[2]
Such questions are sometimes treated in deliberative themes: for example, if Caesar is deliberating
whether to attack Britain, he must enquire into the
nature of the Ocean, consider whether Britain is an
island (a fact not then ascertained), and estimate its
size and the number of troops which lie will require
for the invasion. Under the same head of quality
fall questions whether certain things should be done
or not and certain objects sought or avoided: such
topics are specially adapted for deliberative themes,
but occur with some frequency in controversial
themes as well, the only difference being that in
the latter we deal with what is past and in the
former with the future.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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