when we should omit the statement of facts altogether; when we should
begin by dealing with the arguments advanced by our opponents, and when
with our own; when we should place the strongest proofs first and when
the weakest; in what cases we should prefix questions to the exordium, and what
preparation is necessary to pave the way for these questions; what
arguments the judge will accept at once, and to what he requires to be
led by degrees; whether we should refute our opponent's arguments as a
whole or in detail; whether we should reserve emotional appeals for the
peroration or distribute them throughout the whole speech; whether we
should speak first of law or of equity; whether we should first advance
(or refute) charges as to past offences or the charges connected with
the actual trial;
or, again, if the case is complicated, what order we should adopt, what
evidence or documents of any kind should be read out in the course of
our speech, and what reserved for a later stage. This gift of
arrangement is to oratory what generalship is to war. The skilled
commander will know how to distribute his forces
But to possess this gift, our orator will require all the resources of nature, learning and industrious study. Therefore let no man hope that he can acquire eloquence merely by the labour of others. He must burn the midnight oil, persevere to the end and grow pale with study: he must form his own powers, his own experience, his own methods: he must not require to hunt for his weapons, but must have them ready for immediate use, as though they were born with him and not derived from the instruction of others.
The road may be pointed out, but our speed must be our own. Art has done enough in publishing the resources of eloquence, it is for us to know how to use them.
And it is not enough merely to arrange the various parts: each several part has its own internal economy, according to which one thought will come first, another second, another third, while we must struggle not merely to place these thoughts in their proper order, but to link them together and give them such cohesion that there will be no trace of any suture: they must form a body, not a congeries of limbs.
This end will be attained if we note what best suits each position, and
take care that the words which we place together are such as will not
clash, but will mutually harmonise. Thus different facts will not seem
like perfect strangers thrust into uncongenial company from distant
places, but will be united with what precedes and follows by an intimate
bond of union, with the result that our
THE observations contained in the preceding five books approximately cover the method of invention and the arrangement of the material thus provided. It is absolutely necessary to acquire a thorough knowledge of this method in all its details, if we desire to become accomplished orators, but a simpler and briefer course of instruction is more suitable for beginners.
For they tend either to be deterred from study by the difficulties of so detailed and complicated a course, or lose heart at having to attempt tasks of such difficulty just at the very period when their minds need special nourishment and a more attractive form of diet, or think that when they have learned this much and no more, they are fully equipped for the tasks of eloquence, or finally, regarding themselves as fettered by certain fixed laws of oratory, shrink from making any effort on their own initiative.
Consequently, it has been held that those who have exercised the
greatest care in writing text-books of rhetoric have been the furthest
removed from genuine eloquence. Still, it is absolutely necessary to
point out to beginners the road which they should follow, though this
road must be smooth and easy not merely to enter, but to indicate.
Consequently, our skilful instructor should select all
Later, as they acquire strength in speaking, their learning will grow in proportion. To begin with, they may be allowed to think that there is no other road than that on which we have set their feet, and it may be left to time to teach them what is actually the best. It is true that writers on rhetoric have, by the pertinacity with which they have defended their opinions, made the principles of the science which they profess somewhat complicated; but these principles are in reality neither obscure nor hard to understand.
Consequently, if we regard the treatment of the art as a whole, it is harder to decide what we should teach than to teach it, once the decision has been made. Above all, in the two departments which I have mentioned, the necessary rules are but few in number, and if the pupil gives them ready acceptance, he will find that the path to further accomplishment presents no difficulty.
I have, it is true, already expended much labour on this portion of my
task; for I desired to make it clear that rhetoric is the science of
speaking well, that it is useful, and further, that it is an art and a
virtue. I wished also to show that its subject matter consists of
everything on which an orator may be called to speak, and is, as a rule,
to be found in three classes of oratory, demonstrative, deliberative,
and forensic; that every speech is composed of matter and words, and
that as regards matter we must
I attempted to show that the duty of the orator is composed of instructing, moving and delighting his hearers, statement of facts and argument falling under the head of instruction, while emotional appeals are concerned with moving the audience and, although they may be employed throughout the case, are most effective at the beginning and end. As to the element of charm, I pointed out that, though it may reside both in facts and words, its special sphere is that of style.