Ῥήτωρ
orator, rhetor, rhetorician
Translated by Marisa Divenosa13 Sep 2000Vetting: high10 revisions
Translation
In ancient times this was the term for one who gave his advice to the people and who spoke in public, regardless of whether he was competent or incompetent at speaking, and whether he gave his advice out of consideration for what was best and most just or in accordance with his own personal interests.1 Demosthenes calls this person an orator when he says: 'orator as leader... and a general under him' 2. And elsewhere [he writes]: 'Personally, if the one who recommends to you what he thinks will be beneficial to you is an orator, I would neither refuse nor avoid this name; but if the term orator applies to the sort of people whom both I and you observe to be ignorant and to have become wealthy at your expense, I would not be that kind of man, not I'.3 And against many decrees an oratorical (prosecution) has been brought,4 advisedly, if someone introduces a proposal but does not himself occupy a private position in life.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Ῥήτωρ· τοπαλαιὸν ἐκαλεῖτο ὁ δήμῳ συμβουλεύων καὶ ὁ ἐν δήμῳ ἀγορεύων, εἴτε ἱκανὸς εἴη λέγειν εἴτε καὶ ἀδύνατος, εἴτε καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ βελτίστου καὶ δικαιοτάτου συμβουλεύων εἴτ' ἐπ' οἰκείοις λήμμασι. καὶ ὁ Δημοσθένης τοῦτον καλεῖ ῥήτορα, ἐπειδὰν λέγῃ· ῥήτωρ, ἡγεμὼν καὶ στρατηγὸς ὑπὸ τούτῳ. καὶ ἑτέρωθι· ἐγὼ δ', εἰ μὲν ὁ συμβουλεύων ὑμῖν ὅ τι ἂν συμφέρειν ἡγῆται, ῥήτωρ ἐστίν, οὔτ' ἀρνοῦμαι οὔτε φύγοιμι ἂν τοὔνομα τοῦτο· εἰ δέ, οἵους ἐγὼ καὶ ὑμεῖς δὲ ὁρᾶτε, ἀπαιδεύτους καὶ ἀφ' ὑμῶν πεπλουτηκότας, οὐκ ἂν εἴην οὗτος ἐγώ. καὶ πολλοῖς ψηφίσμασι παραγέγραπται ῥητορικὴ ἐκ βουλῆς, εἰ εἰσφέρει τις γνώμην, ἀλλὰ μὴ αὐτὸς ἰδίαν τύχην ἡγούμενος.
Betacode
*(rh/twr: topalaio\n e)kalei=to o( dh/mw| sumbouleu/wn kai\ o( e)n dh/mw| a)goreu/wn, ei)/te i(kano\s ei)/h le/gein ei)/te kai\ a)du/natos, ei)/te kai\ a)po\ tou= belti/stou kai\ dikaiota/tou sumbouleu/wn ei)/t' e)p' oi)kei/ois lh/mmasi. kai\ o( *dhmosqe/nhs tou=ton kalei= r(h/tora, e)peida\n le/gh|: r(h/twr, h(gemw\n kai\ strathgo\s u(po\ tou/tw|. kai\ e(te/rwqi: e)gw\ d', ei) me\n o( sumbouleu/wn u(mi=n o(/ ti a)\n sumfe/rein h(gh=tai, r(h/twr e)sti/n, ou)/t' a)rnou=mai ou)/te fu/goimi a)\n tou)/noma tou=to: ei) de/, oi(/ous e)gw\ kai\ u(mei=s de\ o(ra=te, a)paideu/tous kai\ a)f' u(mw=n peplouthko/tas, ou)k a)\n ei)/hn ou(=tos e)gw/. kai\ polloi=s yhfi/smasi parage/graptai r(htorikh\ e)k boulh=s, ei) ei)sfe/rei tis gnw/mhn, a)lla\ mh\ au)to\s i)di/an tu/xhn h(gou/menos.
Notes (4)
- = Photius rho112 Theodoridis.
- 1cf. generally Plato, Gorgias 455Aff. ↩
- 2Demosthenes 2.29 = 13.20. (The Suda quotes this in abbreviated form. Demosth. has "leader of each syndicate", meaning faction, so Adler was wrong to place a comma between "orator" and "leader".) For the Greek text and English translation from Perseus, see web address 1 below. ↩
- 3Demosthenes 21.189. Again the quotation is imprecise; for the Greek text and English translation from Perseus, see web address 2 below. ↩
- 4See rho 151. ↩
References
The Rhetoric of Aristotle, ed. E.M. Cope-J.E. Sandys, Cambridge 1897
W.K.C. Guthrie, The History of Greek Philosophy, Vols. III and IV, Cambridge 1969
Plato, Gorgias, A Revised Text with Introduction and Commentary by E.R. Dodds, Oxford 1959
Understanding the Phaedrus. Proceedings in the II Symposium Platonicum, edited by Livio Rossetti, Sankt Augustin 1992
W.K.C. Guthrie, The History of Greek Philosophy, Vols. III and IV, Cambridge 1969
Plato, Gorgias, A Revised Text with Introduction and Commentary by E.R. Dodds, Oxford 1959
Understanding the Phaedrus. Proceedings in the II Symposium Platonicum, edited by Livio Rossetti, Sankt Augustin 1992
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 perseus.tufts.edu
Linked from3 entries
Neighbouring entries
Revision history10 revisions · last 28 Oct 2013
- added primary note; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- tweaked notes — Catharine Roth
- another keyword — David Whitehead
- added keyword; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Cosmetics — William Hutton
- modified translation; other cosmetics — David Whitehead
- cosmetics — Ross Scaife ✝
- Revised — William Hutton
- cosmetics — Ross Scaife ✝
- Altered wording; added links and keywords. — William Hutton
- Translated — Marisa Divenosa