Institutio Oratoria, Vol. III

Again, even a slight dislocation of a limb causes it to lose the use and vigor for which it was intended, and disordered armies are an impediment to themselves. 3 Nor, in my opinion, do they err who believe that the very nature of things stands upon order, without which everything would perish. Likewise, oratory that lacks this virtue must necessarily be tumultuous, drifting without a helmsman and lacking cohesion. It will repeat many things and skip over others, like a traveler wandering in unknown places at night, following chance rather than planning, with neither a beginning nor an end in view.

4 Therefore, let this entire book be devoted to arrangement. If this could be taught through some certain path for all subjects, it would not be such a rare accomplishment. But since the forms of lawsuits have been and will continue to be infinite, and in so many centuries no case has ever been found that was entirely similar to another, the orator must be wise, alert, inventive, and judgmental, seeking counsel from himself. I do not deny, however, that there are certain things that can be demonstrated, and these I will not omit.

I. Therefore, as I indicated above, division is the separation of a plurality of things into individuals, partition is the dissection of individuals into parts, and order is the correct placement of previous things connecting them to those that follow, while arrangement is the useful distribution of things and parts into their proper places.