Rhetoric   

of recitation and acting were formed, and others as well. Now it was
because poets seemed to win fame through their fine language when
their thoughts were simple enough, that the language of oratorical
prose at first took a poetical colour, e.g. that of Gorgias. Even now
most uneducated people think that poetical language makes the finest
discourses. That is not true: the language of prose is distinct from
that of poetry. This is shown by the state of things to-day, when even
the language of tragedy has altered its character. Just as iambics
were adopted, instead of tetrameters, because they are the most
prose-like of all metres, so tragedy has given up all those words, not
used in ordinary talk, which decorated the early drama and are still
used by the writers of hexameter poems. It is therefore ridiculous to
imitate a poetical manner which the poets themselves have dropped; and
it is now plain that we have not to treat in detail the whole question
of style, but may confine ourselves to that part of it which concerns
our present subject, rhetoric. The other--the poetical--part of it has
been discussed in the treatise on the Art of Poetry.
Part 2
We may, then, start from the observations there made, including the
definition of style. Style to be good must be clear, as is proved by
the fact that speech which fails to convey a plain meaning will fail
to do just what speech has to do. It must also be appropriate,
avoiding both meanness and undue elevation; poetical language is
certainly free from meanness, but it is not appropriate to prose.
Clearness is secured by using the words (nouns and verbs alike) that
are current and ordinary. Freedom from meanness, and positive
adornment too, are secured by using the other words mentioned in the
Art of Poetry. Such variation from what is usual makes the language
appear more stately. People do not feel towards strangers as they do
towards their own countrymen, and the same thing is true of their
feeling for language. It is therefore well to give to everyday speech
an unfamiliar air: people like what strikes them, and are struck by
what is out of the way. In verse such effects are common, and there
they are fitting: the persons and things there spoken of are
comparatively remote from ordinary life. In prose passages they are
far less often fitting because the subject-matter is less exalted.
Even in poetry, it is not quite appropriate that fine language should
be used by a slave or a very young man, or about very trivial
subjects: even in poetry the style, to be appropriate, must sometimes
be toned down, though at other times heightened. We can now see that a
writer must disguise his art and give the impression of speaking
naturally and not artificially. Naturalness is persuasive,
artificiality is the contrary; for our hearers are prejudiced and
think we have some design against them, as if we were mixing their
wines for them. It is like the difference between the quality of
Theodorus' voice and the voices of all other actors: his really seems
to be that of the character who is speaking, theirs do not. We can
hide our purpose successfully by taking the single words of our
composition from the speech of ordinary life. This is done in poetry
by Euripides, who was the first to show the way to his successors.
Language is composed of nouns and verbs. Nouns are of the various
kinds considered in the treatise on Poetry. Strange words, compound
words, and invented words must be used sparingly and on few occasions:
on what occasions we shall state later. The reason for this
restriction has been already indicated: they depart from what is
suitable, in the direction of excess. In the language of prose,
besides the regular and proper terms for things, metaphorical terms
only can be used with advantage. This we gather from the fact that
these two classes of terms, the proper or regular and the
metaphorical-these and no others-are used by everybody in
conversation. We can now see that a good writer can produce a style
that is distinguished without being obtrusive, and is at the same time
clear, thus satisfying our definition of good oratorical prose. Words
of ambiguous meaning are chiefly useful to enable the sophist to