Cicero's Five Canons Of Persuasion

The concept of persuasiveness is uniquely complex compared to other aspects of speech. While it does take a certain amount of practice and skill to stand before an audience and broadcast a message, the art of persuasion requires exceptional organization and an adherence to those basic principles of human to human communication which activate an audience’s instinct to respond positively to a favorable orator. In his work, De Oratore, Cicero deliberates over the specific requirements which outline his idea of what it takes to be legitimately persuasive in any situation. These are referred to as “The Five Canons of Rhetoric. ”

The first canon in De Oratore, invention, is initially mentioned by Antonius when he discusses the attributes of his ideal orator. Antonius sees persuasion as a three-part method. The steps are as follows, “proving that our contentions are true, winning over our audience, and inducing their minds to feel any emotion the case may demand” (Cicero 153-154). Antonius asserts that to be inventive, one must be able to determine the validity of his statements. The second canon, arrangement, is also offered by Antonius. Antonius believes that attraction is important, and the progression of a speech should both draw the attention of the audience and be easy to follow. Just as any competent florist would put his most attractive flowers at the front of his shop, so should an orator put his best arguments at the beginning of his speech. Cicero writes, for example, “For our earliest acquaintance with a speech as it were, and the first recommendation of it to our notice, is at the commencement; which ought at once to propitiate and attract the audience.” (315).

Good speech needs structure and logical progression that captivates the audience. The conclusion of Antonius’s speech gives the third canon, memory. Because the characters in De Oratore are referring to unaided public speeches, memory is included as an essential aspect of persuasion. Antonius asserts the importance of the link between understanding and memory. Things are easier to memorize if one understands their arrangement. Recalling specific items to generate important speaking points during an oration makes an orator generally more persuasive. Antonius says that the purpose of speaking is “to rear and develop what has already been born and created within us. ” (220) This is to say that a good speech is a regurgitation of pre-determined arguments and ideas, and that without an acute ability to memorize, the quality of the speech is greatly reduced.

In Cicero’s time, it was believed that by performing another man’s speech he had control of your mouth and the words that came out of it. Crassus presents the fourth canon, style. He explains that style and content are bonded by eloquence, and that each speaker has a unique style. According to Crassus, eloquence “unfolds the thoughts and counsels of the mind in words, in such a way that it can drive the audience in whatever direction it has applied its weight. ” (239). After this, he makes an interesting point by comparing style to food. To explain, a person would not want to eat the same food for every meal. The same goes for speech. If a speaker is gentle and reserved in his entire speech, he may lose his audience. Crassus goes on about the importance of variety in knowledge and speech by saying that “In every area, the capacity to do what is appropriate is a matter of art and natural ability, but to know what is appropriate at each time is a matter of intelligence. ” (290) At this point, he moves on to discuss the fifth canon, delivery. To Crassus, delivery is the most dominant aspect of speaking, and all speakers must be able to express themselves as an actor does. He says, “Delivery is, so to speak, the language of the body, which makes it all the more essential that it should correspond to what we intend to say” (294). Delivery is so essential because it dictates how the audience will perceive both a speaker and his speech.

In my opinion, the two most useful of the five canons in terms of persuasion are arrangement and delivery. A great orator can persuade an audience with thoughtful organization and precise delivery, even if he does not have exceptional content. Invention requires unique thought, and I believe a speaker can be at least partially persuasive without original thoughts. In today’s climate, memory is not always a part of oration. Many speakers use notes or read their work. Style, like invention, requires the development of something original, which is important to be persuasive but not essential. The arrangement of a speech draws an audience into the speech itself, not the speaker, while delivery does the opposite. Ideal arrangement from an orator interests the audience in a speech’s content. In order to be persuaded, an audience must be able to follow the content of a speech and maintain an interest in that content. Delivery, in my opinion, is the tool that sparks that interest. An orator with masterful delivery can spark interest in his audience and keep them interested with his arrangement of arguments and ideas.

The five canons shape our understanding of persuasion by providing a framework for the aspiring orator to follow. They show us the complexity of mastering the ability to stand in front of strangers and get them to believe what we believe or do what we want them to do. Being truly persuasive is no easy feat, and as previously stated, not all canons are required for a speech to be persuasive, but mastery of all five is essential for an ideal orator. By simply analyzing the five canons, it is easy to see that persuasion is not a mundane concept. Each canon has its own universe of possibilities and offers a lot to both speaker and audience. It is also important to notice that the canons follow a progression, just as a speech does. The beauty of this progression and the depth of the canons is that on the surface, they are obvious. As Cicero writes, “For who would not understand without assistance, that nobody can make a speech unless he has settled what to say, and in what words, and in what order, and remembers it?” (79)

In conclusion, in the pursuit of obtaining the status of an ideal orator, one must adhere to five canons which all contribute to persuasiveness in their own ways. The concept may be simple, but its mastery is more complex than most aspiring orators know. The path to being truly persuasive is long and requires diligence in not one area, but five. With the knowledge given by Cicero, the aspiring orator should be on the right track to persuading his audiences and perfecting his craft.