he will address you, I say, using very moderate
language about himself: “Prithee, dear fellow, did
Pythian Apollo send you to me, entitling me
the best of speakers, just as, when Chaerephon
questioned him, he told who was the wisest in that
generation? Socrates, in the Apology of Plato, says that when Chaerephon in his zeal “asked whether anyone was wiser than I, the Pythia responded that nobody was wiser ” (21 ). If that is not the case, but you have
come of your own accord in the wake of rumour,
because you hear everybody speak of my achievements with astonishment, praise, admiration, and
self-abasement, you shall very soon learn what a
superhuman person you have come to. Do not expect to see something that you can compare with



 

So-and-so, or So-and-so; no, you will consider the
achievement far too prodigious and amazing even
for Tityus or Otus or Ephialtes. Indeed, as far as
the others are concerned, you will find that I drown
them out as effectively as trumpets drown flutes, or
cicadas bees, or choirs their leaders.