Generally regarded as the greatest lawyer in ancient Rome, Cicero insisted that “success in persuasion” depends on three things: (1) conciliating the audience, (2) proving what we maintain to be true, and (3) producing in the audience’s minds whatever feeling our cause may require. In short, the audience must be conciliated, informed, and moved.
“Lawyers,” he wrote, “ought not to be deficient in anything that might adorn their profession.”
At LawProse, we believe this. We’ve dedicated ourselves to teaching the essentials of sound exposition and effective persuasion. There are many nitty-gritty techniques by which you can conciliate, inform, and move. The important thing, when preparing a brief or a speech, is to remember all three.
Postscript: Why the change in tense in the first sentence? Insisted . . . depends? Answer: Although Cicero insisted in the past, the point he was making is an enduring truth. The rule is that when a subordinate clause states an ongoing or general truth, it should be in the present tense regardless of the tense in the main clause. Hence “Ptolemy asserted that the sun is hot”—not was hot. It still is. (See Garner’s Modern English Usage 1081 (5th ed. 2022) (under “Tenses”).)
Further reading on Cicero’s point:
- Cicero on Oratory and Orators (J.S. Watson trans., 1970).
- Bryan A. Garner, The Winning Brief 3–7 (3d ed. 2014).
- Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges xxi–xxiv (2008).