[76]
“But,” it is urged, “the case 'I have a
right,' 'You have not,' is similar to 'You have killed
a man,' 'I was justified in so doing.'” I do not deny
it, but this does not make it a basis. For these statements are not propositions until the reasons for them
are added. If they were propositions as they stand,
the case could not proceed. “Horatius has committed
a crime, for he has killed his sister.” “He has not
committed a crime, since it was his duty to kill her
for mourning the death of an enemy.” The question
is whether this was a justifiable reason, and the basis
is one of quality. So too as regards competence.
Quintilian. With an English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1920.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.