Filostrato e l'akribeia di Elio Aristide

Philostratus, in his Vitae Sophistarum, reminds a substantial aspect of Aristides’ style, akribeia («precision»). At the same time, he mocks Aristides, who is trying to apply it to an improvised speech, especially to lexical choice and phonic-rhythmic structure of the period. The incompatibility between akribeia and improvisation was censured for the first time by Alcidamas, who criticized Isocrates, Aristides’ main reference in the practice of this gift. For both orators, precision in style as well as in content is a major objective. Philostratus makes it impossible to grasp the concept as a whole, choosing a deliberately simplistic approach to the overall precision that Aristides tries to achieve. At the same time, he points to a substantial aspect of Aristides’ art of writing that still requires a complete study.