OF THE PLACES OF ENTHYMEMES OSTENSIVE.
Forasmuch as enthymemes either infer truly, or seem only so to do; and
they which do infer indeed, be either _ostensive_, or such as bring a
man to some _impossibility_; we will first set down the places of
enthymemes _ostensive_.
An _ostensive_ enthymeme is, wherein a man concludes the question from
somewhat granted.
That enthymeme which brings a man to an _impossibility_, is an enthymeme
wherein from that which the adversary maintaineth, we conclude that
which is manifestly _impossible_.
All _places_ have been already set down in a manner in the precedent
propositions of _good_, _evil_, _just_, _unjust_, _honourable_, and
_dishonourable_: namely, they have been set down as applied to
_particular_ subjects, or in _concrete_. Here they are to be set down in
another manner; namely in the _abstract_ or _universal_.
The first _place_, then, let be from _contraries_; which in the
_concrete_ or particulars is exemplified thus. _If intemperance be
hurtful, temperance is profitable: and if intemperance be not hurtful,
neither is temperance profitable._
Another _place_ may be from _cognomination_, or affinity of words: as in
this particular. _If what is just, be good; then what is justly, is
well: but justly to die, is not well: therefore not all that is just, is
good._
A third from _relatives_; as, _This man has justly done, therefore the
other has justly suffered._ But this _place_ sometimes deceives; for a
man may suffer _justly_, yet not from _him_.
A fourth from _comparison_, three ways.
From the _great to the less_; as, _He has stricken his father; and
therefore this man._
From the _less to the greater_: as, _The Gods know not all things; much
less man._
From _equality_: as, _If captains be not always the worse esteemed for
losing a victory; why should sophisters?_
Another from the time: as Philip to the Thebans: _If I had required to
pass through your country with my army, before I had aided you against
the Phocæans, there is no doubt but you would have promised it me. It is
absurd therefore to deny it me now, after I have trusted you._
A sixth from _what the adversary says of himself_: as, _Iphicrates asked
Aristophon, whether he would take a bribe to betray the army; and he
answering no; What, says he, is it likely that Iphicrates would betray
the army, and Aristophon not?_
This _place_ would be ridiculous, where the _defendant_ were not in much
more estimation than the _accuser_.
A seventh from the _definition_; as that of Socrates; _A spirit is
either God, or the creature of God; and therefore he denies not that
there is a God, that confesses there are spirits_.
An eighth from the _distinction of an ambiguous word_.
A ninth from _division_: as, _If all men do what they do for one of
three causes, whereof two are impossible; and the accuser charge not the
defendant with the third; it follows that he has not done it_.
A tenth from _induction_: as, _At Athens, at Thebes, at Sparta, &c.; and
therefore every where_.
An eleventh from _authority_, or precedent sentence; as that of Sappho,
that _Death is evil; for that the gods have judged it so, in excepting
themselves from mortality_.
A twelfth from the _consequence_; as, _It is not good to be envied;
therefore neither to be learned. It is good to be wise, therefore also
to be instructed._
A thirteenth from _two contrary consequences_; as, _It is not good to be
an orator; because if he speak the truth, he shall displease men, if he
speak falsely, he shall displease God_.
Here is to be noted, that sometimes this argument may be retorted: as
thus, _If you speak truth, you shall please God; if you speak untruth,
you shall please men; therefore by all means be an orator_.
A fourteenth from the _quality that men have to praise one thing and
approve another_: as, _We ought not to war against the Athenians upon no
precedent injury; for all men discommend injustice_. Again, _We ought to
war against the Athenians; for otherwise our liberty is at their mercy,
that is, is no liberty: but the preservation of liberty is a thing that
all men will approve_.
A fifteenth from _proportion_: as, _Seeing we naturalize strangers for
their virtues, why should we not banish this stranger for his vices?_
A sixteenth from _the similitude of consequents_: as _He that denies the
immortality of the gods, is no worse than he that has written the
generation of the gods: for the same consequence follows of both, that
sometimes there are none_.
A seventeenth from that, _that men change their mind_: as, _If when we
were in banishment, we fought to recover our country, why should we not
fight now to retain it?_
An eighteenth from _a feigned end_: as that _Diomedes chose Ulysses to
go with him, not as more valiant than another, but as one that would
partake less of the glory_.
A nineteenth from the _cause_; as if he would infer he did it from this,
_that he had cause to do it_.
A twentieth from _that which is incredible, but true_: as that _laws may
need a law to mend them, as well as fish bred in the salt water may need
salting_.
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