Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.

Some have called this form of reflexion a part of the enthymeme, others the major premise or conclusion of the epichireme, as it sometimes, though not invariably, is. More correct is the statement that at times it is simple, as in the example just quoted, while at other times a reason for the statement may be added, [*]( The premises of the enthymeme are simple, while those of the epichireme are supported by a reason. See v. xiv. ) such as the following: [*](Sall. Jug. 10. )

For in every struggle, the stronger seems not to suffer wrong, even when this is actually the case, but to inflict it, simply in virtue of his superior power.
Sometimes, again, it may be double, as in the statement that
  1. Complaisance wins us friends, truth enmity.
Ter. Andr. I. i. 41.
There are some even who classify them under ten [*](##) heads, though the principle on which they make this division is such that it would justify a still larger number: they class them as based on interrogation, comparison, denial, similarity, admiration, and the like, for they can be treated under every
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kind of figure. A striking type is that which is produced by opposition:
  1. Death is not bitter, but the approach to death.
Author unknown.
Others are cast in a form of a direct statement,

such as

  1. The miser lacks
  2. That which he has no less than what he has not.
Publil. Syr. Sent. 486.
But they acquire greater force by a change in the figure employed, as in the following:
  1. Is it so bitter, then, to die?
Aen. xii. 646.
For this is more vigorous than the simple statement,
Death is not bitter.
A similar effect may be produced by transference of' the statement from the general to the particular. For example, although the direct statement would be,
To hurt is easy, but to do good is hard.
Ovid [*](In his lost tragedy, the Medea.) gives this reflexion increased force when lie makes Medea say,
  1. I had the power to save, and ask you then
  2. If I have power to ruin?

Cicero [*](' Pro Lig. xii. 38. ) again gives the general statement a personal turn when he says:

Caesar, the splendour of your present fortune confers on you nothing greater than the power and nothing better than the will to save as many of your fellow-citizens as possible.
For here he attributes to Caesar what was really attributable to the circumstances of his power. In this class of reflexion we must be careful, as always, not to employ them too frequently, nor at random, nor place them in the mouth of every kind of person,
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while we must make certain that they are not untrue, as is so often the case with those speakers who style them reflexions of universal application and recklessly employ whatever seems to support their case as though its truth were beyond question.

Such reflexions are best suited to those speakers whose authority is such that their character itself will lend weight to their words. For who would tolerate a boy, or a youth, or even a man of low birth who presumed to speak with all the authority of a judge and to thrust his precepts down our throats?