4. iv. From son in three account we should view the question separately,whether the patient deserve to suffer, and whether the agent have a right to inflict the suffering; that done, to employ the facts in whatever way may suit our purpose: for at times, considerations of this kind do not harmonize; just as in the Alcmæon of Theodectus, "Did no man hate thy mother?" In his reply he tells her, that it is fitting to consider the points taken separately; and when Alphesiboa asks how, taking her up, he says, "That she indeed deserved death, they did decree; but at the same time that I ought not to be the slayer." And just so the trial respecting Demosthenes, and of the persons who slew Nicanor. For when they had been adjudged to have slain him justly, it appeared that he had also been justly put to death. Again, respecting the person who met his death at Thebes, respecting whom some one bade the question be decided, whether he were deserving death; as though it were not unjust to slay one who deserved to die. Another element is derivable from the relations of greater and less 6; for instance: "If not even the gods compari- know every thing, hardly I should suppose do men ;” for it is to say, that if the quality be not inherent in that which would more naturally possess it; then it i, a for- is evident, that in that which would less naturally possess it, it is not inherent. ways. tiori. ii. à minori. 5. iii. By parity of reason ing. And the argument, that "he assaults his neighbours, who even does so to his father;" is derived from the element, if the less probability exist, so also does the greater; [which is available] in reference to whether of the two points it may be needful to prove, whether that it is or is not the fact. And again, by parity of reasoning, when it is said, "And is thy father to be pitied in that he has lost his children, and is not in truth Eneus who has lost his noble offspring?" and the argument, "If indeed Theseus committed no wrong, neither did Paris ;" and, "If Tyndarus' sons did not act unjustly, neither did • The argument à fortiori. Paris;” and this, "Suppose Hector did slay Patroclus, Paris slew Achilles;” and this, “If other artists are not to be held cheap, neither are philosophers;" and, "If generals are not held cheap because they are frequently vanquished, neither are sophists ;" and that, "If it behoves an individual to have a care for your glory, it also behoves you to regard that of Greece." time. Another element arises from the consideration of 6. v. From time, as Iphicrates urged in his oration against Har- respect of modius, “that if before my doing it, I had claimed to have the honour of a statue, ye would have granted it; will ye not then grant it me now that I have achieved it?-Do not, therefore, engage yourselves under promises, when about to receive; and, when you have experienced the benefit, withdraw them." And, on another occasion, in reference to the Thebans permitting Philip to pass through into Attica, the argument that, "if, before his aiding them against the Phocians, he had claimed a passage, they would have promised; it were then an absurd thing, if, because he threw himself on them, and had confidence in them, they should not let him march through." Another element is deduced from assertions made 7. vi. From respecting yourself retorted upon your adversary; retorting and the term is of exceeding service, as is exemplified assertions 7 Under this head he considers both Time generally, and also Opportunity (Kaupòs), which, however, have been thus distinguished-Χρόνος ἐστὶν ἐν ᾧ καιρὸς, καὶ Καιρός, ἐν ᾧ χρόνος οὐ Tolús. Hippocrates, in Præcept. 61. Kapos again has been described as προσφυὴς καὶ ἁρμόδιος ἑκάστῳ χρόνος. A striking instance of appeal to this topic occurs in Macbeth, act i. Lady Macbeth. -then you were a man; -Nor time, nor place, Did then adhere, and yet you would make both : They have made themselves, and that their fitness now See also Thucyd. book i. 140; ii. 6. Demosthenes frequently on your adver sary. in the Teucer; one too it is of which Iphicrates availed himself against Aristophon, when he put the question home to him, whether he would betray the fleet for a bribe; and on his denying that he would, then said he, "Would you, who are Aristophon, not betray them, and shall I, who am Iphicrates?" You ought, however, to be dealing with an opposite party, who appears in a greater degree to have been guilty of injustice; otherwise it would appear ridiculous, were any one laying an accusation against an Aristides, to allege this; but it ought always to tend directly to the discredit of him who lays the impeachment; for, generally speaking, the plaintiff presumes himself better than the defendant; this notion, then, it behoves us to refute. And generally it is absurd when one chides in another what he does himself, or would feel inclined to do; or exhorts him to do what he does not himself, neither would be induced to do. Another place is from definitions; as, "that the vii. From genius is nothing else than either the deity, or his production. And yet whoever conceives the existence of the production of a deity, must necessarily think at the same time that gods are in existence 10" And, as Iphicrates said, "that that man was most noble who was the best; for that there did not attach any nobility to Harmodius and Aristogiton before they had achieved some noble exploit." And his proof that himself was more nearly akin to them, by saying, "At any rate my deeds are more akin to those of Harmodius and Aristogiton, than yours are." And, as was said in that speech about Paris, defini tion. 8. In addition to the instances of recourse to this topic quoted in the text, we may mention that of expediency in the speech of the Platæans (Thucydides, iii. 56); and one used by Alcibiades in his speech at Sparta, vi. 89, πᾶν τὸ ἐναντιούμενον τῷ δυναστεύοντι, δῆμος ὀνομασται, κ. τ. λ. 10 One of the arguments used by Socrates to prove his belief in the existence of gods; for if, as was granted, he held the existence of his attending spirit (To daμóviov), then neces sarily must it either be itself a god, or at least a divine production. See Plato, Apolg. Socr. See the concluding chapter of Tacitus's Life of Agricola. "All will be free to acknowledge that the intemperate do not acquiesce in the enjoyment of a single person." And the reason on account of which Socrates refused to go to Archelaus, "because," said he, “it is a disgrace for one who has been treated well to be unable to make a retort on terms of equality, just as it would be for one who has been treated ill." For all these deduce their inferences about the points respecting which they speak, after having defined and ascertained the question. viii. From the num of the Another element is deducible from the number of 9. senses in which a word may be taken, as in the Topics respecting the acceptations of the word rightly. An- ber of other from taking the different bearings of the case; meanings as, "If all act unjustly for three objects, for the sake term. either of this, or this, or this, and from two of these 10. motives it is impossible that he should have acted; ix. From but that he acted on the third, not even the accusers vision. themselves allege." the di induc tion. Another from induction, as may be illustrated from 11. the oration respecting Peparethus, to establish that . From women every where discern truly respecting their children; because first at Athens the mother made the matter clear to Mantias, the orator, when undertaking a suit against his son; and again at Thebes, when Ismenias and Stilbon were at issue on the point, the Dodonian woman proved the child to be the son of Ismenias; and on this account they considered Thessaliscus to be the son of Ismenias. And again, from the law of Theodectes, "If people do not give their own horses in charge to those who manage those of others amiss, nor [their ships] to those who overturn the ships of others; neither ought we, if in every case it happens in the same way, to employ those who but ill protect the safety of others, for our own protection." And, as Alcidamas asserted, that "all pay honour to the wise, at least the Parians honoured Archilochus, what though he was a calumniator of them; and the Chians, Homer, who was not their citizen; the Mitylenæans, Sappho, though she was a woman; and the Lacedæmonians, who of former 12. all people are the least attached to learning, made Chilon one of their senators; the Greeks of Italy also honoured Pythagoras, and the people of Lampsacus buried Anaxagoras, though a foreigner, and honour him even to this day; the Athenians again were prosperous while they abode by the laws of Solon, and the Lacedæmonians, while by those of Lycurgus; also at Thebes, at the time that the magistrates were men of learning, the state enjoyed prosperity." Another element of enthymems is derivable from a xi. From former decision of the same, a similar, or opposite decisions. question; more especially indeed if all men so decide, and that uniformly; and otherwise, [if not all,] but the majority; or the wise, either all, or most of them; or the good; or if the very judges themselves, or those whom they approve, or those in opposition to whom they cannot decide (as for instance those on whom they depend); or those contrary to whom it is not becoming to decide; for instance, a god, or a father, or teacher, [happen so to have decided]. Just on the principle of the appeal of Autocles to Mixidemides, "whether it beseemed the awful goddesses to render an account to the Areopagus, and not Mixidemides?" Or, as Sappho insisted, "that to die was an evil, the gods having so decided; since [had it not been so] they would themselves have died;" or as Aristippus told Plato when he asserted something, as he thought, rather dogmatically, "Yet," said he, our companion at least held no such thing," meaning Socrates. And Hegesippus, having first consulted the oracle at Olympia, put the question secondly at Delphi,-whether he [Apollo] was of the same opinion as his father; as though it were disgraceful to contradict a father. And of Helen, as Isocrates wrote 12, that "she was worthy, since indeed Theseus judged her so." And of Paris, "whom the goddesses 66 12 "Eypayev, because demonstrative orations were seldom composed for delivery, but rather, as we should say, for the closet, book iii. c. 12, § 6, ἡ μὲν ἐπιδεικτικὴ λέξις γραφικά τάτω, τὸ γὰρ ἔργον αὐτῆς ἀνάγνωσις. See note chap. xi. $ 7. |