Excerpt from A History of Classical Greek Literature, Vol. 2 of 2: Part II. The Prose Writers, From Isocrates to Aristotle

The plaintiff N icias, during the troublous times of the tyranny, being threatened with persecution, had got rid of all his property by depositing it with friends, among whom Euthy nous had received three talents to keep for him. When he claimed back his money, Euthynous would only admit the receipt of two. As soon as the democracy was restored, N icias, who had been afraid to do more than protest at the time, sued for the remaining talent. There being no evidence or witnesses, the case turns on the respective characters of the litigants, and their respective opportunities for sycophancy, or for oppression, under the T hirty. From this point of view the speech is an in teresting exercise. In stvle it seems to me more concise and brief than is usual with Isocrates.have been wrongfully taken from a certain Tisias. Here again the earlier part, and the proofs of the honest acquisi tion of the horses from the Argives, seem lost, and we have merely the epilogue answering an attack on the life and policy of Alcibiades. The similar condition of several of the speeches just described, in which we have part of the argument elaborated with only a brief reference at the Opening to the mis sing part, leads me to suspect that, after all, Isocrates may have told practically the truth when he denied that he ever busied himself in the law courts by writing speeches. It may have been his practice, when a case of public interest occurred, such as the general validity of the act of amnes'y as a bar to proceed ings, or the importance of punishing even a formal assault, or the panegyric of a public man like Alcibiades, to compose by way of model for his pupils a portion of the harangue which ought to have been delivered. This case of Alcibiades must have been peculiarly attractive to the rhetors, for his life and policy were open to either praise or censure. The attack handed down to us among Lysias' speeches bears close relations to the present harangue, either as its forerunner or its reply. Both orations seem mere displays of what could be said on either side concerning a genius so brilliant, so mischievous, and so various in his fortunes. We have another longer and more genuine enmmz'um of the same kind in the Emgomr, addressed to Evagoras' son Nicocles, tyrant of Cyprus. This family stood in friendly personal relations to the orator, and the deeds of Evagoras in holding Cyprus for years against the Persians were not only more splendid but more recent, and not al loyed by the treacheries and unstablenesses of Alcibiades' career.

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