Isaeus
- A Grecian orator of Chalcis, instructor of Demosthenes, Quint. 12, 10, 22.—
- II A contemporary of the younger Pliny, also a Grecian orator, Plin. Ep. 2, 3 init.; Juv. 3, 74.
(Ἰσαῖος).
1. One of the ten Attic orators, whose orations were contained in the Alexandrian canon. The time of his birth and death is unknown, but all accounts agree in the statement that he flourished (ἤκμασε) during the period between the Peloponnesian war and the accession of Philip of Macedonia, so that he lived between B. C. 420 and 348. (Dionys. Isaeus, 1; Plut. Vit. X. Orat. p. 839; Anonym. γένος Ἰσαίου.) He was a son of Diagoras, and was born at Chalcis or, as some say, at Athens, probably only because he came to Athens at an early age, and spent the greater part of his life there. He was instructed in oratory by Lysias and Isocrates (Phot. Bibl. Cod. 263; Dionys. Plut. Il. cc.) He was afterwards engaged in writing judicial orations for others, and established a rhetorical school at Athens, in which Demosthenes is said to have been his pupil. Suidas states that Isaeus instructed him gratis, whereas Plutarch relates that he received 10,000 drachmas (comp. Plut. de Glor. Ath. p. 350c.; Phot. l.c.); and it is further said that Isaeus composed for Demosthenes the speeches against his guardians, or at least assisted him in the composition. All particulars about his life are unknown, and were so even in the time of Dionysius, since Hermippus, who had written an account of the disciples of Isocrates, did not mention Isaeus at all. Works Orations
In antiquity there were sixty-four orations which bore the name of Isaeus, but fifty only were recognised as genuine by the ancient critics. (Plut. Vit. X. Orat. l.c.) Of these only eleven have come down to us; but we possess fragments and the titles of 56 speeches ascribed to him.
The eleven extant are all on subjects connected with disputed inheritances; and Isaeus appears to have been particularly well acquainted with the laws relating to inheritance. (Ππρὶ κλήρου.) Editions
Ten of these orations had been known ever since the revival of letters, and were printed in the collections of Greek orators; but the eleventh, Περὶ τοῦ Μενεκλέους κλήρου, was first published in 1785, from a Florentine MS., by Th. Thyrwitt, London, 1785, 8vo.; and afterwards in the Gölting. Biblioth. für alte Lit. und Kunst for 1788, part iii., and by J. C. Orelli, Zürich, 1814, 8vo. In 1815 A. Mai discovered the greater half of the oration of Isaeus, Περὶ τοῦ Κλεωνύμον κλήρον, which he published at Milan, 1815,fol., and reprinted in his Classic. Auctor. e Cod. Vatican. vol. iv. p. 280, &c. (Rome, 1831.) Rhetorical Writings
Isaeus also wrote on rhetorical subjects, such as a work entitled ἰδίαι τέχναι, which, however, is lost. (Plut. Vit. X. Orat. p. 839; Dionys. Epist. ad Ammon. 1.2.) Assessment
Although his orations were placed fifth in the Alexandrian canon, still we do not hear of any of the grammarians having written commentaries upon them, except Didymus of Alexandria. (Harpocrat. s. vv. γαμηλία, πανδαισία.) 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 till the time of Demosthenes. Editions
The orations of Isaeus are contained in the collections of the Greek orators, published by Aldus, Stephens, Miniati, Reiske, Ducas, Bekker, and Baiter and Sauppe.
A separate edition, with Reiske's and Taylor's notes, appeared at Leipzig, 1773. 8vo., and another by G. H. Schäfer, Leipzig, 1822, 8vo. The best separate edition is that by G. F. Schömann, with critical notes and a good commentary, Greifswald, 1831, 8vo. Translations
There is an English translation of the orations of Isaeus, by Sir William Jones (London, 1794, 4to.), with prefatory discourse, notes critical and historical, and a commentary. Further Information
Comp. Westermann, Gesch. d. Griech. Beredtsamkeit, § 51, and Beilage, v. p. 293, &c.; J. A. Liebmann, De Isaei Vita et Scriptis, Halle, 1831, 4to.
2. A sophist and rhetorician, was a native of Assyria. In his youth he gave himself up to sensual pleasures and debauchery; but after attaining the age of manhood, he changed his mode of life, and became a person of very respectable and sober habits. He must have lived for some time at Rome in the life of Pliny the younger, who speaks of him (Epist. 2.3; comp. Juvenal, 3.74, with the Scholiast) in terms of the highest praise. He seems to have enjoyed a very great reputation as a declaimer, and to have been particularly strong in extempore speaking. None of his productions have come down to us. Philostratus (Vit. Soph. 1.20) has dedicated a whole chapter to his biography, but relates only some anecdotes of him, and adds a few remarks on the character of his orations. (Comp. Anonym. Ἰσαίου γένος, p. 261, in Westermann's Vitarum Script. Graeci Minor.) [L.S]
(Ἰσαῖος). One of the ten Attic orators. He was born at Chalcis, and came to Athens at an early age. He wrote judicial orations for others and established a rhetorical school at Athens, in which Demosthenes is said to have been his pupil. He lived between B.C. 420 and 348. Eleven of his orations are extant, all relating to questions of inheritance. They afford considerable information respecting this branch of the Attic law, of which he was a master, and are marked by intellectual acumen, clearness of statement, and vigour of style. Edited with the other orations by Reiske (1773), Bekker (1823-28), Dobson (1828), Baiter and Sauppe (1839-43); and separately by Schömann (1831); with notes by Burmann (1883), and by Scheibe in the Teubner series. See Blass, Attische Beredsamkeit, vol. ii.; May, Les Plaidoyers d' Isée (Paris, 1876); and on the style, Lincke, De Elocutione Isaei (1884).
Isaeus (c. 415-c. 340 BC) was an important Attic orator about whose life we know very little. All his surviving speeches were written for inheritance cases, and he is our primary source for Athenian inheritance law.
life and WorksThe only biographical information recorded about Isaeus in antiquity is that he was a pupil of Isocrates and the teacher of Demosthenes (Dion. Hal. Is. 1). Some ancient writers put his birth in Chalcis, which may be correct. We have no evidence that he ever spoke in court himself; rather he was a teacher and logographer, writing speeches for others. As far as we know, he took no part in public affairs, and virtually all his speeches were written for private cases; he never delivered a speech himself. The private nature of his work probably accounts for the absence of biographical information about him. The only evidence for dating his speeches is internal and seems to indicate a range from c. 390 to c. 344.
Eleven complete speeches of Isaeus survive and Dionysius of Halicarnassus quotes several pages of a twelfth (For Euphiletus, Isaeus 12) as well as several shorter fragments. The complete speeches all concern inheritance cases, and these seem to have been a specialty of Isaeus; but we know from the fragments and titles of some forty other works that he composed speeches for many other kinds of cases. The survival of only inheritance speeches can probably be traced to the Alexandrian organization of the speeches by category; the inheritance speeches-Isaeus’ specialty-would have come first in the corpus and would have been the only ones preserved through the Middle Ages. The same process has yielded only homicide speeches for Antiphon.
SignificanceAmong his contemporaries, we are told (Dion. Hal. Is. 4), Isaeus had a reputation for trickery and deception and for skill in defending the worse case. Modern scholars used to have a higher opinion of his ability until Wyse's magisterial commentary relentlessly exposed the weaknesses in many of Isaeus’ arguments. More recent scholars are trying to move away from Wyse's severe judgment to a view of Isaeus as a skilled lawyer who uses his thorough knowledge of Attic law to build a persuasive case even when solid evidence for it is lacking. As a logographer, Isaeus would naturally be most sought by those whose cases were the most difficult, and his success would depend on his ability to win doubtful cases. Athenian inheritance law remained rather vague on certain crucial issues (such as the precise conditions for disregarding an otherwise valid will) and Isaeus clearly exploited these ambiguities.
Stylistically, Isaeus has generally been treated as a foil for Lysias and Demosthenes. Compared to the former, he lacks subtlety, charm and humor; compared to the latter, he lacks eloquence, grandeur and originality. But Isaeus ranks with the best in his ability to construct an argument that moves steadily toward the single goal of winning his case. This may make him less interesting to us, but must have suited the needs of his clients extremely well.
Blass, Friedrich, Die attische Beredsamkeit.. 2nd ed. vol. 2 Leipzig 1892. Jebb, R. C., The Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeos, vol. 2. London 1893. Kennedy, George, The Art of Persuasion in Greece. Princeton 1963. Kennedy, George, “Oratory” in The Cambridge History of Classical Literature I: Greek Literature. Ed. by P. E. Easterling and B. M. W. Knox (Cambridge 1985), pp. 498-526. Wyse, William, The Speeches of lsaeus. Cambridge 1904. Michael Gagarin