Eloquence

Use in the book

The question of pure eloquence places it in forum, history and philosophy, making it wider than live political oratory. Philosophical eloquence is asked to approach civic or popular eloquence, described through brevity and energy. The statement attributed to Pascal joins pleasurable listening with effortless understanding, then adds a damaged clause concerning being right. The first two requirements are legible, but the final clause cannot safely establish a complete ethical definition: the English translation’s positive necessity is explicitly provisional because a lost negative component cannot be ruled out.

Places to read

1. I, p. 319, entry 6, ¶1Pure eloquence is sought in several literary and civic fields.
2. II, p. 494, entry 5, ¶1Philosophical eloquence is compared with brief, energetic civic expression.
3. II, p. 755, entry 8, ¶1Pleasure and understanding are paired; the final rightness clause is damaged.

Translation in this edition

The English translation preserves philosophi[cal] as the counterpart of a source-editor completion and takes civil in its civic sense, not merely polite. [Must] on II.755 is not a secure restoration and must not support an unqualified maxim about truth and eloquence.

Use in the book

Theophrastus's physiological report explains eloquence by a balanced blend in the relevant bodily part, the tongue. It places verbal excellence alongside manual craftsmanship as an example of local aptitude. The point is not merely that speech uses an organ: the distribution of elements in that organ is asked to explain why one person is particularly good at the activity.

The objection at §24 grants the tongue an instrumental role while rejecting its promotion into the sufficient cause of speaking well. The critic suggests form rather than blood-blend as the more appropriate cause and describes the latter as without intelligence. This controversy should be kept distinct from the biographical tradition that associates Empedocles with rhetoric. The former is a physiological explanation of a capacity; the latter concerns intellectual reputation and succession.

Places to read

1. A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony)Theophrastus, On the Senses 11. Uses good speakers as an example of excellence linked to a local blend.
2. A 86 § 24 (polemical)Theophrastus, On the Senses 24. Distinguishes the tongue’s instrumental role from the cause of speaking well.

Translation in this edition

“Good” qualifies performance in the example and is not a moral endorsement of an orator. “Eloquence” is a convenient English headword for the source's less specialized “speaking well.”