Greek Orators I: Antiphon, Lysias (Aris & Phillips Classical Texts)

Rational persuasion and appeal to an audience's emotions are elements of most literature, but they are found in their purest form in oratory.The speeches written by the Greek Orators for delivery in law-courts, deliberative councils and assemblies enjoyed an honoured literary status, and rightly so, for the best of them have great vitality.There is no crude, primitive stage of development: the earliest speeches are perfect in form and highly sophisticated in technique.They inform the reader about aspects of Greek society and about their moral values, in a direct and illuminating way not paralleled in other literature.This edition offers a contrasting pair of early orators.In his speech The Murder of Herodes, edited by Michael Edwards, Antiphon relies on a varied and resourceful use of probability argument, presented with great force and gravity. Motivation of both defendant and prosecutor is also explored thoroughly, as are the religious aspects of homicide.The five speeches by Lysias,