Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 3
Plato · en
The true art of rhetoric (continues Sokrates) embraces a larger
range than these teachers imagine. It deals with mind, as the
medical researches of Hippokrates deal with body--as a generic
total with all its species and varieties, and as essentially
relative to the totality of external circumstances. First,
Hippokrates investigates how far the body is, in every particular
man, simple, homogeneous, uniform: and how far it is complex,
heterogeneous, multiform, in the diversity of individuals. If it
be one and the same, or in so far as it is one and the same, he
examines what are its properties in relation to each particular
substance acting upon it or acted upon by it. In so far as it is
multiform and various, he examines and compares each of the
different varieties, in the same manner, to ascertain its
properties in relation to every substance.[74] It is in this way
that Hippokrates discovers the nature or essence of the human
body, distinguishing its varieties, and bringing the medical art
to bear upon each, according to its different properties. This is
the only scientific or artistic way of proceeding.
[Footnote 74: Plato, Phædrus, p. 270 D. [Greek: A)=r' ou)ch ô(=de
dei= dianoei=sthai peri\ o(touou=n phu/seôs? Prô=ton me\n,
a(plou=n ê)\ polueide/s e)stin, ou(= peri\ boulêso/metha ei)=nai
au)toi\ technikoi\ kai\ a)/llon dunatoi\ poiei=n? e)/peita de/,
e)a\n me\n a(plou=n ê)=|, skopei=n tê\n du/namin au)tou=, ti/na
pro\s ti/ pe/phuken ei)s to\ dra=|n e)/chon ê)\ ti/na ei)s to\
pathei=n u(po\ tou=? e)a\n de\ plei/ô ei)/dê e)/chê|, tau=ta
a)rithmêsa/menos, o(/per e)ph' e(no/s, tou=t' i)dei=n e)ph'
e(ka/stou, tô=| ti/ poiei=n au)to\ pe/phuken ê)\ tô=| ti/ pathei=n
u(po\ tou=?]]
[Side-note: Art of Rhetoric ought to include a systematic
classification of minds with all their varieties, and of
discourses with all their varieties. The Rhetor must know how to
apply the one to the other, suitably to each particular case.]