The Accomplishments and Religion of Hudibras Hudibras Put in the Stocks. THE DRAMATISTS OF THE RESTORATION.. WILLIAM WYCHERLEY. Widow Blackacre and Her Suitors WILLIAM CONGREVE. 286 GREEK LITERATURE. PERIOD VI. В.С. 400-250. THE ORATORS OF ATHENS. HE golden age of Greek oratory may be placed roughly between 450 and 336 B.C., extending from the time of Pericles to that of Alexander the Great. The epics of Homer abound with snatches of primitive oratory, and speeches are put into the mouths of his characters which must have been suggested to the bard by living models. Before the time of Herodotus, public address had taken the definite shape of the formal speeches which he records. Thucydides inserts numerous speeches as having been delivered by generals and others on important occasions. Such was the training which the Greeks had received from epic poetry, that when a man's actions were described they expected his words to be reported; therefore in the historian's narration of events heroic achievements were accompanied by public utterances. Argument and reasoning also entered the composition of the drama, so that finally the oratorical element came to form the leading part of the play, and the style became more like prose. To the statesman Pericles is ascribed the honor of having been the first great orator at Athens. Then followed Cleon, Alcibiades, and many other political leaders, whose oratorical abilities were of a high order. Towards the end of the fifth century B.C. one Corax, of Syracuse, established at Athens a school of forensic oratory, and laid down rules or principles, which are adhered to at the present day. The aims of Corax were entirely practical. His art was not merely for the sake of giving pleasure, but to enable men whose property had been alienated during the 9 |