Institutio Oratoria

Or we may ask a question with a view to throw odium on the person to whom it is addressed, as in the words placed by Seneca in the mouth of Medea: [*](Med. 451. )

1. What lands dost bid me seek?

Or our aim may be to excite pity, as is the case with the question asked by Sinon in Virgil: [*](Aen. ii. 69. )

1. Alas, what lands, lie cried,
2. What seas can now receive me?

Or to embarrass our opponent and to deprive him of the power to feign ignorance of our meaning, as Asinius does in the following sentence:

Do you hear? The will which we impugn is the work of a madman, not of one who lacked natural affection.

In fact questions admit of infinite variety.

They may serve our indignation, as in the line:

1. Are any left
2. That still adore Juno's divinity?

Aen. i. 48.

Or they may still express wonder, as in:

1. To what dost thou not drive the hearts of men,
2. Accursed greed of gold?

Aen. iii. 56.

Again, at times they may express a sharp command,

as in:

1. Will they not rush to arms and follow forth
2. From all the city?

Aen. iv. 592.

Or we may ask ourselves, as in the phrase of Terence,

What, then, shall I do?

[*](Eun. I. i. 1. )

A figure is also involved in a reply, when one question is asked and another is answered, because it suits the respondent's purpose better to do so, or because it aggravates the charge brought against the accused. For example, a witness for the prosecution was asked whether he had been cudgelled by the plaintiff, and replied,

And what is more, I had done him no harm.

Or the purpose may be to elude a charge, a very common form of reply. The advocate says,

I ask if you killed the man?

The accused replies,

He was a robber.

The advocate asks,

Have you occupied the farm?

The accused replies,

It was my own.

Again, the answer may be of such a kind as to make defence precede confession. For example, in the Eclogues [*](Ecl. iii. 17 and 21. ) of Virgil, when one shepherd asks:

1. Did I not see you, villain, snare a goat
2. Of Damon's?

the other replies:

1. I vanquished him in song, and should he not
2. Pay me the prize, my due?

Akin to this kind of answer is the dissimulatory

reply, which is employed solely with the purpose of raising a laugh, and has therefore been treated in its appropriate place. [*](VI. iii. 68.) If it were meant seriously, it would be tantamount to a confession. Further, there is the practice of putting the question and answering it oneself, which may have quite a pleasing effect. Take as an example the following passage from the pro Ligario, [*](iii. 7.) where Cicero says,

Before whom do I say this? Before one who, although he was aware of these facts, yet restored me to my country even before he had seen me.

A different form of fictitious question is to be found in the pro Caelio.

Some one will say, 'Is this your moral discipline? Is this the training you would give young men?'

with the whole passage that follows. Then comes his reply,

Gentlemen, if there were any man with such vigour of mind, with such innate virtue and self-control, etc.

[*]( xvii. 39 sqq. The passage concludes, I should consider such an one the possessor of qualities which I can only call worthy of a god. ) A different method is to ask a question and not to wait for a reply, but to subjoin the reply at once yourself. For example,

Had you no house? Yes, you had one. Had you money and to spare? No, you were in actual want.

[*](Orat. lxvii. 223. ) This is a figure which some call suggestion.

Again, a question may involve comparison, as, for instance,

Which of the two then could more easily assign a reason for his opinion?

[*](pro Cluent. xxxviii. 106. ) There are other forms of question as well, some concise, some developed at greater length, some dealing with one thing only, others with several. Anticipation, or, as the Greeks call it, πρόληψις, whereby we forestall objections, is of extraordinary value in pleading; it is frequently employed in all parts of a speech, but is especially useful in the exordium.