Page:A History of Ancient Greek Literature.djvu/349

 XVI THE 'ORATORS' - General Introduction Most students of Greek literature, however sensitive to the transcendent value of the poets and historians, find a difficulty in admiring or reading Lysias, Isocrates, and Isceus. The disappointment is partly justified ; Greek orators are not so much to the world as Greek poets are. But it is partly the result of a misunderstanding. We expect to find what we call * oratory ' in them, to declaim them as we would Burke and Grattan and Bossuet ; and we discover that, with a few exceptions, the thing cannot be done. Demosthenes indeed is overpoweringly eloquent, and when he disappoints the average modern, it is merely because the modern likes more flamboyance and gush, and cannot take points quickly enough. But many a man must rise in despair from the earlier orators, wonder- ing what art or charm it can be that has preserved for two thousand years Lysias Against the Corn-Dealers or Isaeus On the Estate of Cleonymus. The truth is that we look upon these writers as orators because we are at the mercy of our tradition. Our tradi- tion comes partly from the Romans, who based all their culture on oratory ; partly from the style-worship of the late Greek schools. The typical school critic is Diony- sius of Halicarnassus ; he was a professional teacher of 32s