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VII. FROM THE SOPHISTS TO FORENSIC ORATORY 1. the complete antiphon As we have seen (above, 2.1), most ancient authorities did not distinguish another Antiphon (“the Sophist”) from Antiphon of Rhamnus. As far as we can tell, those who did make this distinction did so for stylistic reasons and had no biographical information about this supposed other Antiphon; and the Antiphon described by Thucydides so resembles a typical Sophist that he would probably have been considered a Sophist by many of his contemporaries and would thus be the most likely source for Xenophon’s character “Antiphon the Sophist.” In subsequent chapters, examination of the various worksattributedtoAntiphonshowsthatthesesharemanycommonfeatures, most notably an interest in law, justice, and the nature oflogos. Perhaps even more important is a common approach or attitude that challenges traditional views and explores novel ideas and methods of argument. This attitude is naturally more evident in the Tetralogies and sophistic treatises than in the court speeches, but even these show clear traces of it, especially in his last speech in his own defense. There are also, of course, some important differences among these three groups of works, but these can in large part be attributed to their different forms and purposes: the Tetralogies and Truth were intended to be read by students and other intellectuals. The former were an experiment in using the new form ofAntilogiae to explore legal and philosophical issues; the latter has the form of a standard treatise, though the method is questioning, not dogmatic .Concord may have been intended for oral presentation to a larger, less intellectual audience; it challenges common views, but in a more constructive and moralistic fashion. The court speeches were composed for oral delivery to a group of jurors, though Antiphon’s last speech, which was written down and later circulated, was also aimed at a wider audience. These differences affected the contents of the works, their methods of argument, and their styles, leading some ancient scholars who found them all grouped un07 -T1987 1/31/02 10:05 AM Page 170 7.2 style 171 1 Although we cannot date the Tetralogies or the treatises with any certainty, they are very likely earlier than the surviving court speeches, which may all date from the last eight years of Antiphon’s life. 2 For more on the differences between writing for oral delivery and writing for circulation to readers, see Gagarin 1999. 3 [Plutarch] Moralia 832c; see Edwards (1998: 83–85), and below, 7.5. der the name Antiphon to question whether the same man could have written so differently. In part, this question reflects the spirit of the Hellenistic age, when generic categories were more clearly established and prose styles were being studied, categorized, and differentiated. Such divisions were relatively unknown in the late fifth century, when prose texts, especially Attic prose, were still a relative novelty, and experimentation with forms and styles of discourse was common. In such an intellectual climate, it is readily understandable that one man could produce this diversity of works. 2. style Since antiquity, the criterion of style has been used to divide Antiphon, for the sophistic treatises differ stylistically from the court speeches, as do the Tetralogies. Whatever the differences, it is clear that Antiphon paid considerable attention to style. His earlier works were aimed at other intellectuals ,1 and he therefore wrote them in a complex, analytical style generally unsuited for oral delivery, a style that was to influence the historian Thucydides (said by some to have been Antiphon’s pupil). Later, since he was the first to write speeches for delivery in court, he had no models to follow other than the extemporaneous oral discourses he would have heard there. He was thus forced to create a new style, different from the intellectual argumentation of his other works, that would be more suitable for oral delivery.2 The resulting speeches may not achieve the vividness and smoothness we find in Lysias’s work, but they provide clear narratives and forceful arguments, and compare favorably with the speeches of his closest successor, Andocides, who can give a good narrative account but has no skill for argument. Thus Antiphon’s style changed over time. When he began writing, perhaps as early as 450, Attic prose was still in its infancy, and Ionic was the common dialect of intellectual communication. Even if the report that his father was a Sophist and had a school is not true,3 as a young, wealthy aristocrat...

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