[45]
The uneducated son may be excused
for not appearing at the trial on the ground that he
could contribute nothing to his father's defence: but
even the orator has no claim on the gratitude of
the accused, since the latter was condemned:1 the
man who secured the recall of his kin deserves
to receive the inheritance, while the man who
refuses to divide it with his brother, more especially with a brother who has deserved so well
of him, is avaricious, unnatural and ungrateful:
they will further note that the first and essential
question is that which turns on the letter and intention of the law; unless this is first disposed of,
all subsequent arguments must fall to the ground.
1 Sc. in spite of his own eloquence.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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