expeditio
 ex-pe-di'-ti-o L. "a freeing, a dispatching from difficulties"
enumeratio
elimination, the speedie dispatcher

After enumerating all possibilities by which something could have occurred, the speaker eliminates all but one (=apophasis).

Although the Ad Herennium author lists expeditio as a figure, it is more properly considered a method of argument (sometimes known as the "Method of Residues" when employed in refutation.)
Examples
You either made, purchased, or stole the bomb. Since you lack the intelligence to make it and the funds to purchase it, it can only be that you have stolen it.
Related Figures

Related Topics of Invention

See Also

 
  Sources: Ad Herennium 4.29.40-41; Peacham (1577) T4r; Putt. (1589) 241 ("expeditio," "the speedie dispatcher"); Day 1599 98 ("expeditio," "enumeratio")


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Gideon O. Burton, Brigham Young University
Please cite "Silva Rhetoricae" (rhetoric.byu.edu)


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