[16]
Again, it requires no skill
to rebut arguments which are obviously contradictory, superfluous or foolish, and consequently I
need give no examples nor instructions as to the
method to be employed. There is also the type
of charge which is known as obscure, where it is
alleged that an act was committed in secret without
witnesses or any evidence to prove it: this suffers
from an inherent weakness, since the fact that our
opponent can produce no proof is sufficient for our
purpose: the same applies to arguments which are
irrelevant to the case.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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