be brought to bear in support of a proposition and in refutation of the
opposing arguments. It includes the study of arguments and fallacies; and
is that part of rhetoric which is closest neighbor to logic. The kinds of
argument treated in the classical rhetoric were two: the enthymeme, or
rhetorical syllogism; and the rhetorical induction or example. In the
practice of rhetoric _inventio_ was thus the solidest and most important
element. It included all of what to-day we might call "working up the
case." _Dispositio_ is the art of arranging the material gathered for
presentation to an audience. Aristotle insists that the essential parts of
a speech are but two: the statement and the proof. At most it may have
four: the _ex ordium_, or introduction; the _narratio_, or statement of
facts; the _confirmatio_, or proof proper, both direct and refutative; and
the _peroratio_, or conclusion.[59] This is the characteristic movement of
rhetoric, which, as is readily seen, is quite different from the plot
movement of poetic.[60] The parts are capable of further analysis.
Consequently most writers of the classical period subdivide the proof
proper into _probatio_, or affirmative proof, and _refutatio_, or
refutation.[61] And the _Ad Herennium_ adds a _divisio_, which defines the
issues, between the statement of facts and the proof.[62] Cassiodorus
divides the speech into six parts[63] and so does Martianus Capella.[64]
Thomas Wilson (1553) offers seven.[65]

The third part of rhetoric is _elocutio_, or style, the choice and
arrangement of words in a sentence. Quintilian's treatment of style is
typical. Words should be chosen which are in good use, clear, elegant, and
appropriate. The sentences should be grammatically correct, artistically
arranged, and adorned with such figures as antithesis, irony, and
metaphor.[66] Correctness is usually presupposed by the rhetoricians. To
the sound of sentences all classical treatises give an attention that
seems amazing if we forget that in Greece and Rome all literature was