# Ῥητορική 3.11.7

Aristotle, Ῥητορική, Book 3, Chapter 11. Ancient Greek.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/greek/aristotle/text-18/3.11.7

καὶ τὸ βούλει αὐτὸν πέρσαι. δεῖ δὲ ἀμφότερα προσηκόντως λεχθῆναι. οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὰ ἀστεῖα, οἷον τὸ φάναι Ἀθηναίοις τὴν τῆς θαλάττης ἀρχὴν μὴ ἀρχὴν εἶναι τῶν κακῶν· ὄνασθαι γάρ. ἢ ὥσπερ Ἰσοκράτης τὴν ἀρχὴν τῇ πόλει ἀρχὴν εἶναι τῶν κακῶν. ἀμφοτέρως γὰρ ὃ οὐκ ἂν ᾠήθη τις ἐρεῖν, τοῦτʼ εἴρηται, καὶ ἐγνώσθη ὅτι ἀληθές· τό τε γὰρ τὴν ἀρχὴν φάναι ἀρχὴν εἶναι οὐθὲν σοφόν, ἀλλʼ οὐχ οὕτω λέγει ἀλλʼ ἄλλως, καὶ ἀρχὴν οὐχ ὃ εἶπεν ἀπόφησιν, ἀλλʼ ἄλλως.

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Aristotle, Ῥητορική, ed. William David Ross. Text: The Greek Library, from the Perseus Digital Library and other open sources, CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: apostrophes normalised and the text divided into reading sections by Interlinea.
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Source: https://thegreeklibrary.pages.lisn.upsaclay.fr/works/tlg0086.tlg038.local001/.