Table Of ContentLogos without Rhetoric
Studies in Rhetoric/Communication
Thomas W. Benson, Series Editor
Logos without Rhetoric
The Arts of Language before Plato
Edited by
Robin Reames
Afterword by
Edward Schiappa
The University of South Carolina Press
© 2017 University of South Carolina
Published by the University of South Carolina Press
Columbia, South Carolina 29208
www.sc.edu/uscpress
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
can be found at http://catalog.loc.gov/
ISBN 978-1-61117-768-8 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-61117-769-5 (ebook)
Front cover photograph: © antpkr/istockphoto.com
It is perhaps a true proverb, which says that the beginning of anything is the
most important; hence it is also the most difficult. For, as it is very powerful in
its effects, so it is very small in size and therefore very difficult to see. When,
however, the first beginning has been discovered, it is easier to add to it and
develop the rest. This has happened, too, concerning rhetorical speeches, and
also practically all the other arts.
Aristotle
On Sophistical Refutations
Contents
Series Editor’s Preface
ix
Preface and Acknowledgments
xi
A Note on Translations
xiii
Introduction
1
Unity, Dissociation, and Schismogenesis in Isocrates
Terry L. Papillon
11
Theodorus Byzantius on the Parts of a Speech
Robert N. Gaines
19
Gorgias’ “On Non-Being”:
Genre, Purpose, and Testimonia
Carol Poster
30
Parmenides:
Philosopher, Rhetorician, Skywalker
Thomas Rickert
47
Heraclitus’ Doublespeak:
The Paradoxical Origins of Rhetorical Logos
Robin Reames
63
Rhetoric and Royalty:
Odysseus’ Presentation of the Female Shades in Hades
Marina McCoy
79
Contents
Mētis, Themis, and the Practice of Epic Speech
David C. Hoffman
97
It Takes an Empire to Raise a Sophist:
An Athens-Centered Analysis of the Oikonomia of Pre-Platonic Rhetoric
Michael Svoboda
113
Afterword:
Persistent Questions in the Historiography of Early Greek Rhetorical Theory
Edward Schiappa
133
Appendix A:
A Timeline of the Life of Gorgias of Leontini
Carol Poster
143
Appendix B:
A Summary of Gorgias’ Work and Activity
Carol Poster
147
Appendix C:
A New Testimonium of Theodorus Byzantius
Robert Gaines
149
Notes
151
Bibliography
171
Contributors
187
Index
189
viii
Series Editor’s Preface
What are the origins of rhetoric in Western culture? To this day most students
new to the study of the history of rhetoric are introduced to the story of Corax
and Tisias, who were said by the Greeks to have written the first handbooks
on oratory in the fifth century b.c.e. in Sicily and whose teachings quickly
migrated to Athens. But earlier practices of argument and persuasion reach
back to the origins of literacy and beyond in the mists of memory in oral cul-
ture. Against this tradition of gradually developing practice and increasingly
self-conscious practice, Edward Schiappa, writing in the 1990s, offered a con-
trasting view. In 1990, Schiappa argued that it was not until fourth-century
Athens, with Plato’s dialogue Gorgias, that the term rhetoric (rhētorikē) was
coined, and that the naming of the art enabled the foundation of what may
truly be called rhetorical theory.
In Logos without Rhetoric: The Arts of Language before Plato, Robin Reames
and the contributors she has brought together consider the intellectual and
material history of rhetoric, eloquence, and oratory before Plato. The result is
a fascinating, vivid, and learned journey, guided by scholars of distinction and
originality—Terry L. Papillon, Robert N. Gaines, Carol Poster, Thomas Rickert,
Marina McCoy, David C. Hoffman, and Michael Svoboda, along with Robin
Reames as editor and contributor and an afterword by Edward Schiappa.
The intellectual delights of this richly documented and theoretically daz-
zling volume are augmented by a spirit of intellectual generosity that shines
through every contending theoretical and historical argument. The result is a
work that is important, original, and at the same time lucid and accessible—
a model of scholarly eloquence.
Thomas W. Benson
Preface and Acknowledgments
The idea for this volume began as a panel on Heraclitus that I organized for
the Rhetoric Society of America biennial conference, which included presenta-
tions by Jason Helms, David Hoffman, Carol Poster, and myself. I am grateful
to the lively discussion of the panel presenters and the attendees for inspiring
the larger work of this volume, which aims to gather and reconsider some of
the intellectual antecedents for the ascendance of rhetoric in fourth-century
b.c.e. Greece. Although originally the discussion focused exclusively on Hera-
clitus, and considered the hermeneutic traditions that exclude his thought from
the history of rhetoric, our considerations led us to entertain more broadly
how these hermeneutic traditions constrain our view of many other figures as
well, where strict and firm distinctions between “poets,” “philosophers,” “soph-
ists,” and “rhetoricians” anachronistically dictate how and to what extent these
thinkers are viably associated with the birth of rhetoric and rhetorical theory. I
am grateful to all of the contributors, whose enthusiasm for this theme brought
the project into being.
In addition the contributors, I wish to thank Jim Denton, Linda Fogle, and
the editorial staff at the University of South Carolina Press, whose hard work
has made this volume possible, and to the eagle-eyed copyeditors who see the
errors of our ways. We the authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers
who offered invaluable feedback and commentary at earlier stages of the proj-
ect. I also wish to thank Bentley University; the Jeanne and Dan Valente Cen-
ter for Arts and Sciences at Bentley, and its director, Christopher Beneke. The
center’s generous support made beginning the work for this volume possible. I
am grateful as well to the librarians and library services at Harvard’s Widener
and Houghton libraries, whose outstanding collections are nothing less than
inspirational. Thanks also are due to my colleagues and students at the Uni-
versity of Illinois at Chicago, in particular Ralph Cintron, Monica Westin, and
Nathan Shephard, as well as William McNeill of DePaul University, all of whom
participated in a roundtable discussion of this and other work. And of course,
heartfelt thanks goes to Edward Schiappa, whose scholarship on the beginning
of rhetorical theory in Greece laid a firm foundation on which to build this
work, and whose interest in this project is generously offered in the afterword.
Finally, I wish to thank my partner, Drew Dalton, whose support, encour-
agement, generosity, and vast knowledge of the history of philosophy make my
