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There have been certain writers of no small
authority1 who have held that the sole duty of the
orator was to instruct: in their view appeals to the
emotions were to be excluded for two reasons, first
on the ground that all disturbance of the mind was
a fault, and secondly that it was wrong to distract
the judge from the truth by exciting his pity, bringing influence to bear, and the like. Further, to seek
to charm the audience, when the aim of the orator
was merely to win success, was in their opinion not
only superfluous for a pleader, but hardly worthy of
a self-respecting man.
1 cp. Ar. Rhet. i. 4 Also Quint. IV. v. 6.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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