Isaeus
Encyclopedia
Isaeus fl. early 4th century BC. One of the ten Attic Orators
according to the Alexandria
n canon. He was a student of Isocrates
in Athens
, and later taught Demosthenes
while working as a metic
speechwriter
for others. Only eleven of his speeches survive, with fragments of a twelfth. They are mostly concerned with inheritance, with one on civil rights
. Dionysius of Halicarnassus
compared his style to Lysias
, although Isaeus was more given to employing sophistry.
and the accession of Philip II of Macedon
, so that he lived between 420 BCE and 348 BCE. He was a son of Diagoras
, and was born at Chalcis
in Euboea
; some sources say he was born in Athens
, probably only because he came there at an early age and spent the greater part of his life there.
He was instructed in oratory
by Lysias
and Isocrates
. He was afterwards engaged in writing judicial orations for others, and established a rhetorical school at Athens, in which Demosthenes
is said to have been his pupil. The Suda
states that Isaeus instructed him free of charge, whereas Plutarch
relates that he received 10,000 drachmas; and it is further said that Isaeus composed for Demosthenes the speeches against his guardians, or at least assisted him in the composition. All particulars about his life are unknown, and were so even in the time of Dionysius, since Hermippus
, who had written an account of the disciples of Isocrates
, did not mention Isaeus at all.
Ten of these orations had been known ever since the revival of letters in the Renaissance
, and were printed in the collections of Greek orators; but the eleventh, On Menecles' legacy , was first published in 1785 from a Florentine manuscript by Tyrwhitt
, and later by Orelli
in 1814. Also, in 1815 Mai
discovered and published the greater half of Isaeus' oration On Cleonymus' legacy .
Isaeus is also known to have written a manual on speechwriting entitled the Technē or Idiai technai , which, however, is lost.
List of extant speeches (available at the Perseus Digital Library)
. But we still possess the criticism upon Isaeus written by Dionysius of Halicarnassus
; and by a comparison of the orations still extant with the opinions of Dionysius, we come to the following conclusion.
The oratory of Isaeus resembles in many points that of his teacher, Lysias
: the style of both is pure, clear, and concise; but while Lysias is at the same time simple and graceful, Isaeus evidently strives to attain a higher degree of polish and refinement, without, however, in the least injuring the powerful and impressive character of his oratory. The same spirit is visible in the manner in which he handles his subjects, especially in their skilful division, and in the artful manner in which he interweaves his arguments with various parts of the exposition, whereby his orations become like a painting in which light and shade are distributed with a distinct view to produce certain effects. It was mainly owing to this mode of management that he was envied and censured by his contemporaries, as if he had tried to deceive and misguide his hearers. He was one of the first who turned their attention to a scientific cultivation of political oratory; but excellence in this department of the art was not attained until the time of Demosthenes
.
Print
Attic orators
The ten Attic orators were considered the greatest orators and logographers of the classical era . They are included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace.-The Alexandrian "Canon of Ten":* Aeschines* Andocides* Antiphon* Demosthenes*...
according to the Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
n canon. He was a student of Isocrates
Isocrates
Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, and later taught Demosthenes
Demosthenes
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...
while working as a metic
Metic
In ancient Greece, the term metic referred to a resident alien, one who did not have citizen rights in his or her Greek city-state of residence....
speechwriter
Speechwriter
A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches that will be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are used by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors.-Skills and training:...
for others. Only eleven of his speeches survive, with fragments of a twelfth. They are mostly concerned with inheritance, with one on civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
. Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus. His literary style was Attistic — imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.-Life:...
compared his style to Lysias
Lysias
Lysias was a logographer in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BC.-Life:According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the author of the life ascribed to...
, although Isaeus was more given to employing sophistry.
Life
The time of his birth and death is unknown, but all accounts agree in the statement that he flourished during the period between the Peloponnesian WarPeloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
and the accession of Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon "friend" + ἵππος "horse" — transliterated ; 382 – 336 BC), was a king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III.-Biography:...
, so that he lived between 420 BCE and 348 BCE. He was a son of Diagoras
Diagoras
Diagoras may refer to:*Diagoras of Melos Atheist philosopher and poet *Diagoras of Rhodes boxer, olympionike *Diagoras a Greek physician quoted in Natural History of Pliny*Diagoras F.C...
, and was born at Chalcis
Chalcis
Chalcis or Chalkida , the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, is situated on the strait of the Evripos at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός , though there is no trace of any mines in the area...
in Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
; some sources say he was born in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, probably only because he came there at an early age and spent the greater part of his life there.
He was instructed in oratory
Oratory
Oratory is a type of public speaking.Oratory may also refer to:* Oratory , a power metal band* Oratory , a place of worship* a religious order such as** Oratory of Saint Philip Neri ** Oratory of Jesus...
by Lysias
Lysias
Lysias was a logographer in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BC.-Life:According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the author of the life ascribed to...
and Isocrates
Isocrates
Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
. He was afterwards engaged in writing judicial orations for others, and established a rhetorical school at Athens, in which Demosthenes
Demosthenes
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...
is said to have been his pupil. The Suda
Suda
The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...
states that Isaeus instructed him free of charge, whereas Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
relates that he received 10,000 drachmas; and it is further said that Isaeus composed for Demosthenes the speeches against his guardians, or at least assisted him in the composition. All particulars about his life are unknown, and were so even in the time of Dionysius, since Hermippus
Hermippus
Hermippus was the one-eyed Athenian writer of the Old Comedy who flourished during the Peloponnesian War. He was the son of Lysis, and the brother of the comic poet Myrtilus. He was younger than Telecleides and older than Eupolis and Aristophanes. According to the Suda, he wrote forty plays, and...
, who had written an account of the disciples of Isocrates
Isocrates
Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
, did not mention Isaeus at all.
Works
In antiquity there were 64 orations which bore the name of Isaeus, but only fifty were recognised as genuine by the ancient critics. Of these, only eleven have come down to us; but we possess fragments and the titles of 56 speeches ascribed to him. The eleven extant are all on subjects connected with disputed inheritances; and Isaeus appears to have been particularly well acquainted with the laws relating to inheritance.Ten of these orations had been known ever since the revival of letters in the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, and were printed in the collections of Greek orators; but the eleventh, On Menecles' legacy , was first published in 1785 from a Florentine manuscript by Tyrwhitt
Thomas Tyrwhitt
Thomas Tyrwhitt was an English classical scholar and critic.-Life:He was born in London, where he also died. He was educated at Eton and Queen's College, Oxford . In 1756 he was appointed under-secretary at war, in 1762 clerk of the House of Commons...
, and later by Orelli
Johann Caspar von Orelli
Johann Caspar von Orelli , was a Swiss classical scholar.He was born at Zürich of a distinguished Italian family which had taken refuge in Switzerland at the time of the Protestant Reformation...
in 1814. Also, in 1815 Mai
Angelo Mai
Angelo Mai was an Italian Cardinal and philologist. He won a European reputation for publishing for the first time a series of previously unknown ancient texts. These he was able to discover and publish, first while in charge of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan and then in the same role at the...
discovered and published the greater half of Isaeus' oration On Cleonymus' legacy .
Isaeus is also known to have written a manual on speechwriting entitled the Technē or Idiai technai , which, however, is lost.
List of extant speeches (available at the Perseus Digital Library)
- On The Estate of Cleonymus
- On the Estate of Menecles
- On The Estate Of Pyrrhus
- On the Estate of Nicostratus
- On the Estate of Dicaeogenes
- On the Estate of Philoctemon
- On The Estate of Apollodorus
- On The Estate of Ciron
- On the Estate of Astyphilus
- On The Estate Of Aristarchus
- On the Estate of Hagnias
- On Behalf of Euphiletus
Oratorical style
Although his orations were placed fifth in the Alexandrian canon, still we do not hear of any of the grammarians having written commentaries on him, except Didymus of AlexandriaDidymus Chalcenterus
Didymus Chalcenterus , ca. 63 BCE to 10 CE, was a Hellenistic Greek scholar and grammarian who flourished in the time of Cicero and Augustus.- Life :...
. But we still possess the criticism upon Isaeus written by Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus. His literary style was Attistic — imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.-Life:...
; and by a comparison of the orations still extant with the opinions of Dionysius, we come to the following conclusion.
The oratory of Isaeus resembles in many points that of his teacher, Lysias
Lysias
Lysias was a logographer in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BC.-Life:According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the author of the life ascribed to...
: the style of both is pure, clear, and concise; but while Lysias is at the same time simple and graceful, Isaeus evidently strives to attain a higher degree of polish and refinement, without, however, in the least injuring the powerful and impressive character of his oratory. The same spirit is visible in the manner in which he handles his subjects, especially in their skilful division, and in the artful manner in which he interweaves his arguments with various parts of the exposition, whereby his orations become like a painting in which light and shade are distributed with a distinct view to produce certain effects. It was mainly owing to this mode of management that he was envied and censured by his contemporaries, as if he had tried to deceive and misguide his hearers. He was one of the first who turned their attention to a scientific cultivation of political oratory; but excellence in this department of the art was not attained until the time of Demosthenes
Demosthenes
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...
.
- Forster, E.S. (ed., tr.) 1927, Isaeus (Cambridge, MA). ISBN 0-674-99222-9
- Roussel, P. (ed., tr.) 2003, Isée. Discours, 3rd ed. (1st ed. 1922; Paris). ISBN 2-251-00170-0
- Thalheim, Th. (ed.) 1963, Isaei Orationes cum deperditarum fragmentis, 2nd ed. (1st ed. 1903; Stuttgart). ISBN 3-598-71456-4
- Wyse, W.William WyseWilliam Wyse was a classical scholar, noted for his work on the Attic orator Isaeus, and a benefactor of the University of Cambridge.-Life:...
(ed.) 1904, The Speeches of Isaeus (Cambridge). - PDF