[14]
Akin to this kind of answer is the dissimulatory
[p. 383]
reply, which is employed solely with the purpose
of raising a laugh, and has therefore been treated
in its appropriate place.1 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,2 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.”
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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