§3.7.1τὸ δὲ πρέπον ἕξει ἡ λέξις, ἐὰν ᾖ παθητική τε καὶ ἠθικὴ καὶ τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις πράγμασιν ἀνάλογον.
Style will possess propriety if it is emotional, character-expressing, and proportionate to the subject matter.
§3.7.2τὸ δʼ ἀνάλογόν ἐστιν ἐὰν μήτε περὶ εὐόγκων αὐτοκαβδάλως λέγηται μήτε περὶ εὐτελῶν σεμνῶς, μηδʼ ἐπὶ τῷ εὐτελεῖ ὀνόματι ἐπῇ κόσμος· εἰ δὲ μή, κωμῳδία φαίνεται, οἷον ποιεῖ Κλεοφῶν· ὁμοίως γὰρ ἔνια ἔλεγε καὶ εἰ εἴπειεν
πότνια συκῆ
. §3.7.3παθητικὴ δέ, ἐὰν μὲν ᾖ ὕβρις, ὀργιζομένου λέξις, ἐὰν δὲ ἀσεβῆ καὶ αἰσχρά, δυσχεραίνοντος καὶ εὐλαβουμένου καὶ λέγειν, ἐὰν δὲ ἐπαινετά, ἀγαμένως, ἐὰν δὲ ἐλεεινά, ταπεινῶς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων δὲ ὁμοίως.
Proportion is preserved if grand subjects are not treated in a slapdash manner, nor trivial subjects solemnly, and if no ornament is attached to a trivial term; otherwise, it appears like comedy, as Cleophon does; for he used to say some things just as if he were to say "lady fig-tree." The style is emotional if, in the case of insolence, it is the language of an angry man; in the case of impious and ugly things, that of one who is disgusted and hesitant even to speak them; in the case of praiseworthy things, admiringly; in the case of pitiable things, humbly; and similarly in other cases.
§3.7.4πιθανοῖ δὲ τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ ἡ οἰκεία λέξις· παραλογίζεταί τε γὰρ ἡ ψυχὴ ὡς ἀληθῶς λέγοντος, ὅτι ἐπὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις οὕτως ἔχουσιν, ὥστʼ οἴονται, εἰ καὶ μὴ οὕτως ἔχει ὡς λέγει ὁ λέγων, τὰ πράγματα οὕτως ἔχειν, καὶ συνομοπαθεῖ ὁ ἀκούων ἀεὶ τῷ παθητικῶς λέγοντι, κἂν μηθὲν λέγῃ.
And the appropriate style makes the matter persuasive; for the soul of the hearer is misled into thinking that the speaker is telling the truth, because people are so disposed in such circumstances, so that they think, even if the facts are not as the speaker says, that they are indeed so; and the hearer always sympathizes with the one who speaks emotionally, even if he says nothing of substance.
§3.7.5διὸ πολλοὶ καταπλήττουσι τοὺς ἀκροατὰς θορυβοῦντες.
Therefore many stun their hearers by making a clamor.
§3.7.6καὶ ἠθικὴ δὲ αὕτη ἡ ἐκ τῶν σημείων δεῖξις, ὅτε ἀκολουθεῖ ἡ ἁρμόττουσα ἑκάστῳ γένει καὶ ἕξει.
And this expression of character is the showing by signs, when the style appropriate to each class and habit follows.
λέγω δὲ γένος μὲν καθʼ ἡλικίαν, οἷον παῖς ἢ ἀνὴρ ἢ γέρων, καὶ γυνὴ ἢ ἀνήρ, καὶ Λάκων ἢ Θετταλός, ἕξεις δέ, καθʼ ἃς ποιός τις τῷ βίῳ· οὐ γὰρ καθʼ ἅπασαν ἕξιν οἱ βίοι ποιοί τινες.
By "class" I mean according to age, such as child, man, or old man, and woman or man, and Laconian or Thessalian; and by "habits" those according to which someone is of a certain character in life, for lives are not of a certain character according to every habit.
§3.7.7ἐὰν οὖν καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα οἰκεῖα λέγῃ τῇ ἕξει, ποιήσει τὸ ἦθος· οὐ γὰρ ταὐτὰ οὐδʼ ὡσαύτως ἀγροῖκος ἂν καὶ πεπαιδευμένος εἴπειεν.
If, therefore, one also uses words appropriate to the habit, he will produce character; for a rustic and an educated man would not say the same things nor in the same way.
πάσχουσι δέ τι οἱ ἀκροαταὶ καὶ ᾧ κατακόρως χρῶνται οἱ λογογράφοι,
τίς δʼ οὐκ οἶδεν; ,
ἅπαντες ἴσασιν
· ὁμολογεῖ γὰρ ὁ ἀκούων αἰσχυνόμενος, ὅπως μετέχῃ οὗπερ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι πάντες.
The hearers also experience an effect from what the speechwriters use to satiety: "Who does not know?", "Everyone knows"; for the hearer agrees, feeling ashamed, so that he may share in what everyone else also shares.
§3.7.8τὸ δʼ εὐκαίρως ἢ μὴ εὐκαίρως χρῆσθαι κοινὸν ἁπάντων τῶν εἰδῶν ἐστιν.
Using them opportunely or inopportunely is common to all these classes.
§3.7.9ἄκος δʼ ἐπὶ πάσῃ ὑπερβολῇ τὸ θρυλούμενον· δεῖ γὰρ αὐτὸν αὑτῷ προσεπιπλήττειν· δοκεῖ γὰρ ἀληθὲς εἶναι, ἐπεὶ οὐ λανθάνει γε ὃ ποιεῖ τὸν λέγοντα.
And the remedy for every excess is the well-known one: for the speaker must rebuke himself in addition; for it seems to be true, since what he is doing does not escape the notice of the speaker himself.
§3.7.10ἔτι τοῖς ἀνάλογον μὴ πᾶσιν ἅμα χρήσασθαι (οὕτω γὰρ κλέπτεται ὁ ἀκροατής)· λέγω δὲ οἷον ἐὰν τὰ ὀνόματα σκληρὰ ᾖ, μὴ καὶ τῇ φωνῇ καὶ τῷ προσώπῳ τοῖς ἁρμόττουσιν·
Furthermore, not to use all the proportionate devices at the same time (for in this way the hearer is deceived); I mean, for example, if the words are harsh, not to use also the voice and facial expression that fit them; otherwise, each device becomes manifest for what it is.
εἰ δὲ μή, φανερὸν γίνεται ἕκαστον ὅ ἐστιν. ἐὰν δὲ τὸ μὲν τὸ δὲ μή, λανθάνει ποιῶν τὸ αὐτό.
But if one employs one and not the other, he achieves the same effect unnoticed.
ἐὰν οὖν τὰ μαλακὰ σκληρῶς καὶ τὰ σκληρὰ μαλακῶς λέγηται, πιθανὸν γίγνεται.
If, therefore, soft things are spoken harshly, and harsh things softly, it becomes persuasive.
§3.7.11τὰ δὲ ὀνόματα τὰ διπλᾶ καὶ ἐπίθετα πλείω καὶ τὰ ξένα μάλιστα ἁρμόττει λέγοντι παθητικῶς· συγγνώμη γὰρ ὀργιζομένῳ κακὸν φάναι οὐρανόμηκες, ἢ πελώριον εἰπεῖν, καὶ ὅταν ἔχῃ ἤδη τοὺς ἀκροατὰς καὶ ποιήσῃ ἐνθουσιάσαι ἢ ἐπαίνοις ἢ ψόγοις ἢ ὀργῇ ἢ φιλίᾳ, οἷον καὶ Ἰσοκράτης ποιεῖ ἐν τῷ Πανηγυρικῷ ἐπὶ τέλει
φήμην δὲ καὶ μνήμην
καὶ
οἵτινες ἔτλησαν
·
Compound words, multiple epithets, and foreign words are most suitable for one who speaks emotionally; for there is excuse for an angry man to call an evil "heaven-high" or to speak of it as "monstrous," and also when he already holds his hearers and has made them enthusiastic either by praises or by censures or by anger or by friendship, as Isocrates also does at the end of the Panegyricus: "fame and memory" and "those who dared"; for they utter such things when they are enthusiastic, so that they also accept them, being clearly in the same state of mind.
φθέγγονται γὰρ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐνθουσιάζοντες, ὥστε καὶ ἀποδέχονται δηλονότι ὁμοίως ἔχοντες. διὸ καὶ τῇ ποιήσει ἥρμοσεν· ἔνθεον γὰρ ἡ ποίησις.
Therefore they also suited poetry, for poetry is an inspired thing.
ἢ δὴ οὕτως δεῖ, ἢ μετʼ εἰρωνείας, ὥσπερ Γοργίας ἐποίει καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ Φαίδρῳ.
One must write either in this way, or with irony, as Gorgias used to do and as are the passages in the Phaedrus.