[11]
the strongest
arguments as a rule require to be disposed of first,
for fear that the judge through having his thoughts
fixed on those arguments should regard the defence
of other points with disfavour. Sometimes, however,
this order is subject to alteration; for example if the
minor arguments are obviously false and the refutation of the most serious argument a matter of some
[p. 13]
difficulty, we should attack it last of all, after discrediting the prosecution by demonstrating the falsity
of the former, thereby disposing the judges to believe that all their arguments are equally unreliable.
We shall, however, require to preface our remarks by
explaining why we postpone dealing with the most
serious charge, and by promising that we will deal
with it at a later stage: otherwise the fact that we do
not dispose of it at once may give the impression that
we are afraid of it.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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