Isocrates, Nicocles or the Cyprians, George Norlin (Translator), 6

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[6] but, because there has been implanted in us the power to persuade each other and to make clear to each other whatever we desire, not only have we escaped the life of wild beasts, but we have come together and founded cities and made laws and invented arts; and, generally speaking, there is no institution devised by man which the power of speech has not helped us to establish.¹

Nicocles or the Cyprians. Isocrates. George Norlin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.

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Current edition Perseus

Nicocles or the Cyprians (English) (Isocrates, Vol. 1. Norlin, George, translator. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1928 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Νικόκλης ἢ Κύπριοι Perseus (Isocrates, Vol. 1. Norlin, George, editor. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1928 (printing).) — 6 focus

[6] ἐγγενομένου δʼ ἡμῖν τοῦ πείθειν ἀλλήλους καὶ δηλοῦν πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς περὶ ὧν ἂν βουληθῶμεν, οὐ μόνον τοῦ θηριωδῶς ζῆν ἀπηλλάγημεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ συνελθόντες πόλεις ᾠκίσαμεν καὶ νόμους ἐθέμεθα καὶ τέχνας εὕρομεν, καὶ σχεδὸν ἅπαντα τὰ διʼ ἡμῶν μεμηχανημένα λόγος ἡμῖν ἐστιν ὁ συγκατασκευάσας.

Notes on the current edition

Nicocles or the Cyprians

1. For the power of speech as the faculty which has raised us from the life of beasts to that of civilized man see Xen. Mem. 4.3.11 ff. Cf. Isoc. 15.273 , Isoc. 4.48 ff. , and Shelley: “He gave man speech and speech created thought.” Isocrates refers to this passage in Isoc. 15.253 , and quotes exactly from sections 5-9.

Isocrates Nicocles or the Cyprians 6

George Norlin (Translator)

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