[spoiler]OA CBB , let me know what do u feel about the complexity and level of difficulty of passage .Let you know my views too
. [/spoiler]In public Greek life, a man had to make his way at every step through
the immediate persuasion of the spoken word. Whether it be addressing
an assembly, a law-court or a more restricted body, his oratory would be
a public affair rather than under the purview of a quiet committee,
without the support of circulated commentary, and with no backcloth of
daily reportage to make his own or others' views familiar to his hearers.
The oratory's immediate effect was all-important; it would be naive to
expect that mere reasonableness or an inherently good case would
equate to a satisfactory appeal. Therefore, it was early realized that
persuasion was an art, up to a point teachable, and a variety of specific
pedagogy was well established in the second half of the fifth century.
When the sophists claimed to teach their pupils how to succeed in public
life, rhetoric was a large part of what they meant, though, to do them
justice, it was not the whole.
Skill naturally bred mistrust. If a man of good will had need of
expression advanced of mere twaddle, to learn how to expound his
contention effectively, the truculent or pugnacious could be taught to
dress their case in well-seeming guise. It was a standing charge against
the sophists that they "—made the worse appear the better cause,' and it
was this immoral lesson which the hero of Aristophanes' Clouds went to
learn from, of all people, Socrates. Again, the charge is often made in
court that the opponent is an adroit orator and the jury must be
circumspect so as not to let him delude them. From the frequency with
which this crops up, it is patent that the accusation of cleverness might
damage a man. In Greece, juries, of course, were familiar with the style,
and would recognize the more evident artifices, but it was worth a
litigant's while to get his speech written for him by an expert. Persuasive
oratory was certainly one of the pressures that would be effective in an
Athenian law-court.
A more insidious danger was the inevitable desire to display this art
as an art. It is not easy to define the point at which a legitimate concern
with style shades off into preoccupation with manner at the expense of
matter, but it is easy to perceive that many Greek writers of the fourth
and later centuries passed that danger point. The most influential was
Isocrates, who polished for long years his pamphlets, written in the form
of speeches, and taught to many pupils the smooth and easy periods he
had perfected. Isocrates took to the written word in compensation for his
inadequacy in live oratory; the tough and nervous tones of a
Demosthenes were far removed from his, though they, too, were based
on study and practice. The exaltation of virtuosity did palpable harm. The
balance was always delicate, between style as a vehicle and style as an
end in itself.
We must not try to pinpoint a specific moment when it, once and for all,
tipped over; but certainly, as time went on, virtuosity weighed heavier.
While Greek freedom lasted, and it mattered what course of action a
Greek city decided to take, rhetoric was a necessary preparation for
public life, whatever its side effects. It had been a source of strength for
Greek civilization that its problems, of all kinds, were thrashed out verymuch in public. The shallowness which the study of rhetoric might (not
must) encourage was the corresponding weakness.
1. If the author of the passage travelled to a political convention and saw
various candidates speak he would most likely have the highest regard for an
orator who:
A. roused his hearers to immediate and decisive action.
B. understood that rhetoric serves an aesthetic as well as a practical
purpose.
C. relied on facts and reason rather than on rhetorical devices in making
his case.
D. passed on the techniques he had perfected to many students.
E. made use of flowery and inflated words
2. Historians agree that those seeking public office in modern America make far
fewer speeches in the course of their campaign than those seeking a public
position in ancient Greece did. The author would most likely explain this by
pointing out that:
A. speeches are now only of limited use in the abrupt vicissitudes of
politics.
B. modern politicians need not rely exclusively on speeches to make
themselves known.
C. modern audiences are easier to persuade through rhetoric than were
the Greek audiences.
D. modern politicians do not make a study of rhetoric as did the Greeks.
E. modern America is not much different from ancient Greece
3. Implicit in the statement that the exaltation of virtuosity was not due mainly
to Isocrates because public display was normal in a world that talked far
more than it read is the assumption that:
A. Isocrates was actually concerned as much with the content of his
speeches as with their style.
B. excessive concern with style is bound to arise in a world dominated by
public display.
C. the Greeks were guilty of exalting virtuosity in their public art and
architecture as well.
D. Isocrates was less influential than previous historians estimated.
E. there should be no connection between communication style and public
display of thoughts
