ISOKRATES: Pros demonikon parainesis (Greek). Venice, Ravano heirs 1549.
8vo. (47) lvs. (of 48: lacking the last blank). Contemporary boards (browned, stained). NUC 272,618 (the only copies we found listed in catalogues of public libraries): an extremely rare edition. It contains four speeches of Isocrates: "To Demonikos" (this is generally regarded to be a fake) with a relatively loose col1ection of admonitory epigrams, "To Nikokles", the young Cypriot prince who may have been a student of Isocrates, "Nikokles" - in this speech the ruler addresses his people himself - and the "Eu1ogy of the Roman Aristidos". Isocrates (436-338 BC) initiates the epoch in which rhetoric had a decidedly formative influence on Greek cu1ture. His school in Athens had an enormously wide impact, although he himself never made his speeches in public. They were read out publicly or meant to be read as written texts. Isocrates' scepticism against philosophy and above all against any claim to truth made him appreciate the talent for formulation and for effective expression: "Speaking wel1" and "thinking wel1" are interactive and indispensable requirements for any sensible activity. First and last lvs. with brown stains. Title with thin place.
Euro820
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