And why should you say so? I asked.
I see, he replied, that there are some composers of speeches who do
not know how to use the speeches which they make, just as the makers
of lyres do not know how to use the lyres; and also some who are of
themselves unable to compose speeches, but are able to use the speeches
which the others make for them; and this proves that the art of making
speeches is not the same as the art of using them.
Yes, I said; and I take your words to be a sufficient proof that the art
of making speeches is not one which will make a man happy. And yet I
did think that the art which we have so long been seeking might be
discovered in that direction; for the composers of speeches, whenever I
meet them, always appear to me to be very extraordinary men, Cleinias,
and their art is lofty and divine, and no wonder. For their art is a
part of the great art of enchantment, and hardly, if at all, inferior
to it: and whereas the art of the enchanter is a mode of charming snakes
and spiders and scorpions, and other monsters and pests, this art of
their's acts upon dicasts and ecclesiasts and bodies of men, for the
charming and pacifying of them. Do you agree with me?
Yes, he said, I think that you are quite right.
Whither then shall we go, I said, and to what art shall we have
recourse?