[69]
Or
we may give our opponent the choice between two
alternatives of which one must necessarily be true,
and as a result, whichever he chooses, lie will
damage his case. Cicero does this in the pro
Oppio:1 “Was the weapon snatched from his hands
when he had attacked Cotta, or when he was trying
to commit suicide?” and in the pro Vareno:2 “You
have a choice between two alternatives: either you
must show that the choice of this route by Varenus
was due to chance or that it was the result of this
man's persuasion and inducement.” He then shows
that either admission tells against his opponent.
Sometimes again,
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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