[18]
Or again, we may prove
before we define, as Cicero does in the Philippics,1
where he proves that Servius Sulpicius was killed by
Antony and introduces his definition at the conclusion in the following terms:—“For assuredly the
murderer was he who was the cause of his death.”
I would not, however, deny that such rules should be
employed, if it will help our case, and that, if we
can produce a definition which is at once strong and
concise, it will be not merely an ornament to our
speech, but will also produce the strongest
[p. 95]
impression, provided always that it cannot be overthrown.
1 IX. iii. 7.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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