_Gorg._ And a good one, Socrates, if you wish to call me, as Homer says,
what “I boast myself to be.”
_Socr._ But I do wish.
_Gorg._ Call me so, then.
_Socr._ Shall we say too that you are able to make others rhetoricians?
_Gorg._ I profess this not only here but elsewhere.
_Socr._ Are you willing then, Gorgias, to continue, as we are now doing,
partly to ask questions and partly to answer, and to defer to some other
occasion that prolixity of speech, such as Polus just now began with?
But do not belie what you promised, but be willing to answer each
question briefly.
_Gorg._ There are some answers, Socrates, which must necessarily be made
at length: however, I will endeavour to make them as short as possible.
For this is one of the things which I profess, that no one can say the
same things in fewer words than me.
8. _Socr._ There is need of this now, Gorgias; give me therefore a
specimen of this very thing, conciseness of speech, and of prolixity at
some other time.
_Gorg._ I will do so; and you will admit that you never heard any one
speak more concisely.
_Socr._ Well then, since you say that you are skilled in the art of
rhetoric, and that you can teach another this art, tell me about what is
rhetoric employed? just as the art of weaving is employed in the making
of garments, is it not so?
_Gorg._ It is.
_Socr._ And is not music also employed in the composing of melodies?
_Gorg._ Yes.
_Socr._ By Juno, Gorgias, I admire your answers, for you answer as
briefly as possible.
_Gorg._ I think, Socrates, that I do this well enough.
9. _Socr._ You say well. Come then, answer me thus respecting rhetoric,
of what is it the science?
_Gorg._ Of words.
_Socr._ What kind of words, Gorgias? Are they such as inform the sick by
what kind of diet they may become well?
_Gorg._ No.
_Socr._ Rhetoric, then, is not concerned with all kinds of words?
_Gorg._ Certainly not.
_Socr._ Yet it makes men able to speak?
_Gorg._ Yes.
_Socr._ And does it not enable men to think on the same things on which
it enables them to speak?
_Gorg._ Without doubt.
_Socr._ Does not, then, the medicinal art, of which we just now spoke,
make men able to think and speak about the sick?
_Gorg._ Necessarily so.
_Socr._ The medicinal art, then, as it appears, is conversant with
words?
_Gorg._ Yes.
_Socr._ And those that concern diseases?
_Gorg._ Just so.
_Socr._ And is not the gymnastic art also conversant with words that
relate to the good and bad habit of bodies?
_Gorg._ Certainly.
10. _Socr._ And it is the same with other arts, Gorgias: each of them is
conversant with those words that are employed about that particular
thing of which each is the art.
_Gorg._ It appears so.
_Socr._ Why, then, do you not call other arts rhetorical, as being
conversant with words, since you call that rhetoric which is employed
about words?
_Gorg._ Because, Socrates, almost the whole[59] science of other arts is
conversant with manual operations and such-like actions; in rhetoric,
however, there is no such manual operation, but all its activity and
efficiency is by means of words. For this reason, I consider that the
art of rhetoric is conversant with words, herein speaking correctly, as
I affirm.
-----
Footnote 59:
The expression ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν qualifies the word πᾶσα, “_almost_ the
whole,” or “the whole, so to speak.”
-----
_Socr._ Do I understand what kind of art you wish to call it? but I
shall soon comprehend it more clearly. However, answer me. We have arts,
have we not?
_Gorg._ Yes.
11. _Socr._ Of all the arts, some, I think, consist principally in
workmanship, and stand in need of but few words, and others of none at
all, but their work may be accomplished in silence, as painting,
statuary, and many others. With such arts, you appear to me to say
rhetoric has nothing to do? is it not so?
_Gorg._ You apprehend my meaning perfectly, Socrates.
_Socr._ On the other hand, there are other arts which accomplish all by
means of words, and require no work at all, or very little, such as
theoretical[60] and practical arithmetic, geometry, the game of dice,
and many other arts; some of which require almost as many words as
actions, and most of them more, so that altogether their whole activity
and efficiency is by means of words. You appear to me to say that
rhetoric is among arts of this kind.
-----
Footnote 60:
ἀριθμητική means the theory, λογιστική the practice of arithmetic.
-----