Quintilian
says that this part is, for him, the hardest.
So,
Quintilian writes, let the orator be a good person who is skilled in speaking,
as Cato says. “But this view of mine has further implications. I am not only
saying that the orator must be a good man, but that no one can be an orator unless
he is a good man” (12.1.3). Rhetoric lets us see things on many sides of a
question, so one who can see both good and evil wouldn’t be intelligent if he or
she chose evil over good—that person would be a fool.
“Moreover,
the mind is never at liberty even to study this noble art unless it is free of
all vices: first, because virtue and vice cannot coexist in the same breast,
and a single mind can no more harbor the best thoughts and the worst than the
same man can be both good and bad” (12.1.4-5). An
evil mind is essentially torn apart by itself. What room is there in this mind
for goodness? What room is there in this mind for literature, art, or culture,
for anything uplifting or edifying?
But
what of those imperfect people who spoke so well, like Demosthenes and Cicero?
Neither was perfect, but they were good men. Even Pythagoras sought not to be
called a wise man, but a lover of wisdom (i.e. a philosopher). Cicero, too, was a great orator, yet he also never claimed to be wise. And even if there
were a bad person who persuaded many people, Quintilian would deny that this
person was an orator. Good speaking doesn’t mean just persuading a lot of
people to do something. It means
influencing people to do what is right.
The
best person to persuade others of what is good is the person who has first persuaded
himself or herself of what is good and has acted on it. The bad person is inconsistent and may speak and act in a way that is other than
what he or she really feels or believes, while good people “will never lack for honourable
words or an Invention that provides honourable matter” (12.1.30).
Hmm - interesting points.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of a conversation I had yesterday with a friend yesterday about the ethical responsibility that accompanies a higher skill level. For example - a physician or a celebrity are people with high ethos, and their words and actions could have a high influence on someone else's life.
She is a writer, and she talked about how heavy that feels sometimes. The more skilled you are with language, the more ethical responsibility you have to use it wisely, kindly, and not to gain power or ensnare others.
It's important to learn a skill; it's equally important to learn how to use it ethnically, and that includes words.