[2] The fact is that, although I have known that some of the sophists[4] traduce my occupation, saying that it has to do with writing speeches for the courts,[5] very much as one might have the effrontery to call Pheidias, who wrought our statue of Athena,[6] a doll-maker, or say that Zeuxis and Parrhasius[7] practiced the same art as the sign-painters,[8] nevertheless I have never deigned to defend myself against their attempts to belittle me,