Encomium of Helen

Introduction

A short display speech in Greek, written to show off the art of rhetoric. Gorgias takes up the most notorious case of myth: Helen, whose flight with Paris was blamed for the Trojan War. He lists the possible causes of her action – the will of the gods or fate, force, persuasion by speech, or love – and argues that in each case she is not responsible. The longest section concerns speech (logos), which works on the soul as drugs work on the body. At the end Gorgias calls his speech a “plaything” (paignion). The text is a key source for ancient thinking about persuasion and the power of language.

More works by Gorgias

• c. 440 BCEOn Non-Being