Isocrates puts his finger on one recurring problem in rhetorical education: the desire for and willingness to resort to hard and fast rules (p. 73). He sez, “oratory is good only if it has the qualities of fitness for the occasion, propriety of style, and originality of treatment.” No firm rules for “good” oratory can ensure that one will achieve these ends. Nevertheless, he advocates formal training, which can make people “more skillful and more resourceful in discovering the possibilities of a subject” (p. 74). In the _Antidosis_, he calls this training a “gymnastic of the mind” (p. 76). Yet even Isocrates sez the rhetoric teacher should “expound the principles of the art with the utmost possible exactness” (p. 74). How can we teach “good” writing without giving rules for good writing? Or, to put this question in another way: Imagine that you agree with Isocrates and his vision for a rhetorical education that imparts skill through a gymnastic of the mind. Imagine that a student asks you how to write a “clear sentence” or a “good introduction.” What would you tell that student?