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278 GREEK LITERATURE.

all on subjects connected with disputed inheritances ; and Isaeus appears to have been particularly well acquainted with the laws relating to inher­itance (7T6pl K-f]pov). Ten of these orations have been known ever since the revival of letters, and were printed in the collections of the Greek orators ; but the eleventh, .irepl rov Mci/e/cAeous /cA^pov, was first published from a Florentine MS., by Tyrwhitt, London, 1785, 8vo ; and afterward in the Getting. Biblioth. fur alte Lit. und Kunst, for 1788, part iii., and by Orelli, Zurich, 1814, 8vo. In 1815, Mai discovered the greater part of the oration of Isaeus, nepl rov Kewv^ou K^pov, which he published at Mi­lan, 1815, fol., and reprinted in his Classic. Auctor. e Cod. Vatican., vol. iv., p. 280, seqq.

Isaeus wrote also on rhetorical subjects, such as a work entitled ISiai rexvcu, which, however, is lost.1 Though his orations were placed in the Alexandrean canon, still we do not hear of any of the grammarians hav­ing written commentaries upon them except Didymus. 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 skillful 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 mislead 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.2

The orations of Isaeus are contained in the collections of the Greek orators mentioned at the close of the article on Antiphon. A separate edition, with Reiske’s and Taylor’s notes, appeared at Leipzig, 1773, 8vo, and another by SchSfer, Leipzig, 1822, 8vo. The best separate edition, how.ever, is that by Schomann, Greifswald, 1831, 8vo, with critical notes and a good commentary. There is an English translation of the orations of Isee-us by Sir William Jones, London, 1794, 4to, with prefatory discourse, notes critical and historical, and a commentary. This translation will give an English reader a sufficient notion of the orator, but it is somewhat deficient in critical accuracy, and also wanting in forc<j. For farther information concerning Isaeus, the student may consult Wester-mann, Gesch. der Griech. Beredts., t) 51, Beilage, v., p. 293, seqq., and Liebmann, De Isasi Vita et Scnptis, Halle, 1831, 4to.

6. JEscniNEs (AiVxi^s)3 was the son of Atrometus and Glaucothea,

and was’born B.C. 389. According to Demosthenes, his political antag-

onist, and who was no doubt in this guilty of exaggeration, his parents

were of disreputable character, and not even citizens of Athens. JEs-

1 Pint., Vit. Dec. Orat., L c. 2 Smith, Diet. Biogr., s. v. 3 Id. ib.