Dighanikaya 4.304

4.304

Evaṃ vutteti evaṃ tehi brāhmaṇehi vutte. Soṇadaṇḍo – ‘‘ime brāhmaṇā jātiādīhi mama vaṇṇaṃ vadanti, na kho pana metaṃ yuttaṃ attano vaṇṇe rajjituṃ. Handāhaṃ etesaṃ vādaṃ bhinditvā samaṇassa gotamassa mahantabhāvaṃ ñāpetvā etesaṃ tattha gamanaṃ karomī’’ti cintetvā tena hi – bho mamapi suṇāthātiādimāha. Tattha yepi ubhato sujātoti ādayo attano guṇehi sadisā guṇā tepi; ‘‘ko cāhaṃ ke ca samaṇassa gotamassa jātisampattiādayo guṇā’’ti attano guṇehi uttaritareyeva maññamāno, itare pana ekanteneva bhagavato mahantabhāvadīpanatthaṃ pakāseti.

"When this was said" means when this had been spoken by those brahmins. Soṇadaṇḍa thought: "These brahmins praise me on account of birth and the like, but it is not proper for me to delight in my own praise. Come now, having refuted their assertion and made known the greatness of the ascetic Gotama, let me cause them to go there"; and having thought so, he said, "Well then, gentlemen, listen to me too," and so on. In that passage, even those virtues such as "well-born on both sides" which were similar to his own virtues—considering: "Who am I, and what are the virtues such as excellence of birth of the ascetic Gotama?" and regarding them as far superior to his own virtues—he proclaimed, while the others he proclaimed purely to illustrate the greatness of the Blessed One.