“Rhetoric came into existence as a specific field of study in the early part of the fifth century BC in Sicily to enable ordinary citizens to make an effective case concerning why they should be entitled to recover property that had been seized by a dictatorial tyrant. The claimants had to present their case without supporting documentation and construct an argument solely on the basis of inference and probability.”
–Stuart Hirschberg and Terry Hirschberg. Arguing Across the Disciplines: A Rhetoric and Reader. New York: Pearson, 2007. Quote on page 3.