WORKS.--The extant works of Isocrates consist of twenty-one speeches or discourses and nine letters.[20] Among these, the six forensic speeches represent the first period of his literary life--belonging to the years 403-393 B.C. All six concern private causes. They may be classed as follows: 1. _Action for Assault_ ([Greek: dikê aikias]), Or. xx., _Against Lochites_, 394 B.C. 2. _Claim to an Inheritance_ ([Greek: epidikasia]), Or. xix., _Aegineticus_, end of 394 or early in 393 B.C. 3. _Actions to Recover a Deposit_: (1) Or. xxi., _Against Euthynus_, 403 B.C.; (2) Or. xvii., _Trapeziticus_, end of 394 or early in 393 B.C. 4. _Action for Damage_ ([Greek: dikê blabês]), Or. xvi., _Concerning the Team of Horses_, 397 B.C. 5. _Special Plea_ ([Greek: paragraphê]), Or. xviii., _Against Callimachus_, 402 B.C. Two of these have been regarded as spurious by G. E. Benseler, viz. Or. xxi., on account of the frequent hiatus and the short compact periods, and Or. xvii., on the first of these grounds. But we are not warranted in applying to the early work of Isocrates those canons which his mature style observed. The genuineness of the speech against Euthynus is recognized by Philostratus; while the _Trapeziticus_--thrice named without suspicion by Harpocration--is treated by Dionysius, not only as authentic, but as the typical forensic work of its author. The speech against Lochites--where "a man of the people" ([Greek: tou plêthous eis]) is the speaker--exhibits much rhetorical skill. The speech [Greek: Peri tou zeugous] ("concerning the team of horses") has a curious interest. An Athenian citizen had complained that Alcibiades had robbed him of a team of four horses, and sues the statesman's son and namesake (who is the speaker) for their value. This is not the only place in which Isocrates has marked his admiration for the genius of Alcibiades; it appears also in the _Philippus_ and in the _Busiris_. But, among the forensic speeches, we must, on the whole, give the palm to the _Aegineticus_--a graphic picture of ordinary Greek life in the islands of the Aegean. Here--especially in the narrative--Isocrates makes a near approach to the best manner of Lysias.
The remaining fifteen orations or discourses do not easily lend themselves to the ordinary classification under the heads of "deliberative" and "epideictic." Both terms must be strained; and neither is strictly applicable to all the pieces which it is required to cover. The work of Isocrates travelled out of the grooves in which the rhetorical industry of the age had hitherto moved. His position among contemporary writers was determined by ideas peculiar to himself; and his compositions, besides having a style of their own, are in several instances of a new kind. The only adequate principle of classification is one which considers them in respect to their subject-matter. Thus viewed, they form two clearly separated groups--the scholastic and the political.