Book 7
8.5
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 choice permitted her by law, or Wool grows on sheep, and so on.
8.6
But to this we may reply, The law does not prescribe that the condemned woman should be thrown down twice, that the ravished woman should exercise her choice under all circumstances, that the tyrannicide should receive two rewards, while it makes no mention of ploughshares or of sheep. Thus we infer what is doubtful from what is certain. It is a more difficult task to deduce from the letter of the law that which is not actually prescribed by the letter, and to argue because that is the case, so also is this. Take the following problems. The man who kills his father shall be sewn up in a sack. He killed his mother, or It is illegal to drag a man from his own house into the court. He dragged him from his tent.
