Why, then, have I gone into these matters? Not because I think that I should ask
 indulgence for the things which I have discussed—for I do not feel that I have spoken of
 them in a manner to require this—but because I desire both to relate my personal
 experiences and to commend those among my hearers who not only applaud this speech but
 prefer, as more weighty and more worthy of serious study, discourses which are composed
 for instruction and, at the same time, with finished art Such as this discourse or the Panegyricus . See Isoc. 4.11 . to others which are written for display or for the
 law-courts, Speeches which were written for
 display—epideictic oratory—are composed with finish but are not instructive. See General
 Introduction. Speeches written for the law-courts, on the other hand, lack the
 refinements of style and aim to pervert the truth. See General Introduction. and
 who prefer for the same reason discourses which aim at the truth to those which seek to
 lead astray the opinions of their auditors, and discourses which rebuke our faults and
 admonish Such as the Isoc. 8 .
 See Isoc. 15.62 . us to those which are spoken for
 our pleasure and gratification. Cf. Isoc. 2.54 . 
 I desire, on the other hand, to warn those of my hearers who are of a mind contrary to
 these, in the first place, not to trust in their own opinions nor to regard as true the
 judgements which are pronounced by the lazy-minded and, in the second place, not to
 publish hastily their views on things which they do not understand, but to wait until they
 can find themselves in accord with men who have much experience of matters submitted to
 them for judgement; Literally, “experience of things
 shown.” Others render “experience in epideictic oratory.” for if they will so
 govern their thoughts, no one can fail to approve their discretion.