Extract

By the time of *Hermogenes (2) (On Ideas 2. 11) writing in the 2nd cent. ce there was a list of ten Athenian orators (*Lysias, *Isaeus (1), *Hyperides, *Isocrates, *Dinarchus, *Aeschines (1), *Antiphon (1), *Lycurgus (3), *Andocides, *Demosthenes (2)) whose classic status was recognized; the same selection figures in the Lives of the Ten Orators falsely ascribed to *Plutarch. This follows a tendency typical of the Hellenistic period, to produce select lists for different genres (see canon). The number ten apparently goes back at least to *Caecilius (1) of Caleacte (Augustan period), who (Suda, entry under Κεκίλιος) wrote a treatise On the Style of the Ten Orators. However, even if Caecilius' ten were the same as Hermogenes', the selection was slow to acquire canonical status. There is evidence for alternative lists. His contemporary *Dionysius (7) (On Imitation 5) lists six orators worthy of imitation (Lysias, Isocrates, Lycurgus, Demosthenes, Aeschines, Hyperides), while at On the Ancient Orators 4, Isaeus replaces Lycurgus.