Busiris (6-10)

Hence, if the dead should acquire the power of judging what has been said of them, Socrates would be as grateful to you for your accusation as to any who have been wont to eulogize him; while Busiris, even if he had been most tender-hearted toward his guests, would be so enraged by your account of him that he would abstain from no vengeance whatever! And yet ought not that man to feel shame, rather than pride, who is more loved by those whom he has reviled than by those whom he has praised?

And you have been so careless about committing inconsistencies that you say Busiris emulated the fame of Aeolus and Orpheus, yet you do not show that any of his pursuits was identical with theirs. What, can we compare his deeds with the reported exploits of Aeolus? But Aeolus restored to their native lands strangers who were cast on his shores,[*] whereas Busiris, if we are to give credence to your account, sacrificed and ate them!

Or, are we to liken his deeds to those of Orpheus? But Orpheus led the dead back from Hades,[*] 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![*]

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,[*] 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.

Of the noble lineage of Busiris who would not find it easy to speak? His father was Poseidon, his mother Libya the daughter of Epaphus[*] the son of Zeus, and she, they say, was the first woman to rule as queen and to give her own name to her country. Although fortune had given him such ancestors, these alone did not satisfy his pride, but he thought he must also leave behind an everlasting monument to his own valor.