nd adviser. Wherefore, he ought to settle beforehand with what
intention he is going to speak, what his object is, what the subject
of his discourse is to be, and he ought to exhort his hearers to
listen to him while he detains them but a short time. And the whole of
his oration ought to be simple, and dignified, and embellished rather
by its sentiments than by its expressions.

XXVIII. _C.F._ I understand the topics of panegyric and persuasion.
Now I am waiting to hear what is suited to judicial oratory, and I
think that that is the only subject remaining.

_C.P._ You are quite right. And of that kind of oratory the object is
equity, which is regarded, not in a single point of view only, but
very often by a sort of comparison: as when there is a dispute as to
who is the most appropriate prosecutor; or when the possession of an
inheritance is sought for without any express law, or without any
will. In which causes the question is, which alternative is the more
equitable or which is most equitable. And for these causes a supply of
arguments is sought for out of those topics of equity which will be
mentioned presently. And even before the decision is given, there is
often a dispute about the constitution of the bench of judges, when
the question is either whether the person who brings the action has a
right of action, or whether he has it at the present time, or whether
he has ceased to have it, or whether the action ought to be brought
under the provisions of this law, or according to that formula. And
if these points are not discussed, or settled, or decided, before the
case is brought into court, still they often have very great weight
even at the trial itself, when the case is stated in this way:--"You
demanded too much; you demanded it too late; it was not your business
to make such a demand at all; you ought not to have demanded it of me;
or you ought not to have done so under this law, or in accordance with
this formula, or in this court." And this class of cases belongs
to civil law, which depends on laws respecting public and private
affairs, or on precedent; and the knowledge of it seems to have been
neglected by most orators, but to us it appears very necessary for
speaking. Wherefore, as to arranging the right of action, as to
accepting or standing a trial, as to demurring to the illegality of
a proceeding, as to comparisons of justice, all which topics usually
belong to this class of oration, so that althoug