The Third Century: Fruition
The Third Century: Fruition
This chapter examines the evidence for the history of rhetoric after the completion of Philostratus’ Lives of the Sophists. It shows that the movement generally known as the ‘Second Sophistic’ continued to flourish in this period, and that rhetoric was taught by many sophists and philosophers, including (for example) Apsines, Longinus, Porphyry, and Metrophanes, as well as Menander himself. This period also saw the beginning of commentaries on technical works of rhetorical theory; the subsequent history of this genre is briefly summarized. Along with evidence for continuing creativity in literary scholarship, philosophy, law and theology, this shows that the political and military crisis of the 3rd century did not lead to an eclipse of intellectual culture.
Keywords: Second Sophistic, Philostratus, Apsines, Longinus, Porphyry, Metrophanes, sophists, technical commentary
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