Property, in this way:  “Whether melancholy is incidental to man alone, or whether beasts also are liable to it.”  Division, and also partition, in this manner:  “Whether there are three descriptions of good things.”  Description, like this:  “What sort of person a miser is; what sort of person a flatterer;” and other things of that sort, by which the nature and life of a man are described.

But when the inquiry is what the character of something is, the inquiry is conducted either simply, or by way of comparison.  Simply, in this way:  “Whether glory is to be sought for.”  By way of comparison, in this way:  “Whether glory is to be preferred to riches.”  Of simple inquiries there are three kinds; about seeking for or avoiding anything, about the right and the wrong; about what is honourable and what is discreditable.  But of inquiries by way of comparison there are two; one of the thing itself and something else; one of something greater and something else.  Of seeking for and avoiding a thing, in this way:  “Whether riches are to be sought for:  whether poverty is to be avoided.”  Concerning right and wrong:  “Whether it is right to revenge oneself, whoever the person may be from whom one has received an injury.”  Concerning what is honourable and what is discreditable:  “Whether it is honourable to die for one’s country.”  But of the other kind of inquiry, which has been stated to be twofold, one is about the thing in question and something else; as if it were asked, “What is the difference between a friend and a flatterer, between a king and a tyrant?” The other is between something greater and something less; as if it were asked, “Whether eloquence is of more consequence than the knowledge of civil law.”  And this is enough about theoretical inquiries.

It remains to speak of practical ones; of which there are two kinds:  one relating to one’s duty, the other to engendering, or calming, or utterly removing any affection of the mind.  Relating to duty thus:  as when the question is, “Whether children ought to be bad.”  Relating to influencing the mind, when exhortations are delivered to men to defend the republic, or when they are encouraged to seek glory and praise:  of which kind of addresses are complaints, and encouragements, and tearful commiseration; and again, speeches extinguishing anger, or at other times removing fear, or repressing the exultation of joy, or effacing melancholy.  As these different divisions belong to general inquiries, they are also transferable to causes.

XXIII.  But the next thing to be inquired is, what topics are adapted to each kind of inquiry; for all those which we have already mentioned are suitable to most kinds; but still, different topics, as I have said before, are better suited to different investigations.  Those arguments are the most suitable to conjectural discussion which can be deduced from causes, from effects, or from dependent circumstances.  But when we have need of definition, then we must have