[25]
But at
times, just as we have to praise individual witnesses,
so we may have to demolish them, whether their
evidence has been given in documentary form or they
have been summoned to appear in person. This was
easier and of more frequent occurrence in the days
when the examination of the witnesses was not
deferred till after the conclusion of the pleading.1
With regard to what we should say against individual
witnesses, no general rules can be laid down: it will
depend on the personality of the witness.
1 It is not clear to what Quintilian refers. There are, it is true, passages in Cicero where the orator speaks of evidence as already given, but the speeches where these references are found are all second pleadings.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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