As to the material of oratory, some have
asserted that it is speech, as for instance Gorgias1 in
the dialogue of Plato. If this view be accepted in
the sense that the word “speech” is used of a discourse composed on any subject, then it is not the
material, but the work, just as a statue is the work
of the sculptor. For speeches like statues require
art for their production. If on the other hand
we interpret “speech” as indicating the words
themselves, they can do nothing unless they are
related to facts. Some again hold that the material
consists of persuasive arguments. But they form
part of the work, are produced by art and require
material themselves.
1 Gorg. 449 E.
Quintilian. With an English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1920.
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