Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 3Grote, George
Philosophy
Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 3
Grote, George
Philosophy, Ancient; Plato; Socrates, 470 BC-399 BC
Sokrates then compares the oration of Lysias with his own two
orations (the first depreciating, the second extolling, Eros) in
the point of view of art; to see how far they are artistically
constructed. Among the matters of discourse, there are some on
which all men are agreed, and on which therefore the speaker may
assume established unanimity in his audience: there are others on
which great dissension and discord prevail. Among the latter (the
topics of dissension), questions about just and unjust, good and
evil, stand foremost:[65] it is upon these that deception is most
easy, and rhetorical skill most efficacious. Accordingly, an
orator should begin by understanding to which of these two
categories the topic which he handles belongs: If it belongs to
the second category (those liable to dissension) he ought, at the
outset, to define what he himself means by it, and what he intends
the audience to understand. Now Eros is a topic on which great
dissension prevails. It ought therefore to have been defined at
the commencement of the discourse. This Sokrates in his discourse
has done: but Lysias has omitted to do it, and has assumed Eros to
be obviously and unanimously apprehended by every one. Besides,
the successive points in the discourse of Lysias do not hang
together by any thread of necessary connection, as they ought to
do, if the discourse were put together according to rule.[66]
[Footnote 65: Plato, Phædrus, p. 263 B. Compare Plato, Alkibiad.
i. p. 109.]
[Footnote 66: Plato, Phædrus, pp. 263-265.]
[Side-note: Logical processes--Definition and Division--both of
them exemplified in the two discourses of Sokrates.]
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