A Professor of Public Speaking

Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).

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This work is a sharp satiric treatise by Lucian of Samosata, mocking the shallow rhetoricians and sophists of his era. The narrator addresses a young man aspiring to become an orator, presenting him with two pathways: the traditional, arduous road of genuine learning, and a painless, flat shortcut to instant fame. A flamboyant "professor of public speaking" is introduced to expound upon the latter option, advising the youth to discard classical education in favor of ignorance, shamelessness, and theatrical behavior. The teacher instructs the disciple to employ obscure Attic vocabulary, dramatic gestures, self-promotion via paid applauders, and scandalous personal conduct to captivate audiences. By presenting this absurd guide to quick success, which culminates in the teacher's own dishonorable rise to fame, the text delivers a devastating parody of the moral and intellectual decay within contemporary oratory.