ern you, and to deny that you are
going to say anything whatever respecting the opposite party whether
it be good or bad; so as not openly to attack those men who are loved
by your hearers, and yet doing it secretly as far as you can to
alienate from them the favourable disposition of your hearers; and
at the same time to mention the judgment of some other judges in a
similar case, or to quote the authority of some others as worthy of
imitation; and then to show that it is the very same point, or one
very like it, or one of greater or less importance, (as the case may
make it expedient,) which is in question at present.

If the speech of your adversaries appears to have made an impression
on your hearers, which is a thing which will be very easily
ascertained by a man who understands what are the topics by which an
impression is made; then it is requisite to promise that you will
speak first of all on that point which the opposite party consider
their especial stronghold, or else to begin with a reference to what
has been said by the adversary, and especially to what he said
last; or else to appear to doubt, and to feel some perplexity and
astonishment as to what you had best say first, or what argument it is
desirable to reply to first--for when a hearer sees the man whom the
opposite party believe to be thrown into perplexity by their speech
prepared with unshaken firmness to reply to it, he is generally apt to
think that he has assented to what has been said without sufficient
consideration, rather than that the present speaker is confident
without due grounds. But if fatigue has alienated the mind of the
hearer from your cause, then it is advantageous to promise to speak
more briefly than you had been prepared to speak; and that you will
not imitate your adversary.

If the case admit of it, it is not disadvantageous to begin with some
new topic, or with some one which may excite laughter; or with some
argument which has arisen from the present moment; of which kind are
any sudden noise or exclamation; or with something which you have
already prepared, which may embrace some apologue, or fable, or other
laughable circumstance. Or, if the dignity of the subject shall seem
inconsistent with jesting, in that case it is not disadvantageous to
throw in something sad, or novel, or terrible. For as satiety of food
and disgust is either relieved by some rather bitter taste, or is at
times appeased by a sweet taste; so a mi