[6]
Another fallacy is derived from accident; for
instance, when Polycrates says of the mice, that, they rendered great service by
gnawing the bowstrings.1 Or if one were to say that nothing is more
honorable than to be invited to a dinner, for because he was not invited
Achilles was angry with the Achaeans at Tenedos; whereas he was really angry because he had been treated
with disrespect, but this was an accident due to his not having been
invited.2
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1 Hdt. 2.141. The story was that, when Sennacherib invaded Egypt, a host of field-mice devoured all the quivers, bowstrings and leather shield-holders of the Assyrians. Apollo was called Smintheus （ σμίνθος, mouse） and was represented on coins with a mouse in his hand, either as the mouse-slayer and protector of crops, or because the animal was sacred to him. The story, alluded to elsewhere, was of Greek, not of Egyptian origin. Similar panegyrics on ridiculous things or animals included pots, counters, salt, flies, bees, and such subjects as death, sleep, and food.
2 Sophocles, The Gathering of the Greeks （T.G.F. p. 161）, a satyric drama. His not being invited was a mere accident of the disrespect.
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 22, translated by J. H. Freese. Aristotle. Cambridge and London. Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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