Isocrates, Panathenaicus, George Norlin (Translator), 18

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[18] For some of my friends met me and related to me how, as they were sitting together in the Lyceum,¹ three or four of the sophists of no repute— men who claim to know everything and are prompt to show their presence everywhere—were discussing the poets, especially the poetry of Hesiod and Homer, saying nothing original about them, but merely chanting their verses and repeating from memory the cleverest things which certain others had said about them in the past.²

Panathenaicus. Isocrates. George Norlin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.

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Current edition Perseus

Panathenaicus (English) (IIsocrates, Vol 2. Norlin, George, translator. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1929 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Παναθηναικός Perseus (Isocrates, Vol 2. Norlin, George, editor. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1929 (printing).) — 18 focus

[18] ἀπαντήσαντες γάρ τινές μοι τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἔλεγον ὡς ἐν τῷ Λυκείω συγκαθεζόμενοι τρεῖς ἢ τέτταρες τῶν ἀγελαίων σοφιστῶν καὶ πάντα φασκόντων εἰδέναι καὶ ταχέως πανταχοῦ γιγνομένων διαλέγοιντο περί τε τῶν ἄλλων ποιητῶν καὶ τῆς Ἡσιόδου καὶ τῆς Ὁμήρου ποιήσεως, οὐδὲν μὲν παρʼ αὑτῶν λέγοντες, τὰ δʼ ἐκείνων ῥαψῳδοῦντες καὶ τῶν πρότερον ἄλλοις τισὶν εἰρημένων τὰ χαριέστατα μνημονεύοντες·

Notes on the current edition

Panathenaicus

1. A sacred enclosure on the right bank of the Ilissus , dedicated to Apollo—a gymnasium and exercise ground, but was also frequented by philosophers. Here Aristotle and his pupils were wont to gather.

2. Other sophists made much of the study and elucidation of the poets, but there is no evidence that Isocrates did. See Blass, Die attische Beredsamkeit 2, pp. 46 ff.

Isocrates Panathenaicus 18

George Norlin (Translator)

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