“He criticizes previous manuals of rhetoric (none of which has survived) because they were more interested in dimensions of speechmaking that were extraneous to the actual topic: they gave advice on distracting the audience from important evidence, defamation and disparagement of opponents and rivals, and how to inflame emotions such as pity by wiles including the display of your small children weeping in courts of law. Rhetoric of this kind is successful not because the speaker makes a better case but because they pander to the audience’s taste for the sensational or histrionic. Hall, Edith. Aristotle's Way (p. 80). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. ”
