Introduction

The Rhetoric consists of three books. Book I (one) offers a general overview, presenting the purposes of rhetoric and a working definition; it also offers a detailed discussion of the major contexts and types of rhetoric. Book II (two) discusses in detail the three means of persuasion that an orator must rely on: those grounded in credibility (ethos), in the emotions and psychology of the audience (pathos), and in patterns of reasoning (logos). Book III (three) introduces the elements of style (word choice, metaphor, and sentence structure) and arrangement (organization) . Some attention is paid to delivery, but generally the reader is referred to Aristotle’s Poetics for more information in that area.

Aristotle’s Rhetoric is an ancient Greek text, discussing the fine art of persuasion and debate. As the ancient Greeks were the founders of the democracy, public debates were an important part of their culture. Athenian citizens participated in what we would call “direct democracy” in our modern age. Meaning that any (male, adult) citizen could participate in the political debate, by speaking to the assembly of citizens.

As such, the oratory arts were highly valued, and the works of Aristotle influenced many public speakers, and philosophers, in the ancient world. The original work was written in ancient greek, and translated into Latin by Roman philosophers.

Aristotle’s works have been translated multiple times, both from the original Greek and its contemporary Latin translations. This derivative work is based on the translation by J.H. Freese, in 1926, which is in the public domain. Freese’s translation was uploaded to the Perseus Hopper, and contains notes collected from other translations.
Most notably, the translation notes by E. M. Cope (1877), and W.D. Ross (1959).

You can find the full translation by J.H. Freese on the Perseus Hopper, at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper.

For more background information of Artistotle’s Rhetoric, you can visit the Wikipedia page.

Aristotle, Aristoteles (pronounced “are-is-toe-tell-less”) in ancient Greek, was a philosopher and polymath in ancient Greece. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.

This book was edited for the modern reader, to make the content accessible on modern devices. It has been transpiled into the markua format, for publication of the book on the leanpub platform.

I started editing this book as I remembered it to be a very insightful text. Aristotle’s Rhetoric was read during our Latin classes in high school. The concepts of rhetoric are still applicable to modern day communication and persuasion. Therefore, I wanted to revisit the text. As I was unable to find a portable digital version of Aristotle’s writings, I decided to transpile the text myself, and make it available to the public.

I hope you enjoy the read, and that you find the content as insightful as I did.

Regards,

Stijn Dejongh, 2024