In Plato and Phaedrus discussion of rhetoric several questions arose for me. The first one being; when is a speech well written and delivered, and when is it not? I believe a well written speech takes time to develop. One must do the research necessary to develop a knowledgeable speech that many can understand and relate to. Once this is done the author has the potential to deliver a well constructed speech to his or her audience. The second question I had was, where is deception most likely to occur? Socrates and Phaedrus go into detail about what they thought of deception. is it easier to deceive one on small matters or changes. Or are larger matters and topics easier to make one believe. Socrates helps answers this when he states “If you are to deceive someone else and to avoid deception yourself, you must know precisely the respects in which things are similar and dissimilar.” I believe what Socrates was trying to say was that you need knowledge of a subject you wish to manipulate so you can change the truths as little as possible. Therefore, it is easier to get away with making small changes to subjects  than the larger issues that are more complicated to alternate.       

In the reading “Against The Sophists” I found it very interesting when the author examined the different qualities of oratory. When he stated “oratory is good only if it has the qualities of fitness for the occasion, propriety of style, and originality of treatment.” I believe what the author was trying to portray was that many can give a speech only some have the knowledge, confidence, and talent to be great at it. The author solidifies his belief when he referred to talent and it’s importance in speech by saying. “But it cannot fully fashion men who are without natural aptitude. Although, this is what I think the author was trying to convey in the sentence I disagree with him. One certainly does need knowledge and confidence to perform a speech well. However, I do not think one needs the talent to be great. I believe one can develop such skills with practice to where one has the ability to be great. This is very important because in Greece many people were not highly educated and did not possess many knowledgeable traits. Therefore, when these people began being taught by the sophists they had to work hard to become confident and knowledgeable. Work was their way of gaining talent and becoming great oratory.           

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