Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/489

467 LITERATURE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 467 of any other branch of literature. The Athenians, to whom this Sicilian rhetoric was still a novelty, though they were fully qualified and predisposed to appreciate and enjoy its beauties,* were quite enchanted with it, and it soon became fashionable to speak like Gorgias. The impression produced by the oratory of Gorgias was greatly in- creased by his stately appearance, his well-chosen and splendid costume, and the self-possession and confidence of his demeanour. Besides, his rhetoric rested on a basis of philosophy,! though, as has just been men- tioned, rather of a negative kind ; and there is no trace of this in the systems of Corax and Tisias. This philosophy taught, that the sule aim of the orator is to turn the minds of his hearers into such a train as may best consist with his own interests ; that, consequently, rhetoric is the agent of persuasion, the art of all arts, because the rhetorician is able to speak well and convincingly on every subject, even though he has no accurate knowledge respecting it. In accordance with this view of rhetoric, Gorgias took little pains with the subject-matter of his speeches ; he only concerned himself about this so far as to exercise himself in treating of general topics, which were called loci commvnes, and the proper management and application of which have always helped the rhetorician to conceal his ignorance. The panegyrics and invectives which Gorgias wrote on every possible subject, and which served him for practice, were also calculated to assist him in combating or defending received opinions and convictions, by palliating the bad, and misrepresenting the good. The same purpose was served by his delusive and captious conclusions, which he had borrowed from the Eleatic school, in order to pass with the common herd as a pro- found thinker, and to confuse their notions of truth and falsehood. All this belonged to the instrument, by virtue of which Gorgias pro- mised, in the language of the day, to make the weaker argument^ i. e. the worse cause, victorious over the stronger argument, i. e. the better cause § § 5. But the chief study of Gorgias Avas directed to the form of ex- pression ; and it is true that he was able, by the use. of high-sounding words and artfully constructed sentences, to deceive not only the ears but also the mind of the Greeks— alive as they were to the perception of such beauties— to so great an extent that they overlooked foT a long- time the emptiness and coldness of his declamations. Prose was at this time commencing its career, and had nut yet manifested its resources, and shown the beauty of which it was callable : it was natural, therefore, t This philosophy is contained in a treatise bj Gorgias, - ) Qvrta; 3 rtu pA **r*t, of which the host account is yhoii bj Aristotle inbisessaj on Melissus, Xeno- pbanes, and Gorgias. 1 UtlrtSs IwAivoyi;, 5 nrTM xcc) n^Trav Xoyi>$. ' * 2 ii 2
 * eWs; iiifuets Ka) pXoxiyn, says Diodorus. _ ( M