Chapter 3
In: The Regula as a Rhetorical Device in Roman Law
Authors:
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Olga Tellegen-Couperus
Olga Tellegen-Couperus
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Jan Willem Tellegen
Jan Willem Tellegen
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Abstract
The most famous jurist of the late Republic, Q.M. Scaevola, also used topoi and theseis, as we demonstrated with two examples. First, when he acted as an advocate in the famous causa Curiana, stating that ‘someone had to be born before he could die’. Second, when Scaevola gave his opinion about the size of a legacy arguing quia in maiore minor quoque inesset (D. 32.29.1); Aristotle already mentioned this argument in his Retorike as the topos ‘of more and less’, and Cicero discussed it as an example of the topos comparatio (Topica 23 and 68–71).