Description

This book traces the development of rhetorical techniques by examining the contribution made by each of the great orators, including several who have been unjustly ignored in the past. Dr. Usher makes the speeches come alive for the reader through his in-depth analysis of the problems and processes of composition and the likely responses of contemporary audiences. The analysis of Antiphon's pioneering role, Lysias' achievement of balance between the different parts of a speech, the establishment of oratory as a medium of political thought by Demosthenes and Isocrates, and the different characteristics of less well known orators such as Andocides, Isaeus, Aeschines, Lycurgus, Hyperides, Dinarchus, and Apollodorus, makes a fascinating study in the evolution of a genre; while the speeches themselves (which are translated into English) contain some of the liveliest and most moving passages in Greek literature.