Classical Rhetoric and the Second Sophist

Rhetoricians devised showpece speeches about historical topics, just as the sophists of classical antiquity had done. The second sophistic is now taken seriously by classicists and historians, but it used to be seen as a sign of the decadence of the empire. Theyistius received his first imperial patronageun the christian constantius the second. And he showed nimble political skills as well as a nimble tongue to retain an influential position under subsequent emperors. 18 surviving speeches document his relations with a series of emperors. Some speeches were declaimed to the emperors in person others were written when he served as an emissary, despite being a pagan.