THE ART of RHETORIC MADE EASY, &c. BOOK I. INTRODUCTION. Of RHETORIC and it's PARTS. What is Rhetoric? What is it's Principal End? What is it's Chief Office? What is the Subject it treats on? How many Parts bath Rhetoric? Read the Reafon. Read from whence Rhetoric derives it's Name. HETORIC is the Art of Speaking or Writing well and ornamentally on any Subject. A. R It's Principal End is to In fruct, Perfuade, and Pleafe. It's Chief Office is to feek what may moft conducive to Perfuafion. be B. The Subject it treats on is any Thing whatever; whether it be Moral, Philofophical, or Divine. B The The Parts it confifts of are four, viz. INVENTION, DISPOSITION, ELOCUTION, and PRONUNCIATION. ANNOTATION S. OBSERVATION I. HE DIGNITY AND T USEFULNESS OF O RATORY will appear, if we confider, 1. Quod femper floruit & dominata eft in omni libero Populo. 2. Quod nihil eft auditu jucundius Oratione ornata Verborum Luminibus. 3. Quod nihil eft tam magnificum, ac potens, quàm Animos Hominum Oratione convertere. 4. Confilia maximis de Rebus explicat. 5. Laudat bonos, vituperat malos. 6. Hortatur ad Virtutem, re-vocat à Vitiis. 7. Languentes Animos excitat, effrænatos coercet. Fraudem Hominum ad Perniciem, Integritatem ad Salutem vocat. 8. Et ne quis ea abutatur, cum Probitate conjungenda eft. Cyp. Soarius, in Rhet. Tab.-ISOCRATES, in Praife of Eloquence, fays, CUTO rap sý WERT dixaiων, καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀδίκων, καὶ τῶν αἰσχρῶν καὶ τῶν καλῶν ἐνομοθέτησεν, ὧν μὴ διαταχθέντων, ἐκ ἂν οἷοι τε ἦμεν οἰκεῖν μετ' αλλήAWV. TÚTO H TỪ nand's exέχομεν, καὶ τὰς ἀγαθὸς ἐγκωμιάζομεν. Δια τέτε τες τε ανοήτως παιδεύομεν, καὶ της φρονίμες δοκιμάζομεν. Μετὰ τέτε καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀνουμένων σκοπέμεθα, καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητησίμων αγωνιζόμεθα, 'Twas this that first form'd Because Because all that an Orator has to do is, Argumenta invenire, Inventa difponere, Difpofita exornare, &, Exornata pronunciare, viz. To Invent proper Arguments; To Difpofe of 'em in a right Me thod; To Adorn 'em with beautiful Tropes, Figures, and fine Turns; and To Pronounce 'em with the Ornaments of Utterance and Action. ANNOTATION S. ceiving what will be moft conducive to Perfuafion on every Subject whatever. And CICERO and QUINTILIAN follow him. Quæ fit Materia Rhetorices? Quidam Argumenta perfuafibilia, quidam Civiles Quæftiones, quidam Materiam ejus totam Vitam vocant. Ego judico, Omnes Res, quæcunque ei ad dicendum fubjectæ erunt. Quint. Inft. 1. 2. c. 21. Vis Oratoris eft, ut omni de Re, quæcunque fit propofita, ornatè ab eo copioséque dicatur. Cic. de Orat. 1. 1. 6. For which P ETRUS RAMUS and others cenfure them thus; Dicitis ergo Oratorem omnibus Artibus & Virtutibus ornatum effe oportere, Dialecticis,Ethicis,Phyficis, Legibus, Hiftoriis; unde non Homo ex Homine genitus, fed Deus quidam è Calo delapfus in Terras effe videatur: Sed definiendum Oratorem ex Artis ejus propriâ judico Materia. Diftinguendum igitur Rhetoricæ Materia à cæterarum Artium Materiâ. Inventio, & Difpofitio, Logicæ Artis funto; Puritas autem Sermonis, & Elegantia, Grammaticæ Quid ergo Rhetorica relinquetur? Elocutio & Actio. Hec enim Rhetorica Vin tus & propria fola eft, ut & Rhetoric poffit Troporum Luminibus variare, Infignibus Figurarum exornare, Modulatione Vocis permulcere, & Dignitate Geflüs excitare. Ram. Schol. in Cic. 1. 1. He goes on, Lib. 3. At Rhetorica, dicitis, fine his Inveniendi & Difponendi Partibus perfecta effe non poteft. Id verò falfum eft. Poteft enim Puer cum à Grammaticis difcefferit, Tropos & Figuras in Poetis & Oratoribus intelligere, & cum Dignitate pronunciare ; quod folum Rhetoricæ eft. But CICERO had before precluded the greatest Part of RAMUS's Argument thus, Si cuipiam nimis infinitum videtur, quod ita pofui, quacunque de Re, licet binc, quantum cuique videbitur, circumcidat, & amputet. Cic. de Orat.1.15. And QUINTILIAN thus, Solet à quibufdam & illud poni, Omnium igitur Ar tium peritus erit Orator, fi de omnibus ei dicendum eft. Pof fem hic Ciceronis refpondere verbis, Mea quidem Sententia Nemo effe poterit omni Laude cumulatus Orator, nifi erit omnium Rerum magnarum atque Artium Scientiam confecutus: Sed mihi fatis eft ejus effe Oratorem Rei, de qua dicet, non infcium. De quibus B 2 erge Rhetoric derives it's Name from péw, dico, thus: Ῥέω, ῥήσω, ἔῤῥηκα, praet. paff.έρρημαι, σαι, ται, whence are deriv'd ρήμα, ρήσις, ῥήτωρ, and Ρητορική, fc. Texon, Rhetorica five Oratoria Ars, The Art of Rhetoric or Speaking ornamentally. ANNOTATION S. ergo dicet? de quibus didicit. Inft. 2. 21. In the Words therefore of the latter we fhall leave the Limits of Rhetoric and the Orator juft where we found 'em. Tria funt Oratoris, ut doceat, moveat, dele&tet. Sit igitur Orator Vir talis, qualis verè Sapiens appellari poffit, nec Moribus modo perfectus fed etiam Scientia; qualis adbuc fortaffe Nemo fuerit: Sed non ideo minus nobis ad fumma tendendum eft. Proem. lib. 1. OBS. III. MEMORY is, properly speak ing, no Part of Rhetoric, tho' the Business of an Orator is, Invenire, difponere, eloqui, memoria completi, & pronunciare; and if TULLY calls it fo in one Place, he has omitted it in another: Hence, fays RAMUS, Dicis Oratori tria effe videnda, quid dicat, quo quidque loco, & quomodo; primo Membro Inventionem, fecundo Collocationem, tertio Elocutionem & Actionem comprehendis: Memoriam igitur in hac trium Membrorum Partitione prætermittis. Communis est ais multarum Artium, propterea omittitur. Rhet. lib. 3. However, most of the ancient Orators, to help the Memory, recommend and give fome obfcure Hints of an Artificial or Lacal Memory, from what they call Locis & Imaginibus; upon which Dr. GREY's Memoria Technica, and Mr. LOW E's Mnemonics, are fingular Improvements; which fee. And obferve in general these RULES, 1. Si longior Oratio mandanda fuerit Memoria, proderit, totâ prius femel lectâ & intellectâ, per Partes difcere. 2. Juvabit, iifdem, quibus_scripferis, Chartis edifcere. 3. Tempus matutinum longè commodius eft; tamen perquam utile erit pridie vefperi, priufque dormitum concedas, femel & iterum percurrere ea, quæ poftridie funt edifcenda. 4. Si quidpiam difficilius addifcitur, illi Loco non erit inutile al quod Signum vel Notam apponere, cujus Recordatio excitet Memoriam, 5. Præftat non tumultuariè, fed declamando ftatim & cum Geftu, difcere. 6. Maxima tamen fabricandæ & fervandæ fibi Memorie Ars eft frequens Exerci tatio. PART PART I· Of INVENTION, or, The Finding out proper Arguments to inftruct, perfuade, or move. What is Invention? On what are all Arguments grounded, and from whence are they to be fought? §. 1. What kinds of Arguments are from Reafon? What Rational Arguments are call'd Artificial? How many Sorts of Topics are there? When, and of what kinds is a Topic Demonftrative? When is a Topic Deliberative? When is a Topic Juridicial? What is meant by Stating a Cafe? How many and what Ways may a Cafe be stated? What Rational Árguments are call'd Inartificial? §. 2. What is meant by Moral Arguments, or Arguments from Morals? §. 3. What is meant by Arguments are from Affections? What is meant by the Affections or Paffions? Which are the four chief Paffions? What are the other Paffions? C. NVENTION is the Finding out fuch proper Arguments as are fuitable, according to the Nature of the Subject, to inftruct, perfuade, or move our Auditors to believe us. All |