From the preceding chapters, one might assume that by employing style, projecting character and appealing to emotion, the gifted orator or speechwriter could produce a great speech by saying anything or nothing. It's true that technique alone can produce wittiness. Take the cheeky speech made by the sixteen-year-old William Hague to the British Conservative Party conference in Blackpool in 1977:

It thrilled the audience, including Mrs Thatcher, and set Hague up for a lifetime of invitations and income from the professional speaking circuit. His speaking abilities also helped him become the leader of the Tory party. It's also an excellent example of how to use humour to connect with the forum. But great? No.

As Aristotle recognised, the character of the speaker and the emotional disposition of the audience provided only part of the speech's proof. A third set of qualities was required; qualities inherent to the speech itself: purpose, substance, structure, evidence, logic; or what the Greeks called logos.