An excellent portrayal of rhetoric arguing opposite points of view consists of
the speeches by Mark Antony and Cassius in Shakespeare’s
Julius Caesar
following the murder of Caesar by Brutus and Cassius. Mark Antony in
praising Caesar, and Brutus in condemning him, seem equally eloquent,
moving and convincing. Brutus, for example, said: “Not that I loved Caesar
less, but that I loved Rome more . . . As he was valiant, I honour him, but as
he was ambitious, I slew him”.
22
In reply Mark Antony refutes the allegation of
ambition: “When the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept. Ambition should be
made of sterner stuff”.
23
Some judges acknowledge the place of rhetoric.
24
It includes “the impressive
virtue of sincerity and fire, or the mnemonic power of alliteration and
antithesis, or the tenseness and tangle of the proverb and the maxim”.
25
This,
however, leads to a problem. Appeal to the senses can mean that the judge “is
passing off emotion as reason” with the consequence that “authority has flown
out the window”.
26
Essentially the problem is that persuasion by rhetoric is more inclined towards
emotional and cognitive manipulation than rational justice, as exemplified by
some of the sayings about persuasion. In the classic and much cited words of
Aristophanes: “A clever rhetorician can make the weaker argument the
stronger”.
27
Lord Macauly was equally blunt when he asserted that “the object
of oratory alone is not truth but persuasion”.
28
James Thomson emphasised
the role that emotion plays in his lines: “His gentle reason so persuasive stole;
That the charmed hearer thought it was his own,”
29
as did Charles Churchill in
referring to “the persuasive language of a tear”.
30
Junius highlighted one of the
major snares – that “by persuading others, we convince ourselves”.
31
William
Blake stated the fundamental problem by asking the question: “Does a firm
persuasion that a thing is so, make it so?”
32
___________________
22
William Shakespeare Julius Caesar II 22, 27
23
William Shakespeare Julius Caesar II 97
24
Kirby (1990A) p 705
25
Cardozo (1931) p 342
26
Radcliff (1965) p xiv
27
Aristophanes The Clouds
28
Lord Macauly Works 1898, vol xi “Essay on Athenian Orators”
29
James Thomson To the Memory of Lord Talbot (1737) I. 103
30
Charles Churchill The Times I. 38
31
Junius Letter 35, 19 December 1769
32
William Blake A Memorable Fancy pl 12-13
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