are not generally admitted or believed.

  The enthymeme and the example must, then, deal with what is in the
main contingent, the example being an induction, and the enthymeme a
syllogism, about such matters. The enthymeme must consist of few
propositions, fewer often than those which make up the normal
syllogism. For if any of these propositions is a familiar fact,
there is no need even to mention it; the hearer adds it himself. Thus,
to show that Dorieus has been victor in a contest for which the
prize is a crown, it is enough to say 'For he has been victor in the
Olympic games', without adding 'And in the Olympic games the prize
is a crown', a fact which everybody knows.

  There are few facts of the 'necessary' type that can form the
basis of rhetorical syllogisms. Most of the things about which we make
decisions, and into which therefore we inquire, present us with
alternative possibilities. For it is about our actions that we
deliberate and inquire, and all our actions have a contingent
character; hardly any of them are determined by necessity. Again,
conclusions that state what is merely usual or possible must be
drawn from premisses that do the same, just as 'necessary' conclusions
must be drawn from 'necessary' premisses; this too is clear to us from
the Analytics. It is evident, therefore, that the propositions forming
the basis of enthymemes, though some of them may be 'necessary',
will most of them be only usually true. Now the materials of
enthymemes are Probabilities and Signs, which we can see must
correspond respectively with the propositions that are generally and
those that are necessarily true. A Probability is a thing that usually
happens; not, however, as some definitions would suggest, anything
whatever that usually happens, but only if it belongs to the class
of the 'contingent' or 'variable'. It bears the same relation to
that in respect of which it is probable as the universal bears to
the particular. Of Signs, one kind bears the same relation to the
statement it supports as the particular bears to the universal, the
other the same as the universal bears to the particular. The
infallible kind is a 'complete proof' (tekmerhiou); the fallible
kind has no specific name. By infallible signs I mean those on which
syllogisms proper may be based: and this shows us why this kind of
Sign is called 'complete proof': when people think that what they have
said cannot be refuted, they then think that they are bringing forward
a 'complete proof', meaning that the matter has now been
demonstrated and completed (peperhasmeuou); for the word 'perhas'
has the same meaning (of 'end' or 'boundary') as the word 'tekmarh' in
the ancient tongue. Now the one kind of Sign (that which bears to
the proposition it supports the relation of particular to universal)
may be illustrated thus. Suppose it were said, 'The fact that Socrates
was wise and just is a sign that the wise are just'. Here we certainly
have a Sign; but even though the proposition be true, the argument
is refutable, since it does not form a syllogism. Suppose, on the
other hand, it were said, 'The fact that he has a fever is a sign that
he is ill', or, 'The fact that she is giving milk is a sign that she
has lately borne a child'. Here we have the infallible kind of Sign,
the only kind that constitutes a complete proof, since it is the
only kind that, if the particular statement is true, is irrefutable.
The other kind of Sign, that which bears to the proposition it
supports the relation of universal to particular, might be illustrated
by saying, 'The fact that he breathes fast is a sign that he has a
fever'. This argument also is refutable, even if the statement about
the fast breathing be true, since a man may breathe hard without
having a fever.

  It has, then, been stated above what is the nature of a Probability,
of a Sign, and of a complete proof, and what are the differences
between them. In the Analytics a more explicit description has been
given of these points; it is there shown why some of these
reasonings can be put into syllogisms and some cannot.

  The 'example' has already been described as one kind of induction;
and the special nature of the subject-matter that distinguishes it
from the other kinds has also been stated above. Its relation to the
proposition it supports is not that of part to whole, nor whole to
part, nor whole to whole, but of part to part, or like to like. When
two statements are of the same order, but one is more familiar than
the other, the former is an 'example'. The argument may, for instance,
be that Dionysius, in asking as he does for a bodyguard, is scheming
to make himself a despot. For in the past Peisistratus kept asking for
a bodyguard in order to carry out such a scheme, and did make
himself a despot as soon as he got it; and so did Theagenes at Megara;
and in the same way all other instances known to the speaker are
made into examples, in order to show what is not yet known, that
Dionysius has the same purpose in making the same request: all these
being instances of the one general principle, that a man who asks
for a bodyguard is scheming to make himself a despot. We have now
described the sources of those means of persuasion which are popularly
supposed to be demonstrative.

  There is an important distinction between two sorts of enthymemes
that has been wholly overlooked by almost everybody-one that also
subsists between the syllogisms treated of in dialectic. One sort of
enthymeme really belongs to rhetoric, as one sort of syllogism
really belongs to dialectic; but the other sort really belongs to
other arts and faculties, whether to those we already exercise or to
those we have not yet acquired. Missing this distinction, people
fail to notice that the more correctly they handle their particular
subject the further they are getting away from pure rhetoric or
dialectic. This statement will be clearer if expressed more fully. I
mean that the proper subjects of dialectical and rhetorical syllogisms
are the things with which we say the regular or universal Lines of
Argument are concerned, that is to say those lines of argument that
apply equally to questions of right conduct, natural science,