[Niall_Livingstone]_A_Commentary_on_Isocrates'_Busiris

2. INTRODUCTIONspeech-within-the-speech which follows, he praises Busiris by divertingattention from the traditional story to the country of which Busirisis supposed to have been king: he makes Busiris founder of theEgyptian civilisation, which he depicts as a 'model constitution' inthe manner of contemporary Greek political theory. Concluding thework, Isocrates once again addresses Polycrates directly, and takes anew, rather Platonic tack, warning him against poetic myths whichblasphemously present the gods' own children (such as Busiris) asvillains, and urging him to embrace the serious, morally beneficialrhetoric of which Isocrates himself is the master.The present work is, to the best of the author's knowledge, thefirst scholarly commentary on Busiris in any language. The introductiondeals with the structure, unity and generic properties of thework, and provides background information which will aid understanding:on the career of the addressee Polycrates; on the earlierliterary and iconographic tradition for the myth of Busiris; on theGreek fascination with Egypt which underpins Isocrates' sketch ofher civilisation; and on relationships between Busiris and the workof other contemporary educators such as Plato. In particular, it isargued (IV.i) that Isocrates' sketch of Egyptian society is a directparody of the state constructed in Plato's Republic, and his criticismand 'betterment' of Polycrates' speech is shown to display close textualand conceptual parallels with Socrates' treatment of Lysias'speech in the Phaedrus (IV.ii): parallels which may point to a widespreadtechnique in sophistic teaching. The commentary itself aimsto elucidate the text at the levels of language, style, argument andrhetorical technique (the few significant textual variants are also discussed,but since the tradition is basically secure no new examinationof manuscripts has been attempted). It seeks to show that thethemes and arguments of the work cohere as a unified persuasivestrategy, which presents Isocratean education as a practical and honourableoption for the Athenian (and pan-Hellenic) elite, a middleway between the unworldly pursuit of abstract truth and amoralsophistic individualism.The Busiris is a key text in defining Isocrates' public role as writerand educator; it is also of great interest for students of the contextand reception of the work of Plato; of the sophistic milieu and ofthe wider intellectual culture of classical Athens; and of the historyof literary criticism. At the same time, its modest length, its varied