Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.

This form of argument may even at times consist of a number of clauses, as in the following passage from the same speech [*](xvi. 41.) :

Was he resolved then to kill to the dissatisfaction of some a man whom he refused to kill to the satisfaction of all? Are we to believe that he did not hesitate, in defiance of the law and
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despite the unfavourable circumstances both of time and place and the risk involved to his own life, to kill one whom he did not venture to kill when he might have done so legally, at his own time and place and without the least danger to himself?

The most effective kind of enthymeme seems however to be that in which a reason is subjoined to a dissimilar or contrary proposition as in the following passage from Demosthenes [*](in Androt. § 7; in Aristocr. § 99. ) :

For if at any time an act has been committed contrary to law and you have imitated it, it does not therefore follow that you should go scot free; on the contrary it is an additional reason why you should be condemned. For if any of those who transgressed the law had been condemned, you would not have proposed this, and further, if you are condemned, no one else will propose anything of the kind.

As regards the epicheieme, some authorities hold that it consists of four, five, and even six parts. Cicero [*](de Inv. I. xxxvii. 67. ) urges that there are not more than five at most, i.e. the major premise and its reason, the minor premise and its proof, and fifthly the conclusion. But since at times the major premise does not require a reason nor the minor a proof, while occasionally even the conclusion is not necessary, he holds that the epicheireme may consist of only four, three, or even two parts.

Personally however follow the majority of authorities in holding that there are not more than three parts. For it follows from the very nature of reasoning that there must be something to form the subject of enquiry and something else to provide the proof, while the third element which has to be added may be regarded as resulting from the agreement of the two previous

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elements. Thus the first part will be the major, the second the minor premise and the third the conclusion. For the confirmation and development of both premises may reasonably be included in the parts to which they belong.

Let us then take an example from Cicero [*](de Inv. 3. xxxiv. 58. ) of the epicheireme consisting of five parts.

Those things which are controlled by reason are better governed than those which are not.
This they call the first part and consider that it requires to be established by various reasons and a copious display of eloquence. Personally I hold that the whole of this together with its reason forms but one part. Otherwise, if the reason is to be treated as a separate part and if there are a variety of reasons, this will involve an addition to the number of parts. Next he produces the minor premise:

But there is nothing better administered than the universe.
The proof of this minor premise is treated as the fourth part of the epicheireme. My criticism of this statement is identical with my criticism of the preceding.

The fifth place they assign to the conclusion which either merely makes the necessary inference from the preceding parts ( i.e.

Therefore the universe is governed by reason
) or after briefly bringing major and minor premise together adds what is deduced from them with the following result:
But if on the one hand things that are controlled by reason are better governed than things which are not and on the other nothing is better administered than the universe, then it follows that the universe is governed by reason.
As regards this part of the epicheireme I agree.

I have said that the epicheireme consists of three parts: its form is not however invariable. There is

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firstly the form in which the conclusion is identical with what has already been stated in the major premise.
The soul is immortal, since whatever derives its motion from itself is immortal. But the soul derives its motion from itself. Therefore the soul is immortal.
This process occurs not merely in individual arguments, but in whole cases, provided they are of a simple character, and also in questions. [*](See III. vi. 9, 10.)

For cases and questions always have first a major premise, such as

You have committed sacrilege,
or
Not everyone who has killed a man is guilty of murder.
Second comes a reason, which is stated at greater length in cases and questions than in separate arguments, while finally comes the conclusion in which as a rule they set forth the point they have proved either by enumeration of particulars or in the form of a hasty conclusion. In this type of epicheireme the major premise is doubtful, since it is still under investigation.

There is another form of conclusion which is not actually identical with the major premise, but has the same force

Death is nothing to us, for that which is dissolved into its elements is devoid of' feeling, and that which is devoid of feeling is nothing to us.
There is a third form in which the major premise and the conclusion are different.
All animate things are better than inanimate, but there is nothing better than the universe, wherefore the universe is animate.
It may be thought that in this case there is no real major premise, since it would be possible to state the reasoning in the following form:
The universe is animate, for all things animate are better than inanimate,
etcetera.