Book 3
5.74
The following is a similar example. You ought to be punished. I ought not. The judge will decide whether he should be punished, but it is not with this that the question or the basis is concerned. Where then does the question lie? You ought to be punished, for you have killed a man. I did not kill him. The question is whether he killed him. I ought to receive some honour. You ought not. Does this involve a basis? I think not. I ought to receive some honour for killing a tyrant. You did not kill him. Here there is a question and a basis sc. the conjectural. as well.
5.75
So, too, You are not entitled to bring this action, I have, involves no basis. Where then is it to be found? You have no right to bring this action, because you have been deprived of civil rights. In this case the question is whether he has been so deprived, or whether loss of civil rights debars a person from bringing an action. Here on the other hand we find both questions and bases. sc. the conjectural or definitive basis and the qualitative. It is therefore to kinds of causes, not to bases that the term competence applies: other kinds of cause are the comparative and the recriminatory. See III. x. 3 and 4.
