Institutio Oratoria

If a thing is legal before a certain occurrence, is it legal after it? Example:

The ravisher took refuge in flight. His victim married. The ravisher returned and the woman demands to be allowed her choice.

[*](i. e. the death of the ravisher, see n. on VII. vii. 3. ) Is that which is lawful with regard to the whole, lawful with regard to a part? Example:

It is forbidden to accept a plough as security. He accepted a ploughshare.

Is that which is lawful with regard to a part, lawful with regard to the whole? Example:

It is forbidden to export wool from Tarentum: he exported sheep.

In all these cases the syllogism rests on the letter of the law as well: for the accuser urges that the provisions of the law are precise. He will say,

I demand that the priestess who has broken her vows be cast down: it is the law,

or

The ravished woman demands the exercise of the

v7-9 p.153

choice permitted her by law,

or

Wool grows on sheep,

and so on.