In the Name of the (God)Father

In "Rhetoric", Aristotle extensively discusses the use of maxims. As maxims can be construed as the conclusion of an enthymeme, it makes sense Aristotle would choose to devote an entire chapter (Book II, Chapter 21) to these types of statements.


A maxim can be defined as:

 Generally any simple and memorable rule or guide for living, for example 'neither a borrower nor a lender be'. Tenneson speaks of 'a little hoard of maxims preaching down a daughter's heart (Locksley Hall), and maxims have generally been associated with a 'folksy' or 'copy-book' approach tomorality.
 -Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy

Of the simple and memorable rules for living, one maxim has the distinction of appearing twice:

Foolish he who after killing the father leaves the sons.

This maxim appears both in 1.15-14, and in 2.21-11. While Aristotle claims maxims to be the result of lack of education and the hallmark of "country folk who strike them and show them off", (2.21-9) one must admit there is at least a modicum of truth in such a saying.

Mythloogy, literature, film, and other forms of popular culture, such as comic books, contain myriad examples of avenging the death of a father. As art imitates life, one can assume that this avenging of death is at least, partially true. An example of this can be found in "The Godfather: Part II", possibly the best sequel film ever made. In Part II,in which certain scenes are a prequel to "The Godfather", a young Vito Corleone (deftly portrayed by Robert Dinero) travels back to the Sicilian village of his birth (Corleone) to avenge the death of both his mother and his father (his mother was killed for hiding young Vito when Don Ciccio wanted to murder him to keep him form avenging his father's death). Vito, who was known by the surname Andolini, immigrated to the United States where customs mistakenly gave him the name of the village of his birth. Vito made a name for himself by working hard and eventually killing the mafioso, Don Fannucci, who extorted money from he and his neighbors under the guise of "protection". After he became a "made man", the next logical step would be to travel to Corleone, kill the man who killed his father, take over his olive trade, and become the head of his own crime syndicate.

The killing of Ciccio served a two-fold purpose: To avenge the death of Vito's father, and to allow him to import olives and olive oil without having to pay inflated fees for the goods.

Another example of this occurs in "The Godfather" when Michael Corleone (portrayed by Al Pacino) murders Sollozzo, a mid-level heroin dealer, and the chief of police, who was being bribed by Sollozzo, for the attempted murder of Vito Corleone (Michael's father).

In one of the most emotionally charged scenes from any film, Sollozzo explains to Michael (in Italian) the attempted murder of his father was business, as Vito did not want drugs being sold in the neighborhoods controlled by him. The visual cue that Michael does not care about the circumstances is evident in that there are no subtitles during this dialogue. Michael only wants to avenge the attempt of his father's life, which he does in spades.

While these are works of fiction, there seems to be some expectation that the son will avenge the death of the father. Perhaps this is why the U.S. military killed Uday and Qusay Hussein prior to the capture and execution of Saddam. 

The enthymeme this maxim concludes is most likely in reference to the Greek practice of sparing the sons of men of conquered lands. While noble in its execution, it probably is not a wise decision. Maybe those country folk knew what they were talking about, after all.