Isaeus - Oratorical Style

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 Alexandria. 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.