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‘This then is one use (or usefulness, advantage) of the employment of γνῶμαι, there is also another, and a better; that is, that it gives an ethical character to our speeches. All speeches have this moral character in which the moral purpose is manifested’. Comp. III 17. 9. The ἦθος referred to in III 16. 9 is of a different kind, it is dramatic character, the third of the three distinguished in Introd. p. 112. ‘All γνῶμαι have this effect, because any one who uses a γνώμη makes a declaration in general terms about the objects of moral purpose (or preference), and therefore if the γνῶμαι themselves are good (have a good moral tendency) they give to the speaker also the appearance of good character’. On ἀποφαίνεσθαι, see above on II 21.2. ‘So, for the treatment of γνώμη, its nature, number of kinds, mode of employment, and advantages, let so much suffice’.
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
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