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Abstract
While Isocrates regarded rhetoric not as a rigid discipline, but as a creative and pliable art, it is not possible to standardize art. According to his point of view (Against the sophists 13.13), good speech depends on certain principles: opportunity (kairos); suitability (to prepon) and novelty (kainos). The sophists, according to Isocrates, did not pay attention to these principles, and that was their main mistake. The problem was, however, that it was difficult to teach these principles to the disciples, precisely because rhetoric was a flexible art. Still, although it is not possible to provide fixed rules concerning rhetorical principles, the ancient rhetor provided some useful suggestions in his works which make it possible to reconstruct the nature of these principles.
Highlights
I have limited myself to presenting, in a general way, two elements of Isocrates’ rhetorical system, which have to be further studied in greater depth
One should be careful when studying these aspects. e only aspect that we can understand with certain clarity is the rhetorical competence, the technical elements that take place during the speech generating-process
According to Isocrates himself, the most di cult thing is to know how to put discourse into practice; the pragmatic mechanisms that make a speech e ective cannot be the object of a discipline
Summary
To sum up: pragmatic competence is a perquisite for becoming an expert orator in Isocrates’ rhetorical philosophy, while the fundamental principles of this theory are: a) the suitability of the rhetorical elements for the particular issue; b) the opportunity (kairos); c) the suitability of the contents (to prepon) and d) the rhythm as well as music in the expression. Each one of these principles can be seen in a speci c way. Ep. 6.7: μὴ θαυμάζετε δἄν τι φαίνωμαι λέγων ὧν πρότερον ἀκηκόατε: τῷ μὲν γὰρ ἴσως ἄκων ἂν ἐντύχοιμι, τὸ δὲ καὶ προειδώς, εἰ πρέπον εἰς τὸν λόγον εἴη, προσλάβοιμι, “Do not be amazed if you nd me saying states in the aforementioned passage of his In soph. . : rhetorical e ectiveness depends on the suitability of the words
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