Hear, Hear!: the pedagogical projects in Plutarch’s De audiendo and Maximus of Tyre’s first Dialexis

Abstract

This paper aims at contextualizing Plutarch’s De audiendo and Maximus’ fi rst Dialexis in the pedagogical and rhetorical debate between the so-called ‘true philosophers’ and the so-called ‘sophists’, in which many gifted speakers strive for the authority generated by the title ‘philosophos’. By comparing the respective interaction between rhetoric and philosophy, the right attitude of the pupils, and the place of the lecturer in both authors, I want to indicate that, whereas Maximus’ text seems rather in line with the contemporary rhetorical climate of the ‘Second Sophistic’, Plutarch seems to have a more sincere interest in his students’ well-being.