The Art of Rhetoric · Part 10 · The five canons · C1
Style: Clarity and Fitness
Part 10 of The Art of Rhetoric: once the arguments are found and put in order, they must be put into words. Aristotle asks for two things: be clear, and be fitting. Formal and informal register (inform / tell, postpone / put off, I would be grateful if…, Should you require…), with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
I wrote a letter to the harbour master. I used all the longest words I know.
He sent it back with a note: “What do you want?”
Aristotle would have sent it back too. The first virtue of style is to be clear. The second is to fit the audience.
In Book 3 of the Rhetoric, Aristotle says that the virtue of style is to be clear: if a speech does not make its meaning plain, it is not doing its job. Clarity comes from ordinary words, used in their ordinary sense. But style must also be fitting (in Greek, prepon): neither too low nor too lofty for the subject, the speaker and the audience. A grand style for a small matter is ridiculous; a casual style for a funeral…
He has a special word for style that tries too hard: frigid, cold. Frigid speakers pile up compound words, rare words and long, unnecessary adjectives. Aristotle collects bad examples from other orators, such as “moist sweat”: as if sweat could be dry.
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