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    and such a sort , is likely to be persuaded by such and such a mode of speaking , but not likely to be persuaded by such and such another mode , and this for such and such a reason . And when he has mastered all this , unless he be also a ready observer of what actually goes on in

    the world , he will still know nothing but precisely what he has learned . But if he knows what sort of man is persuaded by what sort of speaking , and is able besides to distinguish in real life whether the man whom he is to persuade is that sort of man or not , then he will know what is the proper time for using your figures of rhetoric , your ( ipayvkoyla and cXmwXoyia , and fotvuiatc , and the rest ; and then and not till then will

    he be a master of the art . Can you think of any other mode ? ' l No . ' 4 Let us strive all we can to find whether there be any shorter and smoother road to the oratorical art , that we may not take a roundabout way when there is a shorter cut . Can you recollect any thing of that sort which you have heard from Lysias ? ' 4 I do not' ' Shall I tell you then what I have sometimes heard people say ? for it is said that even the wolf ought to have a fair hearing ?* ' By all means /

    * They say , then , that there is no need to make oratory so various a matter , or go so far back in order to arrive at it . The orator has nothing to do with what is just or good , either in things or men : it is not the true which any one cares for in a court of justice , but the plausible : and probability is all which he who speaks according to art , needs attend to . It is not proper even to assert what actually happened , if the story be not a probable one : and in short the probable , and not the true , should be our aim in accusation or defence , and the art of attaining it is the only art of oratory required . ' 4

    This , ' replied Phaedrus , * is what those say who profess to understand the art of speaking . ' * You have read Tisias : does not Tisias understand by the probable , that which accords with the opinion of the multitude ?* c He does . ' This , then , is his wise invention ; that if a feeble but brave man is brought to trial for knocking down and robbing a robust coward , neither of them should speak the truth , but the coward should say , that more than one man attacked him ; the other denying

    this and proving that they were alone , should ask , How could so weak a person as I , think of attacking so strong a man ? whereupon the first should not plead his own cowardice , but should invent some other falsehood to confute that of his adversary . ' A clever and recondite art truly . ' ' Butdid we not before agree that this Probable , which Tisias aims at , is probable ( that is , is belieyed by the multitude ) only on account of its similitude to the truth ? and that he who knows the truth , is the best

    judge of degrees of resemblance to it ? We shall therefore continue to believe , as we before said , that without understanding the nature of the different sorts of hearers , and being able to distinguish things into their kind * , and again to aggregate a number of particulars into one whole , it is impossible to attain the highest excellence which man is capable oh in the art of speaking . All this , however , cannot be learned without

    great study ; which study a wise man ought to perform , not for the mere sake of speaking and transacting among men , but in order to be able to speak and act agreeably to the gods . Men wiser than we , have said that we ought not to make it our object to please our fellow- servants , except as a work of supererogation : but to please good masters . It » 8 no wonder , therefore , if the course is long and roundabout : for there is »

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    G 40 Plato ' s Dialogues ; the Ph&drti * .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1834, page 640, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2637/page/36/