Institutio Oratoria

For what skill does it require to say,

The property is mine, for I am the only son of the deceased,

or

I am the sole heir, since possession of the testator's estate is given by the law of property in accordance with the terms of his will: the property therefore belongs to me

?

But when the reason given is itself disputable, we must establish the certainty of the premises by which we are proposing to prove what is uncertain. For example, if our opponent says

You are not his son

or

You are illegitimate

or

You are not his only son

; or, again,

You are not his heir

or

The will is invalid

or

You are not entitled to inherit

or

You have co-heirs,

we must prove the validity of the reason on which we base our claim that the property should be adjudicated to us.

But when a reason of unusual length intervenes, it is necessary to state the final conclusion, otherwise the major premise and the reason would suffice.

Laws are silent in the midst of arms, and do not require us to await their sanction when the circumstances are such that he who would await their sanction is certain to be the victim of an unjust penalty before ever the just penalty can be claimed.

[*](pro Mil. iv. 10. ) Hence it has been asserted that the form of enthymeme which is based on denial of consequents resembles a reason. But sometimes, again, it is sufficient to state a single proposition as in the example just quoted,

The laws are silent in the midst of arms.