The True Rhetor

"Let Rhetoric be [defined as] an ability, in [particular] case, to see the available means of persuasion," wrote Aristotle in On Rhetoric. "This is the function of no other art; for each of the others is instructive and persuasive about its own subject" (36). Such a singular art calls for a singularly skilled practitioner of the atechnic and entechnic pisteis, one who can "use the former and invent the latter" (37).

Leading a public debate, "one person will be called rhetor on the basis of his knowledge and another on the basis of his deliberate choice" (35-36). But whatever his basis, Aristotle argues that the three species of pisteis are effective in rhetoric, and the proper use of them will culminate is adequate persuasion: "In the character [ethos] of the speaker...in diposing the listener in some way, and...in the argument [logos] itself, by showing or seeming to show something" (37).

One can be made worthy of speaking by his method of speaking, in combination with his character: "[There is persuasion] through character whenever the speech is spoken in such a way as to make the speaker worthy of credence" (38).

But who exactly is this speaker? What criteria must be met in order for one's character to be deemed persuasive? Aristotle not only assigns the hearers of speeches to certain classes (either a spectator or a judge) but additionally analyzes the characters of the Young, the Old, and Those in the Prime of Life. His preference of whom is most capable or performing rhetoric is no mystery. "Those in the prime of life will be between the young and the old in character, subtracting the excess of either, and neither exceedingly confident...nor too fearful but having the right amount of both" (168) Those in the prime of life (presumably corresponding to our common notion of the middle-aged) are, according to Aristotle, the perfect blend of impulse and caution, capable of correctly gauging "what is fitting" within an argument and persuading effectively (168).

Implicitly he is stating, then, that those in the prime of life are the best speakers, the "true rhetors." Again Aristotle's philosophy is rather exclusive.