If A, then B, else C.

Van Eyck signed his portrait of the Arnolfinis slapdash in the center of the painting.

The general tuckermanities are arrant / Bubbles — ephemeral and so transparent

Accordingly if we can show that a barbarous custom, like that of the priesthood of Nemi, has existed elsewhere; if we can detect the motives which led to its institution; if we can prove that these motives have operated widely, perhaps universally, in human society...