person
Gorgias of Leontini
Gorgias
Greek sophist and rhetorician (c. 483-376 BC); reputedly the first to take any topic at the audience's request. The figure of Plato's Gorgias.
Reading notes
- On the Ends of Good and Evil §2.1 Gorgias of Leontini
The famous Sicilian rhetorician and sophist (c. 483-376 BC) from Leontini, celebrated for his ornate style and for offering to speak extempore on any topic an audience proposed. Cicero cites him as the first to invite questions from a crowd, a practice later taken over by philosophers.
- Orator: To Marcus Brutus §165 that Gorgias was the leader
Gorgias of Leontini, credited as the pioneer of the symmetrical figures (the Gorgianic figures: isocolon, parison, antithesis, homoeoteleuton) whose balance of itself produces prose rhythm.