THE PRINCIPLES OF RHETORIC BY ADAMS SHERMAN HILL BOYLSTON PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND ORATORY UNIV. OF MICH. RHETORIC Accession...1.65.. Alc NEW YORK .:: CINCINNATI .:• CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY Nam ipsum latine loqui, est illud quidem, ut paullo ante dixi, in magna laude ponendum; sed •non tam sua sponte, quam quod est a plerisque neglectum: non enim tam praeclarum est scire latine, quam turpe nescire ; neque tam id mihi oratoris boni, quam civis romani proprium videtur. CICERO: Brutus, xxxvii. FOR the purposes of this treatise, Rhetoric may be defined as the art of efficient communication by language. It is not one of several arts out of which a choice may be made; it is the art to the principles of which, consciously or unconsciously, a good writer or speaker must conform. It is an art, not a science : for it neither observes, nor discovers, nor classifies; but it shows how to convey from one mind to another the results of observation, discovery, or classification; it uses knowledge, not as knowledge, but as power. Logic simply teaches the right use of reason, and may be practised by the solitary inhabitant of a desert island; but Rhetoric, being the art of communication by language, implies the presence, in fact or in imagination, of at least two persons, — the speaker or the writer, and the person spoken to or written to. Aristotle makes the very essence of Rhetoric to lie in the distinct recog. nition of a hearer. Hence, its rules are not absolute, like those of logic, but relative to the character and circumstances of the person or persons addressed; for though a |