Their difficulty to a modern reader lies, not in the words, but in the reasoning.

A dictionary is of far less use in studying them than a clear head and a close attention to the context.

They are valuable to the scholar as displaying, beyond almost any other compositions, the powers of the finest of languages: they are valuable to the philosopher as illustrating the morals and manners of a most interesting age: they abound in just thought and energetic expression.

But they do not enable us to form any accurate opinion on the merits of the early Greek orators.
Though it cannot be doubted that, before the Persian wars, Athens had produced eminent speakers, yet the period during which eloquence most flourished among her citizens was by no means that of her greatest power and glory.

It commenced at the close of the Peloponnesian war.