[33]
Upright character, however,
and the blamelessness of his past life are always of
the utmost assistance to the accused. If no charge
is made against his character, counsel for the defence
will lay great stress on this fact, while the accuser
will attempt to restrict the judge to the sole consideration of the actual issue which the court has
to decide, and will say that there must always be
a first step in crime and that a first offence is not
to be regarded as the occasion for celebrating a
feast in honour of the defendant's character.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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