SOURCE: "The Rhetoric of Aristotle," in Ancient Rhetoric and Poetic, Peter Smith, 1959, pp. 6-21.

In the following excerpt from a work originally published in 1924, Baldwin examines both the construction and content of Books I and 2 of Rhetoric. He maintains that in this work, which should be regarded as a philosophical survey rather than a manual, Aristotle demonstrates "the full reach of his intelligence."

The only art of composition that concerns the mass of mankind, and is therefore universal in both educational practise and critical theory, is the art of effective communication by speaking and writing. This is what the ancients and most moderns call rhetoric. More ample and exact definition, though unnecessary for elementary practise, is demanded for fruitful theory; and the theory of rhetoric has always concerned so many more people than the theory of any other art as to be part of every pedagogy. Here the...