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a river which by its nature provides not only protection to the land, but also its means of subsistence in abundance, being impregnable and difficult for foes to conquer, yet convenient for commerce and in many respects serviceable to dwellers within its bounds. For in addition to the advantages I have mentioned, the Nile has bestowed upon the Egyptians a godlike power in respect to the cultivation of the land; for while Zeus is the dispenserCf. Hom. Il. 4.84. of rains and droughts to the rest of mankind, of both of these each Egyptian has made himself master on his own account.
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And to so perfect a state of happiness have the Egyptians come that with respect to the excellence and fertility of their land and the extent of their plains they reap the fruits of a continent, and as regards the disposition of their superfluous products and the importation of what they lack, the river’s possibilities are such that they inhabit an islandA reference to the Delta, enclosed and watered by the branches of the Nile.; for the Nile, encircling the land and flowing through its whole extent, has given them abundant means for both.
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So Busiris thus began, as wise men should, by occupying the fairest country and also by finding sustenance sufficient for his subjects. Afterwards, he divided them into classesIsocrates here praises the caste system. Cf. Plato in the Republic.: some he appointed to priestly services, others he turned to the arts and crafts, and others he forced to practise the arts of war. He judged that, while necessities and superfluous products must be provided by the land and the arts, the safest means of protecting these was practice in warfare and reverence for the gods.
