Listening to Nicomahean Ethics. Aristotle drops this bomb--which succinctly nails the concept Plato has been trying to get across about the ethical problems with rhetoric, problems that Quintilian's "Good man, speaking well," doesn't satisfy.
"All flatterers are mercenaries." Aristotle
You nailed it, Ari. Now, all we have to do is figure out when we're being complemented and when we're being flattered. (Ari hints at this in Book Eight, though he doesn't make the connection explicitly.)
If Socrates had said this to Callicles in Gorgias, ole Callicles wouldn't have had an answer. Callicles extolled the virtues of power, of having power over others through verbal manipulation. He saw that as the highest good. But, Callicles, who saw himself as a knight of the city, would have never stooped to becoming a mercenary. This simple definition of flattery (rhetoric as verbal manipulation) would have forced him to face the incompatibilities between honor as he saw it and the use of power he recommended.
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