It has been a matter of debate, also, whether the strongest proofs
should have place in the beginning, to make an immediate impression on
the hearers, or at the end, to make the impression lasting with them, or
to distribute them, partly in the beginning and partly at the end,
placing the weaker in the middle, or to begin with the weakest and
proceed to the strongest. For my part I think this should depend on the
nature and exigencies of the cause, yet with this reservation, that the
discourse might not dwindle from the powerful into what is nugatory and
frivolous.
Let the young orator, for whose instruction I make these remarks,
accustom himself as much as possible to copy nature and truth. As in
schools he often engages in sham battles, in imitation of the contests
of the bar, let him even then have an eye to victory, and learn to
strike home, dealing moral blows and putting himself on his defense as
if really in earnest. It is the master's business to require this duty,
and to commend it according as it is well executed. For if they love
praise to the degree of seeking it in their faults, which does them much
harm, they will desire it more passionately when they know it to be the
reward of real merit. The misfortune now is that they commonly pass over
necessary things in silence, considering what is for the good of the
cause as of little or no account if it be not conducive to the
embellishment of the discourse.