How to Fake It?

"Now feelings are won over by a man's merit, achievements or reputable life, qualifications easier to embellish, if only they are real, than to fabricate where non existent" (Cicero 329, top left column).

Cicero believed that one of the purposes and functions of oratory and rhetoric was to 'manipulate human feelings and capture good will'(Forest of Rhetoric). If we are to understand that these are the 'ends', to reference Aristotle, then Cicero claims that one of the ways we achieve that in book one is through the use of the appeals, which in the quoted section above he describes- insinuating that perhaps we are to adapt our speech (or composition) to fit the circumstances of our need, creating an ethos, perhaps, that is undeserved? He goes on in the same section to say that manners of achieving this is through a mild tone, modesty, gentile language choice and 'seeming to be dealing reluctantly'. I just can't get over how manipulative and deceptive these sound- no wonder Cicero was the best lawyer in Rome!

Though I concede that I can understand his point about emphasis on certain...attributes... I still get the vibe from this portion of that text that he seems to be overly concerned with reaching that 'end' and not enough concerned with truth... What would the Sophists say?

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On another note entirely, Orator was not assigned but I still really liked it and felt compelled to comment:
On pages 341 and 342 of Cicero's Orator there is a really nice conversation about the difference between Allegory and Metaphor (Metonymy/Hypallage) that explains the classical roots of the use of figures of speech- fascinating stuff! Probably the most detail I've ever wanted to know about word transfer, though I appreciate that his rhetoric is straightforward and that we are working under the "how-to" genre that remains clear and (relatively) concise.
For the rest of you who are still interested, I like this site for more on parts of speech because "a gorilla with a banana is a gorilla with appeal": http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/