THE STUDY OF WORDS 133

ELEGANCE AND GRACE 145

COMPOSITION AND STYLE 173

COPIOUSNESS OF WORDS 197

KNOWLEDGE AND SELF-CONFIDENCE 229

CONCLUSION 247




RHETORIC AND ELOQUENCE


WHAT RHETORIC IS

Rhetoric has been commonly defined as "The power of persuading." This
opinion originated with Isocrates, if the work ascribed to him be really
his; not that he intended to dishonor his profession, tho he gives us a
generous idea of rhetoric by calling it the workmanship of persuasion.
We find almost the same thing in the Gorgias of Plato, but this is the
opinion of that rhetorician, and not of Plato. Cicero has written in
many places that the duty of an orator is to speak in "a manner proper
to persuade"; and in his books of rhetoric, of which undoubtedly he does
not approve himself, he makes the end of eloquence to consist in