'*  Upon  mature  consideration,*'  he  says,  "I  found  I  could  effect
this  purpose  in  no  other  manner  than  by  writing  a  discourse
which  should  be,  as  it  were,  an  image  of  my  mind  and  life ;  for
I  hoped  that  by  this  means  my  character  and  actions  would  be
best  understood,  and  that  the  discourse  itself  would  remain  a

much  more  honorable  memorial  than  tablets  of  brass

With  these  views  I  set  about  the  composition  of  the  present
discourse,  not  in  the  full  vigor  of  my  powers,  but  at  the  age  of
eighty-two."  He  says  of  himself:  "  I  have  so  lived  during
the  time  that  is  past,  that  no  one,  either  in  the  oligarchy  or  the
democracy,  has  charged  upon  me  any  insolence  or  wrong,  and
no  arbitrator  or  dicast  has  ever  been  called  to  sit  in  judgment
upon  my  conduct."

He  then  describes  himself  as  keeping  aloof  from   politica


ISOCRATES. 187

affairs,  from  courts  of  law,  from  assemblies,  from  the  arbitra-
tors, and  contrasts  his  own  habits  with  those  of  his  enemies,
who  haunted  every  place  of  public  resort,  and  intermeddled
with  suits  and  prosecutions  of  every  kind. He  states  that  he
has  written,  not  upon  the  common  business  of  man  with  man,
but  upon  subjects  of  general  importance,  — "  Hellenic,  political,
and  panegyrical  discourses,"  —  which  rank,  as  works  of  art,
with  those  compositions  which  are  embellished  with  music  and
rhythm ;  and  that  many  have  desired  to  become  his  disciples,
thinking  that  thus  they  might  make  themselves  wiser  and  bet-
ter men. He  then  reviews  his  principal  compositions,  giving
passages  from  the  Panegyricus,  the  discourse  on  Peace,  and
one  of  the  addresses  to  Nicocles. "  These,"  says  he,  "having
been  written  and  published,  I  acquired  great  reputation  and
received  many  pupils,  not  one  of  whom  would  have  remained
with  me,  had  they  not  found  me  to  be  such  as  they  had  sup-
posed. 