Rhetoric   

By Aristotle
Written 350 B.C.E Part 1
In making a speech one must study three points: first, the means of
producing persuasion; second, the style, or language, to be used;
third, the proper arrangement of the various parts of the speech. We
have already specified the sources of persuasion. We have shown that
these are three in number; what they are; and why there are only these
three: for we have shown that persuasion must in every case be
effected either (1) by working on the emotions of the judges
themselves, (2) by giving them the right impression of the speakers'
character, or (3) by proving the truth of the statements made.
Enthymemes also have been described, and the sources from which they
should be derived; there being both special and general lines of
argument for enthymemes.
Our next subject will be the style of expression. For it is not enough
to know what we ought to say; we must also say it as we ought; much
help is thus afforded towards producing the right impression of a
speech. The first question to receive attention was naturally the one
that comes first naturally-how persuasion can be produced from the
facts themselves. The second is how to set these facts out in
language. A third would be the proper method of delivery; this is a
thing that affects the success of a speech greatly; but hitherto the
subject has been neglected. Indeed, it was long before it found a way
into the arts of tragic drama and epic recitation: at first poets
acted their tragedies themselves. It is plain that delivery has just
as much to do with oratory as with poetry. (In connexion with poetry,
it has been studied by Glaucon of Teos among others.) It is,
essentially, a matter of the right management of the voice to express
the various emotions-of speaking loudly, softly, or between the two;
of high, low, or intermediate pitch; of the various rhythms that suit
various subjects. These are the three things-volume of sound,
modulation of pitch, and rhythm-that a speaker bears in mind. It is
those who do bear them in mind who usually win prizes in the dramatic
contests; and just as in drama the actors now count for more than the
poets, so it is in the contests of public life, owing to the defects
of our political institutions. No systematic treatise upon the rules
of delivery has yet been composed; indeed, even the study of language
made no progress till late in the day. Besides, delivery is-very
properly-not regarded as an elevated subject of inquiry. Still, the
whole business of rhetoric being concerned with appearances, we must
pay attention to the subject of delivery, unworthy though it is,
because we cannot do without it. The right thing in speaking really is
that we should be satisfied not to annoy our hearers, without trying
to delight them: we ought in fairness to fight our case with no help
beyond the bare facts: nothing, therefore, should matter except the
proof of those facts. Still, as has been already said, other things
affect the result considerably, owing to the defects of our hearers.
The arts of language cannot help having a small but real importance,
whatever it is we have to expound to others: the way in which a thing
is said does affect its intelligibility. Not, however, so much
importance as people think. All such arts are fanciful and meant to
charm the hearer. Nobody uses fine language when teaching geometry.
When the principles of delivery have been worked out, they will
produce the same effect as on the stage. But only very slight attempts
to deal with them have been made and by a few people, as by
Thrasymachus in his 'Appeals to Pity'. Dramatic ability is a natural
gift, and can hardly be systematically taught. The principles of good
diction can be so taught, and therefore we have men of ability in this
direction too, who win prizes in their turn, as well as those speakers
who excel in delivery-speeches of the written or literary kind owe
more of their effect to their direction than to their thought.
It was naturally the poets who first set the movement going; for words
represent things, and they had also the human voice at their disposal,
which of all our organs can best represent other things. Thus the arts