[Niall_Livingstone]_A_Commentary_on_Isocrates'_Busiris

30 INTRODUCTIONBusiris does not add very much to our knowledge of Polycrates'interests. He is given the stereotypical characteristics of a sophist:mercenary motives, arrogant boastfulness, the claim to make people'better'. 67 At Busiris 8 he is said to have taken an interest in genealogies(Genealogy is a prime topic ofencomium (see note on § 10and Isocrates may just meanthat he developed it with more than average enthusiasm; or he mayhave made use of arguments from heroic chronology, as Isocrateshimself does in Busiris 8. Alternatively he may have had an independentinterest in the genealogy of the heroes, as did Hippias of Elis. 68Dionysius of Halicarnassus classes Polycrates, along with Antiphon,Thrasymachus, Critias and Zoilus, among the teachers of practicalrhetoric. 69 He criticises Polycrates' style severely, in terms which implyoverblown verbosity and a tasteless use of too many extravagantfigures and poeticisms. 70 Dionysius mentions 'real' ( speeches:it is not clear exactly what this means, but the word suggests workswritten for actual use in court or assembly. 71 No other source mentionsany such works. For ancient writers on rhetoric, he was clearlythe writer of par excellence. 72 His predilections seem to havebeen inherited by his pupil Zoilus, who, besides his famous worksAgainst Homer's Poetry and Against Plato, is said to have written an67 Cf. Bus. 1 4 42 . . ., with notead loc. in each case.68 Cf. Plato Hippias maior 285d.69(Isaeus 20).70 II(Isaeus 20): on Dionysius' criticalterms, see Geigenmiiller 1908 pp. 110 f., 114. We may recall the encomiumdescribed by Demetrius, with its 'antitheses, metaphors, and every epideictic figure'.71The adjective occurring most often in the phrasenormally implies a real forensic or political situation (Geigenmuller 1908 p. 60). InIsaeus 20 Polycrates comes between Antiphon and Thrasymachus in the discussion;Dionysius states explicitly that Antiphon did not engage in dicanic or symbouleuticcontests, and that Thrasymachus left no lawcourt speeches. Hence the absenceof any such statement about Polycrates, together with the reference tostronglysuggests that Dionysius did know of some practical speeches ascribedto him—unless it is simply that he did not recognise, or chose to ignore, the fictionalcharacter of the Accusation of Socrates: compare his criticism of the speech in Plato'sMenexenus as though it were a real (Demosthenes 23-30).72Demetrius understands his purpose and excuses his bombastic style:(On Style 120). Cf.Alexander RG III.3, Quintilian II. 17.4.