Edward S. Forster, Isocrates Cyprian Orations

οἱ περὶ τὴν φιλοσοφίαν ὄντες: cp. οἱ περὶ τὴν μουσικήν, E. 4 and note. For φιλοσοφία see Introd. p. 14.

διὰ τῶν ἐριστικῶν λόγων, ‘by disputations on controversial topics.’ ἐριστικοὶ λόγοι are literally ‘wrangling discussions’, so ‘disputations’. Protagoras is said to have been an upholder of this form of mental gymnastic, and to have written a book called ἡ ἐριστικῶν τέχνη. Isocr. seems to have approved of such discussions (cp. Panath. 26 ἐπαινῶ . . . τοὺς διαλόγους τοὺς ἐριστικοὺς καλουμένους), though he thinks that the younger generation in his own day was too fond of them, an opinion which he repeats in Antidos. 261. We are told (Ps.-Plut. vit. Isocr. p. 837) that Isocrates was the first to distinguish between ἐριστικοί and πολιτικοὶ λόγοι.

τῶν πολιτικῶν: sc. λόγων, ‘political discussions’; see note on πολιτικός, E. 10. Isocr. praises this form of mental training in contr. Sophist. 21 συνασκῆσαι μάλιστ᾽ ἂν οἶμαι τὴν τῶν λόγων τῶν πολιτικῶν ἐπιμέλειαν.

τοὺς αὑτοῖς πλησιάζοντας: i.e. their pupils.

τὸν καλῶς πεπαιδευμένον, ‘a well-educated man.’

ἐξ ἑκάστου τούτων, ‘from all these different sources,’ i.e. τὰ γυμνάσια τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς which he has described.