[42]
Some include under this head
the supernatural authority that is derived from
oracles, as for instance the response asserting that
Socrates was the wisest of mankind: indeed, they
[p. 297]
rank it above all other authorities. Such authority
is rare, but may prove useful. It is employed by
Cicero in his speech on the Replies of the Soothsayers1 and in the oration in which he denounced
Catiline to the people,2 when he points to the statue
of Jupiter crowning a column, and again in the
pro Ligario,3 where lie admits the cause of Caesar to
be the better because the gods have decided in his
favour. When such arguments are inherent in the
case itself they are called supernatural evidence;
when they are adduced from without they are styled
supernatural arguments.
1 de har. resp. passim. The soothsayers consulted as to the significance of certain prodigies had replied that they were due to the profanation of sacred rites. Clodius interpreted this as referring to the rebuilding of Cicero's house. Cicero argued against this in a speech to the senate (56 B.C.).
2 in Cat. III. ix. 21.
3 vi. 19.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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