Pisteis in Comparison.Examples and Enthymemes in the Rhetoric to Alexander and in Aristotle's Rhetoric.

Today it is generally accepted that the main differences between the "Rhetoric to Alexander" and Aristotle’s "Rhetoric" depend on the different aims of each work’s author: essentially practical in the first case, theoretical in the second one. The difference is clearly visible in the classification of pisteis (proofs). Our basic assumption is that this difference depends on the two majors elements of novelty in Aristotle's Rhetoric: 1. the introduction in the rhetorical field of the logico-dialectical apparatus (above all, the concept of syllogismos); 2. the consideration of ethos and pathos as entechnoi pisteis. In order to specify this general consideration, the paper focuses on enthymema and paradeigma: thanks to the position these pisteis have in Aristotle's "Rhetoric", they represent a suitable starting point for the comparison with the Rh. ad Al.