Il potere della parola nell’elogio di Elena: la prospettiva retorica di Isocrate sul rapporto tra ontologia e linguaggio.

Isocrates’ Helen starts with a long polemic against all those who have discussed unusual and paradoxical themes previously, which apparently has nothing in common with the legendary woman praised in the rest of the discourse. Very different thinkers are included in a unique framework, as allusions to Antisthenes and possibly to Plato are connected with a polemic against the eristics; then Protagoras, Gorgias, Melissus and Zenon are listed together. Nevertheless, beyond the general critique of their abstruse theories, which appears to be essentially based on common sense, it is possible to grasp a wider debate about the property of λόγος, as I argue in this essay. Isocrates was aware of the philosophical discussion about speech, reality and falsehood, and this is the premise of his discourse. While comparing Isocrates and Gorgias, this essay furthermore scrutinizes rhetor’s endeavor in defining the proper principles of praise, thus stating the unity of the Helen and its exemplary value as rhetorical model of education.