Saturday, October 18, 2014
Argumentum ex Silentio
Strabo 1.2.22 (tr. Horace Leonard Jones):
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The fact that he did not mention them is no sign that he did not know about them — he does not mention his own native country, either, nor many other things — but rather would one say that Homer thought the best-known facts were not worth mentioning to those who already knew them.
εἰ δὲ μὴ ἐμνήσθη τούτων, οὐ τοῦτο σημεῖον τοῦ ἀγνοεῖν (οὐδὲ γὰρ τῆς αὐτοῦ πατρίδος ἐμνήσθη οὐδὲ πολλῶν ἄλλων) ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὰ λίαν γνώριμα ὄντα φαίη τις ἂν δόξαι μὴ ἄξια μνήμης εἶναι πρὸς τοὺς εἰδότας.
