ABSTRACT
We began with Dionysius’ gibe that an emperor could make Heliodorus an Imperial Secretary, but could never make him a rhetor. Such a remark is not only a sample of professional sour grapes; it is a reminder of the ever-elusive relationship between private satisfaction and public prestige. In fact the sophists’ profession in itself could offer both, as Pliny’s account of Isaeus confirms:
He has attained the age of sixty, and still confines himself to academic activities (tantum scholasticus), the sincerest, truest and finest of callings. For we who engage in the wear and tear of actual court-cases contract a great deal of ennuie however much we dislike it, but the mock-trials in the school or lecture room are harmless and free of malice, and are no less enjoyable for that, especially to the older generation. For what makes people happier in their old age than what they most enjoy in their youth? So I think that Isaeus is not only a very skilled speaker but a very happy man as well. (Pliny, Letters II.iii.5–7)
