Such as are not manifest, are either conclusions of _enthymemes_; as, _He that is wise will not suffer his children, &c._ Or else are _enthymematical_; that is, have in themselves the force of an _enthymeme_; as _Mortal men ought not to carry immortal anger_. A _sentence_ not manifest, ought to be either _inferred_ or _confirmed_. _Inferred_ thus: _It is not good to be effeminately minded, nor to be envied by one’s fellow-citizens. A wise man, therefore, will not have his children over-learned._ _Confirmed_ thus: _A wise man will not have his children over-learned; seeing too much learning both softens a man’s mind, and procures him envy among his fellow-citizens_. If a reason be added to a manifest _sentence_, let it be short. _Sentences_ become not every man; but only old men, and such as be well-versed in business. For to hear a young man speak sentences, is ridiculous; and to hear an ignorant man speak sentences, is absurd. _Sentences_ generally received, when they are for our purpose, ought not to be neglected; because they pass for truths. And yet they may be denied, when any laudable custom or humour may thereby be made appear in the denier. The commodities of _sentences_, are two. One proceeding from the vanity of the hearer, who takes for true universally affirmed, that which he has found for true only in some particular; and therefore a man ought to consider in every thing what opinion the hearer holds. Another is, that sentences do discover the manners and disposition of the speaker; so that if they be esteemed good sentences, he shall be esteemed a good man; and if evil, an evil man. Thus much of _sentences_, what they be; of how many sorts; how to be used; whom they become; and what is their profit. ========== CHAPTER XXIII. OF THE INVENTION OF ENTHYMEMES. Seeing an enthymeme differs from a logical syllogism, in that it neither concludes out of every thing, nor out of remote principles; the _places_ of it, from whence a man may argue, ought to be certain and determinate. And because whosoever makes a _syllogism_, rhetorical or other, should know all or the most part of that which is in question; as, whosoever is to advise the Athenians in the question, whether they are to make war or no, must know what their revenues be, what and what kind of power they have: and he that will praise them, must know their acts at Salamis, Marathon, &c.: it will be necessary for a good speaker to have in readiness the choicest particulars of whatsoever he foresees he may speak of. He that is to speak _ex tempore_, must comprehend in his speech as much as he can of what is most _proper_ in the matter in hand.