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Single Idea 21667
[filed under theme 19. Language / F. Communication / 1. Rhetoric
]
Full Idea
There is a close alliance between the orator and the philosophical system of which I am a follower, since the orator borrows subtlely from the Academy, and repays the loan by giving to it a copious and flowing style and rhetorical ornament.
Gist of Idea
Oratory and philosophy are closely allied; orators borrow from philosophy, and ornament it
Source
M. Tullius Cicero (On Fate ('De fato') [c.44 BCE], 02.03)
Book Ref
Cicero: 'On Fate, Stoic Paradoxes, Oratory', ed/tr. Rackham,H. [Harvard Loeb 1942], p.195
A Reaction
It is a misundertanding to think that rhetoric and philosophy are seen as in necessary opposition. Philosophers just seemed to think that oratory works a lot better if it is truthful.
The
44 ideas
from M. Tullius Cicero
2661
|
Dialectic is speech cast in the form of logical argument
[Cicero]
|
20800
|
Every true presentation can have a false one of the same quality
[Cicero]
|
2664
|
If we have complete healthy senses, what more could the gods give us?
[Cicero]
|
2665
|
How can there be a memory of what is false?
[Cicero]
|
2672
|
Virtues must be very detached, to avoid being motivated by pleasure
[Cicero]
|
2673
|
There cannot be more than one truth
[Cicero]
|
2669
|
Dialectic assumes that all statements are either true or false, but self-referential paradoxes are a big problem
[Cicero]
|
6029
|
Whoever knows future causes knows everything that will be
[Cicero]
|
6031
|
The essence of propriety is consistency
[Cicero]
|
21405
|
Cicero sees wisdom in terms of knowledge, but earlier Stoics saw it as moral
[Cicero, by Long]
|
20871
|
Unfortunately we choose a way of life before we are old enough to think clearly
[Cicero]
|
21667
|
Oratory and philosophy are closely allied; orators borrow from philosophy, and ornament it
[Cicero]
|
21677
|
How can the not-true fail to be false, or the not-false fail to be true?
[Cicero]
|
21678
|
If desire is not in our power then neither are choices, so we should not be praised or punished
[Cicero]
|
20814
|
Eloquence educates, exhorts, comforts, distracts and unites us, and raises us from savagery
[Cicero]
|
2645
|
Why shouldn't the gods fear their own destruction?
[Cicero]
|
2628
|
Why would mind mix with matter if it didn't need it?
[Cicero]
|
2627
|
I wonder whether loss of reverence for the gods would mean the end of all virtue
[Cicero]
|
2634
|
It seems clear to me that we have an innate idea of the divine
[Cicero]
|
2635
|
The gods are happy, so virtuous, so rational, so must have human shape
[Cicero]
|
2636
|
Many primitive people know nothing of the gods
[Cicero]
|
2638
|
Either the gods are identical, or one is more beautiful than another
[Cicero]
|
2640
|
We have the death penalty, but still have thousands of robbers
[Cicero]
|
2641
|
Why believe in gods if you have never seen them?
[Cicero]
|
2647
|
It is obvious from order that someone is in charge, as when we visit a gymnasium
[Cicero]
|
2650
|
If a person cannot feel the power of God when looking at the stars, they are probably incapable of feeling
[Cicero]
|
2651
|
God doesn't obey the laws of nature; they are subject to the law of God
[Cicero]
|
2652
|
Some regard nature simply as an irrational force that imparts movement
[Cicero]
|
2653
|
If the parts of the universe are subject to the law of nature, the whole universe must also be subject to it
[Cicero]
|
2655
|
If the barbarians of Britain saw a complex machine, they would be baffled, but would know it was designed
[Cicero]
|
2656
|
Chance is no more likely to create the world than spilling lots of letters is likely to create a famous poem
[Cicero]
|
2657
|
If everything with regular movement and order is divine, then recurrent illnesses must be divine
[Cicero]
|
2658
|
The gods blame men for having vices, but they could have given us enough reason to avoid them
[Cicero]
|
2659
|
The lists of good men who have suffered and bad men who have prospered are endless
[Cicero]
|
5879
|
The soul is the heart, or blood in the heart, or part of the brain, of something living in heart or brain, or breath
[Cicero]
|
5884
|
How can one mind perceive so many dissimilar sensations?
[Cicero]
|
5887
|
The soul has a single nature, so it cannot be divided, and hence it cannot perish
[Cicero]
|
5885
|
Souls contain no properties of elements, and elements contain no properties of souls
[Cicero]
|
5886
|
Like the eye, the soul has no power to see itself, but sees other things
[Cicero]
|
5890
|
We should not share the distress of others, but simply try to relieve it
[Cicero]
|
5891
|
Philosophy is the collection of rational arguments
[Cicero]
|
5893
|
A wise man has integrity, firmness of will, nobility, consistency, sobriety, patience
[Cicero]
|
5894
|
All men except philosophers fear poverty
[Cicero]
|
5895
|
If one despises illiterate mechanics individually, they are not worth more collectively
[Cicero]
|