This article is devoted to the general heritage of Themistius, the orator, philosopher, and rhetoricianwho worked in Constantinople in the second half of the fourth century. All previous works have considered only his philosophical ideas. The author pays special attention to Themistius’s orations, which are divided intopolitical (19) and private (15). Themistius still has not been appreciated for his true value as an orator, philosopher, and especially as a rhetoricianof Late Antiquity. His orations are an important historical source on political theory, the history of education, and rhetoric.

The article substantiates the phenomenon of the "fourth sophistry" as a special phase (stage) of the late-antique rhetorical tradition development. Unlike the previous ones, the representatives of the "fourth sophistry" were already Christians, they taught Christians, but they used traditional classical examples. They are separated by a century from the preceding "third sophistry". Another of their essential features is that they are provincial and connected with a school tradition. In general, the sophists of the fourth generation are important precisely in terms of knowledge transfer and the forms of this transfer. Besides, with their help, a local version of the Early Byzantine cultural synthesis was developed, which also adapted classical rhetoric.

The paper deals with the personality traits of Gallo-Roman author Sidonius Apollinaris (~430–489) who was a representative of Late Roman nobility and clergyman as well. It wasn’t unusual situation for 4th-6th century’s Mediterranean world, when intellectual elite was a fueler for religious leaders. Nonetheless some of them underwent the crisis of identity, others continued to hold old values and way of life. Authors suggest the idea that Sidonius was a unique person who was able to rebuild his world perception, not breaking with the old attitudes associated with the aristocratic life, but at the same time accepting Christian morality with all his heart and becoming its proponent. It is possible if we consider him as a flexible thinking person on the base of achievements of psychology science. Sidonius was a flexible thinking person who react suitable on all changes without breaking, crisis of identity, because he saw the way how to adapt his old values and merits to new world. It means that antique and medieval culture aspects coexisted peacefully in his mind.