Abstract: I shall argue that Plato’s Socrates accepts rhetorical strategies and that Plato, the author, shows how this might be helpful. Socrates uses persuasive elements, for instance when he addresses partners who have difficulties to follow or to trust rational arguments, and hesitate to accept their results even if they agree with them. Socrates incorporates persuasive elements to prepare Socrates’ partner – and the reader – to accept the results of rational arguments. Thus, he behaves like the true orator, who is not a philosophical egoist, but cares for his fellow citizens, as Socrates explains in the Gorgias.  True rhetoric then becomes part of the philosophical discourse in that it serves as a praeparatio philosophica, which does not replace dialectic, but supports it.  Thus, the performative level of the dialogues  often helps to understand better what happens in the philosophical discourses.