This two-volume study, first published in 1876, aimed to re-establish the centrality of pre-Demosthenes orators to the history of Greek literature, and to situate their work in its political and social contexts. Volume 1 focuses on the lives, historical contexts, and works of the orators Antiphon, Andokides and Lysias, while Volume 2 is devoted to Isokrates and Isaeos.