Interesting point. Rhetoricians and sophists appeared in ancient Greece, becoming popular along with the rise of Democracy. It's believed this is because the ab

Interesting point. Rhetoricians and sophists appeared in ancient Greece, becoming popular along with the rise of Democracy. It's believed this is because the ability to argue convincingly lead to sway over the Demos, the people, and therefore the ability to influence law. Put another way, these people were politicians. They argued professionally, and were trained to do so, or made their living training others to do so. I don't think their existence can be used to inform how every day people had conversations at the time. More interestingly, maybe the problem is that everyone now thinks they're an amateur politician.