Tile term enthymeme1 is applied not merely to
the actual argument, that is to say, the matter adduced to prove something else, but also to its expression, the nature of which, as I have already pointed
out, is twofold.2 It may be drawn from denial of
consequents, when it will consist of a proposition
immediately followed by a proof, as in the following
passage from the pro Ligario;3 “At that point the
justice of the cause was doubtful, since there was
something to be said on both sides. But now we can
only regard that cause as superior, which even the
gods supported.” Here we have a proposition and a
reason, but no formal conclusion: it is therefore tile
incomplete syllogism known as an enthymeme.
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