Letter 459
Isidore of Pelusium→Unknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Ophelios the Grammarian
Date: ~410 AD
Context: One of Isidore's most remarkable letters: he quotes Libanius's own letter praising John Chrysostom's eloquence, then uses Plutarch's definition of Atticism to argue that Chrysostom represents the truest form of the classical style.
You asked me about the style of the blessed John [Chrysostom], and whether it represents genuine Attic Greek. Let me show you what even Libanius — famed above all others for his eloquence — thought of it.
Libanius read John's speech to an audience of men who were themselves craftsmen in language, and not one of them, he says, failed to leap up and shout and do all the things a man does when he has been struck with astonishment. He writes: "Libanius to John: Having received your speech, so long and so fine, I read it to men who are themselves makers of words — and not one of them failed to leap up and cry out and do all the things of the astonished. I rejoiced that in showing your art in the law courts you add to it these public displays, and I count you blessed for being able to praise so well, and those who received such a panegyrist — both the father who gave it and the sons who received the kingship."
This is what Libanius wrote. And Plutarch holds that clarity and smoothness are the genuine mark of Atticism: "For this is how the orators spoke." The style of the great rhetoricians — Gorgias, Thucydides, Pericles — is characterized precisely by lucidity, not by ornamentation. John possesses this. He is not merely eloquent by the standards of the church; he is eloquent by the standards of Libanius. That is not a small thing.
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From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Ophelios the Grammarian
Date: ~410 AD
Context: One of Isidore's most remarkable letters: he quotes Libanius's own letter praising John Chrysostom's eloquence, then uses Plutarch's definition of Atticism to argue that Chrysostom represents the truest form of the classical style.
You asked me about the style of the blessed John [Chrysostom], and whether it represents genuine Attic Greek. Let me show you what even Libanius — famed above all others for his eloquence — thought of it.
Libanius read John's speech to an audience of men who were themselves craftsmen in language, and not one of them, he says, failed to leap up and shout and do all the things a man does when he has been struck with astonishment. He writes: "Libanius to John: Having received your speech, so long and so fine, I read it to men who are themselves makers of words — and not one of them failed to leap up and cry out and do all the things of the astonished. I rejoiced that in showing your art in the law courts you add to it these public displays, and I count you blessed for being able to praise so well, and those who received such a panegyrist — both the father who gave it and the sons who received the kingship."
This is what Libanius wrote. And Plutarch holds that clarity and smoothness are the genuine mark of Atticism: "For this is how the orators spoke." The style of the great rhetoricians — Gorgias, Thucydides, Pericles — is characterized precisely by lucidity, not by ornamentation. John possesses this. He is not merely eloquent by the standards of the church; he is eloquent by the standards of Libanius. That is not a small thing.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.