For in what respect did he lack utter felicity? Such ancestors Fortune gave to him as to
 no other man, unless it has been one sprung from the same stock, and so greatly in body
 and mind did he excel others that he was worthy to hold sway over not only Salamis but the whole of Asia also: and having acquired
 most gloriously his kingdom he continued in its possession all his life: and though a
 mortal by birth, he left behind a memory of himself that is immortal, and he lived just so
 long that he was neither unacquainted with old age, nor afflicted with the infirmities
 attendant upon that time of life. Evagoras seized the power
 not later than 411 B.C. , when the Athenian orator Andocides,
 in exile, found him reigning. He died in 374-373
 B.C. Isocrates, in his depiction of the happy lot of the king, naturally
 must ignore the fact that Evagoras seems to have been assassinated ! 
 In addition to these blessings, that which seems to he the rarest and most difficult
 thing to win—to be blessed with many children who are at the same time good—not even this
 was denied him, but this also fell to his lot. And the greatest blessing was this: of his
 offspring he left not one who was addressed merely by a private title: on the contrary,
 one was called king, A reference to Nicocles. others
 princes, and others princesses. In view of these facts, if any of the poets have used
 extravagant expressions in characterizing any man of the past, asserting that he was a god
 among men, or a mortal divinity, all praise of that kind would be especially in harmony
 with the noble qualities of Evagoras. No doubt I have omitted much that might be said of Evagoras: for I am past my prime of
 life, Isocrates was perhaps seventy years of age when he
 wrote the Evagoras . in which I should have worked out this eulogy
 with greater finish and diligence. Nevertheless, even at my age, to the best of my ability
 he has not been left without his encomium. For my part, Nicocles, I think that while
 effigies of the body are fine memorials, yet likenesses of deeds and of the character are
 of far greater value, Cf. Isoc.
 2.36 . and these are to be observed only in discourses composed according
 to the rules of art. These I prefer to statues because I know, in the first place, that honorable men pride
 themselves not so much on bodily beauty as they desire to be honored for their deeds and
 their wisdom: in the second place, because I know that images must of necessity remain
 solely among those in whose cities they were set up, whereas portrayals in words may be
 published throughout Hellas , and having been
 spread abroad in the gatherings of enlightened men, are welcomed among those whose
 approval is more to be desired than that of all others; and finally, while no one can make the bodily nature resemble molded statues and
 portraits in painting, yet for those who do not choose to be slothful, but desire to be
 good men, it is easy to imitate the character of their fellow-men and their thoughts and
 purposes—those, I mean, that are embodied in the spoken word.