HOW TO WIN AN ARGUMENT

The Origins Of Eloquent And Persuasive Speech

Nature, Art, Practice

The precise nature of eloquent and persuasive speech was fiercely debated in antiquity. Is rhetoric an actual art, or merely a skill, a knack? Does it require natural ability, or can it be mastered merely through the acquisition of certain techniques and the memorization of a body of rules and precepts? Generally, the ancient theorists spoke of a requisite triad: natural ability or inborn talent, mastery of the art of speaking as outlined in rhetorical treatises (called artes in Latin), and diligent application of one's talent and training through practice. In his earliest published work, De inventione, or On Invention, written when he was about 17 years old, Cicero offers an explanation of the origin of eloquence.

And if we wish to consider the origin of this thing that is called eloquence — whether it be an art or a study or some sort of skill or a faculty bestowed by nature — we will discover that it was born from most honorable causes and continued its development for the best of reasons. For there was a time when people wandered in the fields far and wide, like beasts, and preserved their existence relying on uncultivated food; no rational system of religion or of societal obligation was yet practiced; no one had witnessed legitimate marriage, nor had anyone looked upon children whom he knew for certain to be his own, nor had they realized what advantages an equitable code of law might provide. So, because of their own error and ignorance, a blind and reckless passion controlled them, and, in order to satisfy itself, continually misused bodily strength, the most dangerous of servants.

At this point in time, a man — great and wise to be sure — came to recognize the innate potential and the boundless opportunity for great accomplishments residing in the human spirit, if only someone could draw it out and improve it through instruction. He systematically assembled the people in one place; scattered in the fields and living hidden in their woodland shelters, he brought them together, introducing them to every useful and honorable pursuit. At first, because of the novelty of the thing, they strongly objected; but then, as they began to listen more earnestly, he transformed them through reason and speech from wild, savage creatures into tame and gentle people.

To me, at least, it does not seem possible that mute wisdom, devoid of speaking ability, was suddenly able to turn people from their accustomed ways and lead them to different modes of living. What is more, once cities had been established, how could it have happened that people learned to honor faith and uphold justice, and became accustomed to obeying others willingly, and judged that they must not only take on great tasks for the sake of the common good but even sacrifice their lives, unless others had been able to persuade them by eloquence of those things that they had discovered by reason? Certainly, no one who was endowed with great physical strength would have willingly and without violence submitted himself to the law, allowing himself to be put on an equal footing with those over whom he could excel, abandoning voluntarily a most agreeable custom — especially a custom that had through the course of time already acquired the force of a law of nature —, had he not been moved by speech both powerful and persuasive.

Eloquence, then, seems initially to have originated in this way, and to have advanced to greater development, and likewise subsequently, in the most important matters of peace and war, to have been involved with the highest interests of humankind. (De inventione 1.2–3)

Some 30 years later, Cicero wrote De oratore (On the Ideal Orator), a masterful treatise in which he constructs a portrait of his ideal speaker. The work is composed as a dialogue between several of the leading orators of the generation previous to Cicero's; the two main characters of the dialogue are Lucius Crassus and Marcus Antonius, Cicero's boyhood mentors and the greatest orators of Rome at that time. In the following passage, the interlocutor Crassus refers to these same origins of eloquence; he extols the capacity for speech as one of the most powerful and efficacious of all human gifts, and encourages his young protégés to master the art of eloquence:

Actually, I think nothing is more admirable than being able, through speech, to take hold of human minds, to win over their inclinations, to drive them at will in one direction, and to draw them at will from another. It is this ability, more than anything else, that has ever flourished, ever reigned supreme in every free nation and especially in quiet and peaceful communities. What could be so wonderful as when out of an infinite crowd one human being emerges who — alone or with very few others — is able to use with effect the faculty that is a natural gift to all? Or what is so pleasing to the mind and to the ear as speech distinguished and refined by wise thoughts and impressive words? Or what so powerful and so splendid as one man's speech transforming the impulses of the people, the scruples of jurors, or the authority of the Senate? Again, what is so regal, so generous, so magnanimous, as lending aid to those in distress, raising up the afflicted, offering people safety, freeing them from dangers, saving them from exile? At the same time, what is so vital as always having the weapons available with which you can shield yourself and challenge the wicked or take revenge when attacked? But really, let us not always be preoccupied with the forum, with the court-benches, the rostra, and the Senate House: if we consider our leisure time, what can be more pleasant or more properly human than to be able to engage in elegant conversation and show oneself a stranger to no subject? For the one thing that most especially sets us above animals is that we converse with one another, and that we can express our thoughts through speech. Who, then, would not rightly admire this ability, and would not think that he should take the greatest pains in order to surpass other human beings in the very thing that especially makes humans themselves superior to beasts? But let us now turn to what is surely the most important point of all: what other force could have gathered the scattered members of the human race into one place, or could have...