[37]
In the first
place logical development is one of the necessities
of geometry. And is it not equally a necessity for
oratory? Geometry arrives at its conclusions from
definite premises, and by arguing from what is certain
proves what was previously uncertain. Is not this
just what we do in speaking? Again are not the
problems of geometry almost entirely solved by the
[p. 179]
syllogistic method, a fact which makes the majority
assert that geometry bears a closer resemblance to
logic than to rhetoric? But even the orator will
sometimes, though rarely, prove his point by formal
logic.
Quintilian. With an English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1920.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.