Institutio Oratoria, Vol. III

...you would none the less have produced a monster. Again, even a slight dislocation will deprive a limb of its previous use and vigor, and disorder in the ranks will impede the movements of an army. 3 Nor can I regard as an error the assertion that order is essential to the existence of nature itself, for without order everything would go to wrack and ruin. Similarly, if oratory lacks this virtue, it cannot fail to be confused, but will be like a ship drifting without a helmsman; it will lack cohesion, will fall into countless repetitions and omissions, and, like a traveler who has lost his way in unfamiliar country, will be guided solely by chance without a fixed purpose or the least idea of either a starting-point or a goal.

4 The whole of this book, therefore, will be devoted to arrangement, an art the acquisition of which would never have been such a rarity, had it been possible to lay down general rules which would suit all subjects. But since cases in the courts have always presented an infinite variety, and will continue to do so, and since through all the centuries there has never been found one single case which was exactly like any other, the pleader must rely upon his sagacity, keep his eyes open, exercise his powers of invention and judgment, and look to himself for advice. On the other hand, I do not deny that there are some points which are capable of demonstration and which, accordingly, I shall be careful not to pass by.

I. Division, as I have already stated, means the division of a group of things into its component parts; partition is the separation of an individual whole into its elements; order is the correct disposition...