Kitap 3
5.10
And perhaps even in actual causes wherever the notion of quality comes into question, there is a certain intrusion of the abstract. Milo killed Clodius: he was justified in killing one who lay in wait for him. Does not this raise the general question as to whether we have the right to kill a man who lies in wait for us? What again of conjectures? May not they be of a general character, as for instance, What was the motive for the crime? hatred? covetousness? or Are we justified in believing confessions made under torture? or Which should carry greater weight, evidence or argument? As for definitions, everything that they contain is undoubtedly of a general nature.
5.11
There are some who hold that even those questions which have reference to persons and particular cases may at times be called theses, provided only they are put slightly differently: for instance, if Orestes be accused, we shall have a cause: whereas if it is put as question, namely Was Orestes rightly acquitted? it will be a thesis. To the same class as this last belongs the question Was Cato right in transferring Marcia to Hortensius? These persons distinguish a thesis from a cause as follows: a thesis is theoretical in character, while a cause has relation to actual facts, since in the former case we argue merely with a view to abstract truth, while in the latter we have to deal with some particular act.
