[10]
But it is clear that
one does not speak thus to the hearer qua hearer;1 for all in
their exordia endeavor either to arouse prejudice or to remove their own
apprehensions:
“
O prince, I will not say that with haste [I have come
breathless].2
”
“
Why this preamble?3
” This is what those also do who have, or seem to have, a bad case; for
it is better to lay stress upon anything rather than the case itself. That is
why slaves never answer questions directly but go all round them, and indulge in
preambles.
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1 The hearer qua hearer should be unbiased, but in fact hearers often suffer from the defects referred to in sect. 7, for which certain forms of exordia are remedies.
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 22, translated by J. H. Freese. Aristotle. Cambridge and London. Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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