The significant role of Isocrates in the study of Greek culture in the 4th century BC is undeniable. From 403 to 393, he wrote speeches for the Athenian courts and subsequently became a teacher of composition for aspiring orators. After establishing a school of rhetoric in Chios, he returned to Athens and founded a free school of “philosophy” that included practical training of the whole mind, character, judgment, and mastery of language.

This school had famous students from all over the Greek world, such as the historians Ephorus and Theopompus as well as the orators Isaeus, Lycurgus, and Hyperides. Isocrates also wrote, with a refined style, essays on political issues, with the main idea of a united Greece for the conquest of the Persian Empire. Thus, in his beautiful “Panegyric” (written for the gathering of the 100th Olympic Games in 380), he urged that leadership should be granted to Athens, possibly in conjunction with Sparta.

In the end, he looked towards Philip of Macedon, but died just as Philip's supremacy in Greece began. Twenty-one works of Isocrates survive, including political essays, treatises on education and ethics, as well as speeches on legal cases. Nine letters are also extant, dealing more with public than private matters.

The edition of the Loeb Classical Library of Isocrates is in three volumes. Volume I includes six speeches: “To Demonicus,” “To Nicocles,” “Nicocles or the Cypriots,” “Panegyric,” “To Philip” and “Archidamus.” Five are found in Volume II: “Areopagitical,” “On Peace,” “Panathenaic,” “Against the Sophists,” and “Against Deidymus.” Volume III includes “Eubulus,” “Helen,” “Busiris,” “Plataicus,” “On the Number of Horses,” “Banking,” “Against Callimachus,” “Aeginetic,” “Against Lochites,” and “Against Euthinius,” as well as the nine extant letters and a comprehensive index.

Pages: 464

Year of Publication: 0101

Dimensions: 10.8x10.8 cm