La verità della lode: Isocrate su Elena
Author(s)
Date Issued
2023
Type
article
Volume
12
Start Page
283
End Page
295
Journal
Abstract
Abstract: The analysis of Isocrates’ reflection on ἀλήθεια at the beginning of the proem
of the Encomium of Helen (4-5) offers a contribution to the understanding of the
speech, intending to emphasise both its unitary structure and its specific character as
a school text, which is aimed at teaching the norms that oversee praise, that are constructed,
enunciated and applied at the very act of writing. The article proves that the
search for the truth of the praise, intended as the search for an exemplary discourse
of praise due to its subject, its structure, and the interweaving of theory and rhetorical
practice, is a search programmatically indicated in a fundamental junction of the
proem and can be referred to as the unifying feature of the Encomium of Helen as a
school text, that is, a text drafted according to that technique of composition and, at the
same time, of reflection on the discourse in fieri itself, which was typical of Isocrates’
teaching.
Subjects