According to Diogenes Laertskogo, Aristotle attributed the invention of rhetoric Empedoklu Pythagoreans, whose composition is unknown to us, even by name. From the texts of Aristotle and others know that the first treatise on rhetoric belonged student Empedokla Koraksu, pet Syracuse tyrant Heron, political speaker and a lawyer (she tried).
He made not devoid of interest definition of eloquence: oratory is an employee of persuasion (other-gr.). He first tries to establish a clear division of oratorical speech parts: introduction, sentence, presentation, or evidence of the struggle, fall and the conclusion. He expressed the position that the primary purpose of the speaker - not disclosing the truth, but the clarity and credibility with the help of the probable, which is extremely useful for all sorts of sophistries.
Work Koraksa to us came, but the ancient writers tell us examples of its sophistries, which enjoyed special fame called crocodiles. Pupil Koraksa, fox, developed the same sophistical proof system and the principal means of teaching rhetoric thought learning model of judicial speeches of speakers.
From his school has known in his time Leontiysky Gorge, which, according to Plato, was opened, which is likely more important than truth, and could, in their speeches to present a great small, small and great, old issue for new and old to recognize the new, one and the same subject to express controversial opinions [source not given 51 days]. The method of teaching at the Gorge, too, was to examine the samples, each student should have known passages from the works of the best speakers to be able to answer the most frequently displayed objections. Gorge belonged curious treatise On the occasion of decent, which refers to the dependence of speech on the subject matter of subjective properties of the speaker and audience, and given instruction as using ridicule to destroy serious arguments, and conversely, to respond to mockery with dignity. Beautiful speaking (beautiful speech, etc., Greek.) Gorge contrasted the truth (right speech,).
He has made great efforts to create rules regarding the figures: metaphor, alliteration, parallelism of the phrases. Out of school Gorge left many famous rhetorician: Paul Agrigentsky, Likimny, Frasimah, Even, Theodore Byzantine. By the same stylistic direction sophist rhetoric belonged Protagor and Prodikos and famous, he Isokrat, developed the doctrine of the period.
The direction of this school can be described as practical, although it produced a wealth of psychological material for the development of common theoretical propositions about public speaking and this facilitated the task of Aristotle, who gives in his famous Rhetoric scientific justification for the old dogmatic rules, using purely empirical methods.