[Niall_Livingstone]_A_Commentary_on_Isocrates'_Busiris

4 INTRODUCTIONformal praise) of Busiris. 1 Busiris is a mythological villain. Isocrateselsewhere denies interest in mythological themes, and here characterisesthe theme as 'unserious'. 2 The Busiris itself argues that the exerciseof praising those who do not really deserve praise is at best pointless,at worst dangerous. So what is to be made of a work whichappears to reject its own theme and denounce itself as frivolous? 3There is a simple answer to this question, though it has not alwaysbeen seen. Busiris contains an Encomium of Busiris, but it is notaccurate to say that it is an Encomium of Busiris. As will be seen,the Busiris owes something to several different traditions of rhetoricalcreation. The encomium is one part of a complex whole; it mustbe interpreted in relation to the other parts, and with an awarenessof the ironic, insinuating tone of the work as a whole. The 'practicalcriticism' which the work directs both at its own inset Encomium1 Hence its position among the 'encomia' (with Evagoras, Helen and Panathenaicus)in the traditional ordering of Isocrates' works. Cf. hypoth. 44-46v the hypothesis-writer is evidently aware of a need to explain inwhat sense Busiris is an encomium. On the status of the work as a letter, see I.iibelow.2Cf. Panath. 1 o8ei