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ἐμπειρία: here not an empirical science, but merely a dexterity acquired by much practice. Cf. 463 b. The following question is no advance on his first one, and seems to show that Polus has no definite plan.

χάρις: is the grace which causes pleasure, and depends principally on the person of the orator; ἡδονή, the pleasure with which the hearer is inspired by his speech. Quintilian (Inst. or. ii. 15. 24) translates the expression by the words peritia gratiae ac voluptatis. Polus has not yet heard the specific difference which distinguishes rhetoric from other ἐμπειρίαι of the same class. Hence he again falls into the same error in his question as he did in his answer above, 448 c. In this way, however, the conversation is again turned to the consideration of the value of rhetoric.

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  • Commentary references from this page (2):
    • Plato, Gorgias, 448c
    • Plato, Gorgias, 463b
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