29
And this indeed happened to him. For so greatly did he surpass all others in reputation that all the younger men desired to be his pupils, and their elders were more pleased to see their sons staying in his company than attending to their private affairs. And these reports we cannot disbelieve; for even now persons who profess to be followers of his teaching are more admired when silent than are those who have the greatest renown for eloquence.
30
Perhaps, however, you would reply against all I have said, that I am praising the land, the laws, and the piety of the Egyptians, and also their philosophy, but that Busiris was their author, as I have assumed, I am able to offer no proof whatever. If any other person criticized me in that fashion, I should believe that his censure was that of a scholar; but you are not the one to reprove me.
31
For, when you wished to praise Busiris, you chose to say that he forced the Nile to break into branches and surround the landCf. Hdt. 2.16, where the same verb (περιρρήγνυμι) is used in connexion with the branches of the Nile in the Delta., and that he sacrificed and ate strangers who came to his country; but you gave no proof that he did these things. And yet is it not ridiculous to demand that others follow a procedure which you yourself have not used in the slightest degree?
