8
Or, are we to liken his deeds to those of Orpheus? But Orpheus led the dead back from Hades,A reference to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. whereas Busiris brought death to the living before their day of destiny. Consequently, I should be glad to know what, in truth, Busiris would have done if he had happened to despise Aeolus and Orpheus, seeing that, while admiring their virtues, all his own deeds are manifestly the opposite of theirs. But the greatest absurdity is this—though you have made a specialty of genealogies, you have dared to say that Busiris emulated those whose fathers even at that time had not yet been born!Cf. Isoc. 11.37 for the same argument.
9
But that I may not seem to be doing the easiest thing in assailing what others have said without exhibiting any specimen of my own,The same sentiment occurs in Isoc. 10.15. I will try briefly to expound the same subject — even though it is not serious and does not call for a dignified style — and show out of what elements you ought to have composed the eulogy and the speech in defense.
