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The form of
diction should be neither metrical nor without rhythm. If it is metrical, it
lacks persuasiveness, for it appears artificial, and at the same time it
distracts the hearer's attention, since it sets him on the watch for the
recurrence of such and such a cadence; just as, when the public criers ask,
“Whom does the emancipated1 choose for his patron?”
the children shout “Cleon.”
1 He did not generally possess full rights of citizenship. The point of the illustration is that the hearer looks for the cadence just as confidently as, when a freedman is asked what patron he selects, every one expects him to say “Cleon.”
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 22, translated by J. H. Freese. Aristotle. Cambridge and London. Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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