ABSTRACT
This chapter explores persuasive patterns and the relationship between form and content in Gorgias’ Encomium of Helen, a key example of Sophistic prose, and extant fragments of Heraclitus’ writing in light of analysis of On Breaths, which has the strongest connection with these examples of Sophistic and Pre-Socratic prose of the five Hippocratic treatises focused on in this book. It is argued that On Breaths looks back to the earlier Ionian work of Heraclitus for useful expressive resources, and also moves in some sort of parallel with the probably nearly contemporary work of Gorgias. The structure of phrasing, word and sound play, and repetition of sound and phrases in all three texts examined in this chapter are frequently found to embody the key messages the authors seek to communicate.
