Analyzing Central Ideas in a Speech Answers

What is the central idea of a speech?

Read the excerpt from Alexander the Great’s speech at Opis.These services rendered you by my father are substantial enough when considered in isolation, but they pale into insignificance in comparison with my own. . . . An immediate first act was to open up for you the channel of the Hellespont, despite Persia’s naval supremacy at the time. My cavalry then defeated the satraps of Darius and I added to your empire the whole of Ionia, the whole of Aeolis, both Phrygias, and Lydia, and captured Miletus by siege. Other regions placed themselves voluntarily in my hands, and in every case I let you profit from them.

Read the excerpt from Alexander the Great’s speech at Opis.In my case I have been wounded in every part of my body except my back; every sort of weapon wielded or shot has left its mark on me; I have been cut by swords hand-to-hand, shot by arrows, struck by catapult bolts, taken innumerable blows from stones and clubs—all this in your interests, to win you fame and riches as I lead you victorious over every land and sea, every river, mountain, and plain.

Which statement describes meiosis?

Which rhetorical device uses exaggeration?

Read the excerpt from Pericles’s funeral oration by Thucydides.We make friends by doing good to others, not by receiving good from them. This makes our friendship all the more reliable, since we want to keep alive the gratitude of those who are in our debt by showing continued good-will to them. . . . We are unique in this. When we do kindnesses to others, we do not do them out of any calculations of profit or loss: we do them without afterthought, relying on our free liberality.

Read the excerpt from Pericles’s funeral oration by Thucydides.We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all.

Read the excerpt from Pericles’s funeral oration by Thucydides.Here is a proof of this: When the Spartans invade our land, they do not come by themselves, but bring all their allies with them; whereas we, when we launch an attack abroad, do the job by ourselves, and, though fighting on foreign soil, do not often fail to defeat opponents who are fighting for their own hearths and homes. As a matter of fact none of our enemies has ever yet been confronted with our total strength, because we have to divide our attention between our navy and the many missions on which our troops are sent on land.

Read the excerpt from Alexander the Great’s speech at Opis.Philip gave you cloaks to wear instead of skins, he brought you down from the mountains into the plains, he turned you into a fighting force ready to match your barbarian neighbours, with a security now based on trust in your own native courage rather than the strength of defensive positions: he made you city-dwellers and gave you the benefits of law and a civilized way of life.

Read the excerpt from Alexander the Great’s speech at Opis.He [Philip] brought under your control those same barbarians who used to raid you and take your people and property, so you were now their masters, not their slaves and subjects. He enlarged Macedonia by annexing most of Thrace, and took possession of the key positions on the seaboard, so opening the country to trade and removing any threat to the exploitation of your mines.