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Untitled Article
rhetoric produce in courts of justice and other assemblies , respecting the just and the unjust ? The sort which produces belief without knowledge , ot that which produces knowledge V G . * Evidently that which produces belief . ' S . ' Rhetoric , then , works the persuasion of belief , not the persuasion of knowledge , respecting the just and the
unjust ?* G . * Yes . ' S . ' The orator then does not instruct courts of justice and other assemblies respecting the just and the unjust , but only persuades them : for he could not , in a short time , instruct a large assembly in such great matters V G . * Certainly not / S . * Let us see then what we are to think of rhetoric ; for I do not know what to say about it . When an assembly is called together for the choice of
physicians , or of ship builders , or any other sort of artists , will the rhetorician then not offer his opinion ? for it is clear that in every election , whoever is the greatest master of the art ought to be chosen . If the question relate to the building of walls , or . the construction of ports or docks , will the advisers he not the rhetoricians , but the engineers ? If
it relate to the choice of generals , or the operations of warfare , will the men versed in military affairs advise , and the rhetoricians not ? or how is it ? for since you say that you are a rhetorician , and can make other * so , it is right to ask of you what belongs to your art . Consider me to be advancing your own interests also : for there are perhaps some persons here who wish to become your disciples . Imagine that you are asked by them , What shall we get by your instructions ? on what subject shall we be able to advise the State ? on the just and the unjust only ,
or on the other matters also , which Socrates just now mentioned ?' I will endeavour , ' answered Gorgias , ' to unfold to you clearly the , whole power of rhetoric ; for you have well led the way . Ifotrlrfiow that the walls , and docks , and harbours of Athens were constructed by the advice of Thenrntocles and of Pericles , not by that of the workmen / S . They say so on Themistocles ; and Pericles I have myself heard . ' G . * And when there * is a choice to be made on these matters , you Bee that the orators are tlWe who nr ^ evaik and carry the people along with that makes
them . ' S . It is the wonclerwhich thi ) 8 ^ e ^ jtejJiL-j » e ; me so anxious to find out what is the power of rhetoric ; for , when considered in this light , it appears a thing of astonishing greatness . ' G . If you knew all , you would see that it comprises and holds subject to itself almost all other powers . I will give you a remarkable proof : —Often
have I gone , with my brother and other physicians , to visit a sick man who would not take medicine or undergo an operation ; and when the physician could not persuade him , I persuaded him , by no other art than rhetoric . I affirm , that , in any city you please , if a rhetorician and a physician were to contend , by discourse , in an assembly or meeting , as competitors for appointment to any office , the physician would be thought nothing of ; the able speaker would be chosen , if he wished it : and if he became the rival of any other artist whatever , he would
persuade them to choose him in preference to the other ; for there is no subject on which a rhetorician would not speak more persuasively than any other person , to a multitude . Such and so great is the power of the art . It should , however , be used like any other power of subversion and overthrow . Such power ought not , because we possess it , to be therefore used against all persons indiscriminately . It does not follow , because a man has learnt to box , or to wrestle , or to fence , so as to be
Untitled Article
696 Plato ' s Dialogues ; the Gorgias .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1834, page 696, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2638/page/20/
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