Aristotle, Rhetoric, John Henry Freese (Translator), 3.14.4

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[4] Again, they may be derived from forensic exordia, that is to say, from appeals to the hearer, if the subject treated is paradoxical, difficult, or commonly known, in order to obtain indulgence, like Choerilus¹:

But now when all has been allotted.

These then are the sources of epideictic exordia—praise, blame, exhortation, dissuasion, appeals to the hearer. And these exordia² may be either foreign or intimately connected with the speech.

Rhetoric. Aristotle. John Henry Freese (Translator). London. 1926.

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Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

The "Art" of Rhetoric (English) (Aristotle. The "Art" of Rhetoric. Freese, John Henry, translator. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1926 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Ῥητορική Perseus (Aristotle. Aristotelis Ars Rhetorica. Ross, William David, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press,1959 (printing).) — 3.14.4 focus

[4] ἔτι δʼ ἐκ τῶν δικανικῶν προοιμίων· τοῦτο δʼ ἐστὶν ἐκ τῶν πρὸς τὸν ἀκροατήν, εἰ περὶ παραδόξου λόγος ἢ περὶ χαλεποῦ ἢ περὶ τεθρυλημένου πολλοῖς, ὥστε συγγνώμην ἔχειν, οἷον Χοιρίλος

νῦν δʼ ὅτε πάντα δέδασται.

τὰ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἐπιδεικτικῶν λόγων προοίμια ἐκ τούτων, ἐξ ἐπαίνου, ἐκ ψόγου, ἐκ προτροπῆς, ἐξ ἀποτροπῆς, ἐκ τῶν πρὸς τὸν ἀκροατήν· δεῖ δὲ ἢ ξένα ἢ οἰκεῖα εἶναι τὰ ἐνδόσιμα τῷ λόγῳ.

Notes on the current edition

Rhetoric

1. Of Samos , epic poet, author of a poem on the Persian war, from which this half-line and the context preserved in the Scholiast are taken. He complains that whereas the poets of olden times had plenty to write about, the field of poetry being as yet untilled, it was now all apportioned, and he, the last of the poets, was left behind, unable to find a new chariot for the race-course of his song.

2. ἐνδόσιμα = προοίμια.

Aristotle Rhetoric 3.14.4

John Henry Freese (Translator)

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