Quote: "Fearful shuddering and tearful pity and grievous longing come upon [poetry/speech's] hearers, and at the actions and physical sufferings of others in good fortunes and in evil fortunes, through the agency of words alone, the soul is wont to experience a suffering of its own" (Bizzell and Herzberg 45).
Question: Gorgias appears to be making the argument that the agency of words can limit the agency of people. He states that persuasion has the form of necessity, but not the power. How does persuasion take on the form of necessity, how does it differ from necessity in power, and how can the power of persuasion limit one's agency?
In response to your question on how the power of persuasion can limit one's agency, I had to gain a better understanding to know that "one's agency" is in reference to one's independence. With that being known, I can speculate that he feels persuasion limits one's independence because Gorgias is under the impression that language is manipulative and "language creates and changes the opinions that are our only available knowledge."
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