Potentially copyrighted passage
By consulting this text, you confirm that you may use it for personal and educational purposes. Do not reproduce its content. If the book helps you, buy it to support the author or rights holders.
Aristotle
Rhetoric Section 15
Section 630 of 882
Canonical reference 2.5.15
Ancient Greek
ὥστε δεῖ τοιούτους παρασκευάζειν, ὅταν ᾖ βέλτιον τὸ φοβεῖσθαι αὐτούς, ὅτι τοιοῦτοί εἰσιν οἷον παθεῖν (καὶ γὰρ ἄλλοι μείζους ἔπαθον), καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους δεικνύναι πάσχοντας ἢ πεπονθότας, καὶ ὑπὸ τοιούτων ὑφʼ ὧν οὐκ ᾤοντο, καὶ ταῦτα ἃ καὶ τότε ὅτε οὐκ ᾤοντο.
English
J. H. Freese, 1926
So that whenever it is preferable that the audience should feel afraid, it is necessary to make them think they are likely to suffer, by reminding them that others greater than they have suffered, and showing that their equals are suffering or have suffered, and that at the hands of those from whom they did not expect it, in such a manner and at times when they did not think it likely.
French AI-generated translation, non-official
Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-13
Ainsi, chaque fois qu’il est préférable que l’auditoire éprouve de la crainte, il faut lui faire penser qu’il est exposé à souffrir, en lui rappelant que d’autres, plus grands que lui, ont souffert, et en lui montrant que ses égaux souffrent ou ont souffert, de la main de ceux dont ils ne l’attendaient pas, d’une manière et à des moments où ils ne le croyaient pas vraisemblable.
Concepts in this passage
Anger
View detailed page
Filter the library
Dukkha
View detailed page
Filter the library
Fear
View detailed page
Filter the library
Justice
View detailed page
Filter the library
Necessity
View detailed page
Filter the library
Reason
View detailed page
Filter the library
Rhetoric
View detailed page
Filter the library
Suffering
View detailed page
Filter the library
Time
View detailed page
Filter the library