discover where the dispute really begins, we must consider what constitutes the first question. The charge may be simple,