CHAPTER XXVI.. Of the Places of Seeming Enthymemes.

OF THE PLACES OF SEEMING ENTHYMEMES.

Of seeming enthymemes, one place may be from the form of speaking. As when a man has repeated divers sentences, he brings in his conclusion as if it followed necessarily, though it do not.

A second from an ambiguous word.

A third from that which is true, divided, to that which is false, joined; as that of Orestes, It was justice that I should revenge my father’s death, and it was justice my mother should die for killing my father: therefore I justly killed my mother. Or from that which is true, joined, to that which is false, divided; as, one cup of wine, and one cup of wine, are hurtful; therefore one cup of wine is hurtful.

A fourth, from amplification of the crime. For neither is the defendant likely to have committed the crime he amplifies; nor does the accuser seem, when he is passionate, to want ground for his accusation.

A fifth from signs; as, when a man concludes the doing of the fact from the manner of his life.

A sixth from that which comes by chance. As if from this, that the tyranny of Hipparchus came to be overthrown from the love of Aristogeiton to Harmodius, a man should conclude that in a free commonwealth loving of boys were profitable.

A seventh from the consequence; as, Banishment is to be desired, because a banished man has choice of places to dwell in.

An eighth from making that the cause which is not; as, In Demosthenes' government the war began; therefore Demosthenes governed well. With the Peloponnesian war began the plague, therefore Pericles, that persuaded that war, did ill.

A ninth from the omission of some circumstance; as, Helen did what was lawful when she ran away with Paris, because she had her father’s consent to choose her own husband; which was true only during the time that she had not chosen.

A tenth from that which is probable, in some case, to that which is probable simply; as, It is probable he foresaw that if he did it he should be suspected; therefore it is probable he did it not. From this place one may infer both ways that he did it not. For if he be not likely to do it, it may be thought he did it not: again, if he were likely to do it, it may be thought he did it not, for this, that he knew he should be suspected.

Upon this place was grounded the art which was so much detested in Protagoras, of making the better cause seem the worse, and the worse the better.

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