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[8] For my part I am not concerned with the date when oratory began to be taught. Even in Homer we find Phoenix1 as an instructor not only of conduct but of speaking, while a number of orators are mentioned, the various styles are represented by the speeches of three of the chiefs2 and the young men are set to contend among themselves in contests of eloquence:3 moreover lawsuits and pleaders are represented in the engravings on the shield of Achilles.4

1 Il. ix. 432.

2 i.e. the copious style by Nestor, the plain by Menelaus, the intermediate by Ulysses.

3 Il. xv. 284.

4 Il. xviii. 497 sqq.

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