Greek philosophers
Gorgias of Leontini
Gorgias of Leontini was a Greek philosopher and rhetorician who was born about 483 BC in Leontini (modern Lentini near Catania in Italy) and died in 376 BC in Larissa in Thessaly. He was a representative of the first generation of sophists.
Gorgias came to Athens in 427 BC as the head of his city's embassy, which asked Athens for protection from Syracuse. Here he eventually became a pupil of Empedocles. He became very familiar with rhetoric, which he effectively brought to Athens in the form used by the local rhetors in Sicily. These were based on wandering singers who recited mainly Homeric epics. Through rhetoric, Gorgias became popular. He was even commissioned to give a speech at the funerals of the fallen.
His pupil later became Isocrates, but he also influenced Pericles and the historian Thucydides. Later, Gorgias traveled around Greek cities and supported himself as an orator and teacher.
Not much of Gorgias' work survives. What is known are two speeches, The Praise of Helen of Troy and The Defence of Palamides, which provocatively reverse the traditional assessment of these characters from Homer's epics.
His significant quotation is "Speech is a mighty ruler that performs the most divine works with the smallest and most insignificant body, for it can both drive away fear and take away sorrow and cause care and increase compassion". He also asserted that "the ability to persuade by speech, even in court the judges, even in council the councillors, even in council the assembly, brings out the best in a man, namely, to rule over others in his community. He that can speak and persuade the multitude. Then the physicians, the gymnasts, and the moneychangers will serve him, for he decides all things in the end. ". This view was especially disagreed with by Socrates, who argued that if someone persuades someone to do an evil deed, he is also doing the worst for himself.