XXXI. NAUCRATES

1. Cic. orat. 51, 172 (de rhythmo orationis agens): quodsi aures tam inhumanas tamque agrestes habent, ne doctissimοrum quidem virorum eos movebit auctoritas? omitto Isocratem discipulosque eius Ephorum et Naucratem, quamquam orationis faciendae et ornandae auctores locupletissimi…

τῶν συμβιωσάντων Ἰσοκράτει καὶ τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς ἑρμηνείας ἐκείνου ἐκμιμησαμένων N. est unus Dionysio de Isaeo p. 122, 12 Us.-R., Ἰσοκράτους ἑταῖρος Pseudodionysio artis p. 278, 6, discipulus Ciceroni etiam de orat. 2, 23, 94, Dionysio de Isaeo c. 19, Erythraeus est sec. Stephanum Byz. s. v. Ἐρυθραί, Sudam s. v. Θεοδέκτης et s. v. Ἰσοκράτης, Photium Bibl. I p. 120 b Bkk., tamquam summus orator a Cicerone et Theopompο apud Photium l. c. probatur. Ciceronem memorat Ruinus rhet. p. 581, 15 H. Credibile autem est Naucratis oratoris apud posteriores gloriam idcirco fuisse tantam, quia particeps fuisse ferebatur certaminis ab Artemisia regina instituti, de quo Gell. 10, 18, Sud. s. v. Θεοδέκτης al.

 

 

2. Cic. de orat. 3, 44, 173: versus enim veteres illi in hac soluta oratione propemodum, hoc est numeros quosdam nobis esse adhibendos putaverunt. interspirationis enim, nοn defetigationis nostrae neque librariorum notis, sed verborum et sententiarum modo interpunctas clausulas in orationibus esse voluerunt; idque princeps Isocrates instituisse fertur, ut inconditam antiquorum dicendi consuetudinem delectationis atque aurium causa, quemadmodum scribit discipulus eius Naucrates, numeris adstringeret. (174) namque haec duo musici, qui erant quondam idem poetae, machinati ad voluptatem sunt, versum atque cantum, ut et verborum numero et vocum modo delectatione vincerent aurium satietatem. haec igitur duo, vocis dico moderationem et verborum conclusionem, quoad orationis severitas pati posset, a poetica ad eloquentiam traducenda duxerunt.

 

 

 

3. Quint. inst. 3, 6, 3: statum Graeci στάσιν vocant, quod nomen non primum ab Hermagora traditum putant, sed alii a Naucrate Isocratis discipulo, alii a Zopyro Clazomeniο.

ab Eucrate libri.

Zopyrum Clazomenium, Timonis aequalem (Diog. Laert. IX 114), τεχνογράφον fuisse, ex Philod. I p. 187, 16 sq. vix apparet. Eius mansit memoria apud Syrianum (II p. 47, 18 and.) et in Prol. in Hermog. VII 6, Prol. Syll. p. 190, 4 R. (ubi Πύρρος ὁ Κλαζομένιος). Pergit autem Quintilianus l. l.: ‘quamquam videtur Aeschines quoque in oratione contra Ctesiphontem uti hoc verbo (§ 206), cum a iudicibus petit, ne Demostheni permittant evagari, sed eum dicere de ipso causae statu cogant.’ Inde emendaverunt, quod Aeschinis libris traditur περὶ τῆς τάξεως αὐτῷ τοῦ λόγου μάχεσθε.

 

 

 

4. [Diοnysii] artis rhet. VI, II p. 278, 5 Us.-R. auctοr agens de oratione funebri militibus bello interfectis habita: Λυσίας τε καὶ Ὑπερείδης καὶ ὁ Παιανιεὺς καὶ ὁ τοῦ Ἰσοκράτους ἑταῖρος Ναυκράτης πολλὰς ἡμῖν τοιαύτας ἰδέας παρέσχοντο.

Quod orationem vel orationes ἐπιδείξεως χάριν a Naucrate scriptae intellegi coniciunt, rem peragunt valde incertam.

 

XXXI. Naucrates

1. Cicero, Orator 51.172 (about rhythm in speeches): But if they have such uncultured and coarse ears, will not even the authority of the most learned people move them? I omit Isocrates and his students Ephorus and Naucrates, although they are the richest authors of writing and embellishing speeches.

N. is one of ‘those who were contemporaries of Isocrates and thoroughly imitated the character of his delivery’ according to Dionysius On Isaeus p. 122, 12 Us.-R., ‘a companion of Isocrates’ (Pseudo-Dionysios On Rhetoric p. 278, 6), ‘a student’ (Cicero also in de orat.  2.23.94; Dionysius On Isaeus ch. 19). He was from Erythrai according to Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Ἐρυθραί, Suda s. v. Θεοδέκτης and s. v. Ἰσοκράτης, Photius Bibl. I p. 120 b Bkk. He is regarded as a prominent orator by Cicero and Theopompus in Photius ibid. Cicero is referred to by Rufinus On Rhetoric p. 581, 15 H. It is credible, however, that Naucrates’ fame among later authors was so great because he was said to have participated in a contest instituted by Queen Artemisia, on which see Gellius 10.18; Suda s. v. Θεοδέκτης, and elsewhere.

 

2. Cicero, On the Orator 3.44.173-174: Those old authors thought that we should, in a sense, employ verses in this kind of prose speech, that is, some sort of metre. For they wanted sentences in speeches to be punctuated by pauses for us to catch breath, not to rest after excessive effort, and not by the signs of copyists but by those of the words and thoughts themselves. Isocrates is said to have been the first to institute this, in order to constrain the ancients’ way of speaking publicly with metre for the sake of pleasure and our ears, as writes his students Naucrates. Indeed, these two artists, who were at some point poets as well, came up with this doctrine for the sake of pleasure, verse and singing, so that they might by the metre of the words and the modulation of the voice overcome through delectation the satiation of the ears. Thus, they thought that these two things, the control of the voice and the metrical endings of the words, must be transferred from poetry to oratory to the extent that the seriousness of the speech allows it.

 

3. Quintilian 3.6.3: The point is called by the Greeks στάσις, a designation they think was not first handed down by Hermagoras but – according to some – by Naucrates, the student of Isocrates, or – according to others – by Zophyros of Clazomenai.

That Zopyrus of Clazomenae, a contemporary of Timon (Diog. Laert. 9.114), was a ‘writer of treatises’ is hardly to be inferred from Philod. I p. 187, 16 f. he is remembered in Syrianus (2 p. 47, 18 n.), in Prologue on Hermogenes 6.6 and Prol. Syll. p. 190, 4 R. (where he is called ‘Pyrros of Clazomenai’). Quintilian continues ibid.: ‘… although Aeschines too seems to use this word in the speech Against Ctesiphon (§ 206) when he asks the judges not to allow Demosthenes to go on tangents but to force him to speak about the subject matter of the trial itself.’ Hence the editors have changed the reading found in Aeschines’ manuscripts, which read taxis instead of stasis (‘fight with him over the order of the speech’).

 

4. Pseudo-Dionysius, On Rhetoric: Lysias, Hyperides, Paeanieus and Isocrates’ friend Naucrates have provided us with many such examples [of funeral speeches].

Those who surmise that this passage refers to one or more speeches written by Naucrates as ‘for the sake of demonstration’ are speculating wildly.