Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

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

However, it forms a genus in itself, and

v7-9 p.385

has several different species. One of these is the defence by anticipation, such as Cicero employs against Quintus Caecilius, [*](Div. in Caec. i. 1. ) where he points out that though previously he himself has always appeared for the defence, he is now undertaking a prosecution. Another is a form of confession, such as he introduces in his defence of Rabirius Postumus, [*](Chs. i. and ix.) where he admits that he himself regards his client as worthy of censure for lending money to the king. Another takes the form of prediction, as in the phrase,

For I will say without any intention of aggravating the charge.

Again, there is a form of self-correction, such as,

I beg you to pardon me, if I have been carried too far.

And, most frequent of all, there is preparation, whereby we state fully why we are going to do something or have done it.

Anticipation may also be employed to establish the meaning or propriety of words, as in the following case,

Although that was not a punishment, but merely a prevention of crime,

[*](From a lost work of Cicero.) while the same effect may be produced by qualification, as in the following sentence,

Citizens, I say, if I may call them by that name.

[*](pro Mur. xxxvii. 80. )

Again, hesitation may lend an impression of truth to our statements, when, for example, we pretend to be at a loss, where to begin or end, or to decide what especially requires to be said or not to be said at all. All speeches are full of such instances, but for the present one will be enough.

As for myself, I know not where to turn. Shall I deny that there was a scandalous rumour that the jury had been bribed, etc.?

[*](pro Cluent. i. 4. )

This device may also be employed to cover the past; for we may equally pretend that we had felt hesitation on the subject. This figure is akin to that known as communication,

v7-9 p.387

when we actually take our opponents into consultation, as Domitius Afer does in his defence of Cloatilla.

She is so agitated that she does not know what is permitted to a woman or what becomes a wife. It may be that chance has brought you into contact with the unhappy woman in her helpless plight. What counsel do you give her, you her brother, and you, her father's friends?

Or we may admit the judges to our deliberations, a device which is frequently called into play. We may say,

What do you advise?

or,

I ask you,

or,

What, then, should have been done?

Cato, for example, says,

Come now, if you had been in his place, what else would you have done?

And in another passage,

Imagine this to be a matter which concerns us all, and assume you have been placed in charge of the whole affair.

Sometimes, however, in such forms of communication we may add something unexpected, a device which is in itself a figure, as Cicero does in the Verrines:

What then? What think you? Perhaps you expect to hear of some theft or plunder.

[*](v. 5. 10.) Then, after keeping the minds of the judges in suspense for a considerable time, he adds something much worse. This figure is termed suspension by Celsus. It has two forms.

For we may adopt exactly the opposite procedure to that just mentioned, and after raising expectation of a sequel of the most serious nature, we may drop to something which is of a trivial character, and may even imply no offence at all. But since this does not necessarily involve any form of communication, some have given it the name of paradox or surprise.

I do not agree with those who extend the name of figure to a statement that something has happened unexpectedly to the

v7-9 p.389

speaker himself, like the following passage from Pollio:

Gentlemen, I never thought it would come to pass that, when Scaurus was the accused, I should have to entreat you not to allow influence to carry any weight on his behalf.