“That is what you must contribute yourself.
The rest you may now see and hear by the way, as
you go forward. And next I shall tell you the rules
that you must follow in order that Rhetoric may
recognize and welcome you, and not turn you her
back and bid you go to, as if you were an
outsider prying into her privacies. First of all, you
must pay especial attention to outward appearance,
and to the graceful set of your cloak. Then cull
from some source or other fifteen, or anyhow not more
than twenty, Attic words, drill yourself carefully in
them, and have them ready at the tip of your tongue



 

—‘sundry,’ ‘eftsoons,’ ‘prithee,’ ‘in some wise,’ ‘fair
sir, and the like. Two of the terms require a word of comment: «dra means “and then,” not “‘eftsoons,” and the peculiarly Attic feature was the crasis (xal elra being run together); nav was used to introduce a question, like nwm in Latin, and was in Lucian’s day obsolete. Whenever you speak, sprinkle
in some of them as a relish. Never mind if the rest
is inconsistent with them, unrelated, and discordant.
Only let your purple stripe be handsome and bright,
even if your cloak is but a blanket of the thickest
sort.