Single Idea 21667

[catalogued under 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 Reference

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.