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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