Gorgias

​SOCRATES: Indeed. But no one is asking what sort of art Gorgias’ is, but what it is, and what one ought to call Gorgias; just as Chaerephon put the questions to you before, and you answered him beautifully and briefly, so now too tell us in this way what the art is and what we ought to call Gorgias. Or rather, Gorgias, tell us yourself what we ought to call you, as being knowledgeable in what art. GORGIAS: Of rhetoric, Socrates. SOCRATES: Should we then call you an orator? GORGIAS: A good one, Socrates, if indeed you wish to call me what I boast of being, as Homer said. SOCRATES: Well, I do wish it. GORGIAS: Call me so, then. SOCRATES: Are we to say then that you are capable of making others so as well? GORGIAS: I do indeed profess this, not only here but elsewhere as well. SOCRATES: Would you then be willing, Gorgias, to continue as we are now conversing, the one asking and the other answering, and to put off to another time this length of speech such as Polus also began? But do not fail in what you promise, but be willing to answer what is asked briefly. GORGIAS: There are indeed, Socrates, some answers that are necessary to make at length; nevertheless I will try to make them as brief as possible. For indeed, this is also one of the things I claim, that no one can say the same things in fewer words than I. SOCRATES: Of this indeed there is need, Gorgias; and make an exhibition for me of this very thing, of brevity, and of long-windedness some other time. GORGIAS: Well, I will do so, and you will say that you have never heard anyone more brief. SOCRATES: Come then; for you say you are knowledgeable in the art of rhetoric and that you could make another an orator as well; about which of the things that are does rhetoric happen to be? Just as weaving is about the making of clothes, is it not? GORGIAS: Yes. SOCRATES: And music, is it not about the making of songs? GORGIAS: Yes. SOCRATES: By Hera, Gorgias, I admire your answers, because you answer as briefly as possible. GORGIAS: For indeed, Socrates, I think I do this quite well. SOCRATES: You speak well. Come then, answer me in this way about rhetoric too: about which of the things that are is it a knowledge? GORGIAS: About speeches. SOCRATES: What sort of speeches, Gorgias? Is it those which make clear to the sick how they might become healthy by their regimen? GORGIAS: No. SOCRATES: Then rhetoric is not about all speeches. GORGIAS: Certainly not. SOCRATES: But yet, it does make men capable of speaking. GORGIAS: Yes. SOCRATES: And then, does it also make them think about the very things they speak about? GORGIAS: For how could it not?