I am chiefly concerned with the history of rhetoric, especially ways in which disputes between philosophy and rhetoric shaped rhetorical theory during ancient times. Currently I am working on two initiatives. One is a new Greek text and English translation of Περὶ ῥητορικη̂ς Δ (On Rhetoric 4) by Philodemus of Gadara, an Epicurean philosopher of the first century BCE. This initiative is part of the NEH-funded Philodemus Translation Project. The other initiative is a "census" of notable sophists from the exilium of Aeschines at Rhodes (330 BCE) to the fama of Nicetes in Rome (mid-70s CE)—a period in which most commentators say there were no significant sophists. The growing list of sophists I have identified in this period directly challenges standard views on the nature and development of ancient sophistic.
My research has appeared in Cronache Ercolanesi, Hermes, Philosophy and Rhetoric, Quarterly Journal of Speech, Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Rhetorica, Transactions of the American Philological Association, and elsewhere. During 2002–2011, I served as editor of Advances in the History of Rhetoric (now the Journal for the History of Rhetoric) and am incoming editor of Rhetorica, the quarterly journal for the International Society for the History of Rhetoric. Visit my website here.
