The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

72 II.ix.5–ix.18 Isidore of Seville
(inductio) and inference (ratiocinatio). The parts of
induction are three: first the proposition (i.e. the major
premise); second the ‘thing brought in’ (illatio, from
inferre, “infer”), also called the ‘additional proposition’
(assumptio,i.e. the minor premise); third the conclusion.
5.Induction is that which in matters not liable to doubt
demands assent when it is carried out, among philosophers
or rhetoricians or people conversing. The major
premise of an induction introduces (inducere) parallels,
in one or more aspects, to the matter that must
be granted. 6. The‘thing brought in’ of an induction,
also called the minor premise, is that which introduces
the matter in dispute for whose sake the parallels were
used. The conclusion of an induction is that which either
confirms what is granted in the minor premise, or states
what may be deduced from it.
Inference (ratiocinatio) isadiscourse by which what
is in question is put to the test. 7.Thereare two types of
inference. First is the enthymeme (enthymema), which
is an incomplete syllogism, and used in rhetoric. The
second is the epichireme (epichirema), an unrhetorical,
broader syllogism. 8. Hence‘enthymeme’ is translated
into Latin ‘conception of the mind’ (conceptiomentis), 4
and writers on the art usually call it an incomplete syllogism,
because its form of argument consists of two
parts, as it employs what aims to arouse conviction while
bypassing the rule of syllogisms. For example: “If the
storm is to be avoided, therefore one ought not sail.”
Thus the argument is completed from the major premise
and the conclusion alone, whence it is considered more
appropriate for orators than logicians.
9. Thereare five branches of enthymeme: first the
convincing, second the demonstrating, third the sententious,
fourth the exemplifying, and fifth the collective
(convincibilis, ostentabilis, sententialis, exemplabilis, collectivus).
10. Theconvincing is that which convinces by
manifest reason, as Cicero did in his DefenseofMilo (79):
“Therefore you are sitting as avengers of the death of a
man whose life you would not be willing to restore, even
if you thought you could.” 11.Thedemonstrating is that
which exerts control by means of an indisputable depiction
(demonstratio) ofthe defendant, as Cicero in the
Catiline Oration (1.2): “Still he lives; nay, he even comes
into the senate.” The sententious is that which a general
maxim (sententia)adduces, as in Terence (Andria 68):
Flattery breeds friends; truth, hatred.
12.The exemplifying is that which compares some other
situation (exemplum), and by this means threatens that
the outcome will be similar, as Cicero says in his Philippics
(2.1): “I wonder, Antonius, that you do not tremble
at the fates of those whose example you imitate.”
13.Thecollectiveenthymeme collects (colligere,ppl. collectus)
what has been argued into one, as Cicero says
in his Defense of Milo(41): “Was he then willing to do,
irritating some, what he was not willing to do with the
gratitude of all? Did he have no hesitation in killing lawlessly,
at an unpropitious place and time, risking his neck,
a man he did not venture to kill with impunity, with the
law, the place, and the time on his side?”
14. Moreover there is another definition of the
enthymeme, according to (Marius) Victorinus: from the
major premise (propositio) alone, as has already been
said, which is composed thus: “If the storm is to be
avoided, one should not seek to sail.” 15. Orfromthe
minor premise (assumptio) alone, as this: “If he is an
enemy, he slays; moreover he [is] an enemy.” Because
the conclusion is lacking here, it is called an enthymeme.
16. Nextistheepichireme, deriving from inference as
broader and more developed than rhetorical syllogisms,
distinct in breadth and in length of utterance from logical
syllogisms, for which reason it is given to the rhetoricians.
This consists of three types: the first, of three parts;
the second, of four parts; the third, of five parts.
17.The three-part epichirematic syllogism consists of
three members: the major premise (propositio), minor
premise (assumptio), and conclusion (conclusio). The
four-part type consists of four members: first the major
premise, second the minor premise joined to the major
premise or a minor premise, third the proof (probatio),
and the conclusion. 5 18. The five-part type accordingly
has five members: first the major premise, second its
proof, third the minor premise, fourth its proof, fifth the
conclusion. Cicero putsitthusinhisartofrhetoric(On
Invention 1.9): “If deliberation (deliberatio)anddemonstration
(demonstratio) are kinds of arguments (causa),
they cannot rightly be considered parts of any one kind
of argument – for the same thing can be a kind of one
thing and part of another, but not a kind and a part of
4 The term derives from the Greek + , ‘mind.’
5 Isidore’s source here, Cassiodorus, makes sense in speaking of
the third part as the proof joined to either the major or minor
premise.