Bücher online kostenlos Kostenlos Online Lesen
The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

Titel: The Complete Aristotle (eng.) Kostenlos Bücher Online Lesen
Autoren: Aristotle
Vom Netzwerk:
was
not unjust, or not so bad as is alleged. He must therefor snot
waste time about what is admitted fact, unless this bears on his
own contention; e.g. that the thing was done, but was not wrong.
Further, we must speak of events as past and gone, except where
they excite pity or indignation by being represented as present.
The Story told to Alcinous is an example of a brief chronicle, when
it is repeated to Penelope in sixty lines. Another instance is the
Epic Cycle as treated by Phayllus, and the prologue to the
Oeneus.
    The narration should depict character; to which end you must
know what makes it do so. One such thing is the indication of moral
purpose; the quality of purpose indicated determines the quality of
character depicted and is itself determined by the end pursued.
Thus it is that mathematical discourses depict no character; they
have nothing to do with moral purpose, for they represent nobody as
pursuing any end. On the other hand, the Socratic dialogues do
depict character, being concerned with moral questions. This end
will also be gained by describing the manifestations of various
types of character, e.g. ‘he kept walking along as he talked’,
which shows the man’s recklessness and rough manners. Do not let
your words seem inspired so much by intelligence, in the manner now
current, as by moral purpose: e.g. ‘I willed this; aye, it was my
moral purpose; true, I gained nothing by it, still it is better
thus.’ For the other way shows good sense, but this shows good
character; good sense making us go after what is useful, and good
character after what is noble. Where any detail may appear
incredible, then add the cause of it; of this Sophocles provides an
example in the Antigone, where Antigone says she had cared more for
her brother than for husband or children, since if the latter
perished they might be replaced,
But since my father and mother in their graves
Lie dead, no brother can be born to me.
    If you have no such cause to suggest, just say that you are
aware that no one will believe your words, but the fact remains
that such is our nature, however hard the world may find it to
believe that a man deliberately does anything except what pays
him.
    Again, you must make use of the emotions. Relate the familiar
manifestations of them, and those that distinguish yourself and
your opponent; for instance, ‘he went away scowling at me’. So
Aeschines described Cratylus as ‘hissing with fury and shaking his
fists’. These details carry conviction: the audience take the truth
of what they know as so much evidence for the truth of what they do
not. Plenty of such details may be found in Homer:
Thus did she say: but the old woman buried her face in her
hands:
    a true touch-people beginning to cry do put their hands over
their eyes.
    Bring yourself on the stage from the first in the right
character, that people may regard you in that light; and the same
with your adversary; but do not let them see what you are about.
How easily such impressions may be conveyed we can see from the way
in which we get some inkling of things we know nothing of by the
mere look of the messenger bringing news of them. Have some
narrative in many different parts of your speech; and sometimes let
there be none at the beginning of it.
    In political oratory there is very little opening for narration;
nobody can ‘narrate’ what has not yet happened. If there is
narration at all, it will be of past events, the recollection of
which is to help the hearers to make better plans for the future.
Or it may be employed to attack some one’s character, or to
eulogize him-only then you will not be doing what the political
speaker, as such, has to do.
    If any statement you make is hard to believe, you must guarantee
its truth, and at once offer an explanation, and then furnish it
with such particulars as will be expected. Thus Carcinus’ Jocasta,
in his Oedipus, keeps guaranteeing the truth of her answers to the
inquiries of the man who is seeking her son; and so with Haemon in
Sophocles.
17
    The duty of the Arguments is to attempt demonstrative proofs.
These proofs must bear directly upon the question in dispute, which
must fall under one of four heads. (1) If you maintain that the act
was not committed, your main task in court is to prove this. (2) If
you maintain that the act did no harm, prove this. If you maintain
that (3) the act was less than is alleged, or (4) justified, prove
these facts, just as you would prove the

Weitere Kostenlose Bücher