Texte grec :
| [205] πρὶν εὖ καὶ καλῶς
(205) τῇ κεφαλῇ στέφανον ἁρμόσαι. ποίους γὰρ νόμους ἑκάστοις
διέθηκεν; ἢ ποίας συντάξεις διηνεκεῖς χρημάτων ἢ στρατιωτῶν
ἢ νεῶν ἐποιήσατο; ἢ ποίᾳ συνήθει διοικήσει τὰ
πράγματα ἤγαγεν αὐτομάτως προϊούσῃ χρόνων τακταῖς
περιόδοις; ποῖα πολιτεύματα ἐπολιτεύσατο ἐν τοῖς ἀρχομένοις;
ὃ δὲ καὶ μόνον ἄξιον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως ἔργον καὶ μνημεῖον κατέλιπε,
πρὸς Αἰγύπτῳ τὴν ἐπώνυμον πόλιν, ταύτην εὖ ποιῶν ὑμῖν ᾤκισεν, ὅπως
ἔχοιτε καὶ τῆς μεγίστης μετὰ τὴν ὑμετέραν κρατοίητε.
ὥστε Πέρσας μὲν κατέλυσεν ἄρχοντας, αὑτοῦ δ´ ἐγγύτατα
οὐκ ἦρξεν. ἐπεί γε μὴν ἐκεῖνος ἐτελεύτησεν, εὐθὺς μὲν
ἐσχίσθησαν εἰς μυρία οἱ Μακεδόνες, ἔργῳ δείξαντες ὑπὲρ
αὑτοὺς εἶναι τὴν ἀρχὴν, κατέχειν τε οὐδὲ τὴν αὑτῶν ἔτι
ἠδύναντο, ἀλλ´ εἰς τοῦτο τύχης ἀφίκοντο ὥστε ἠναγκάσθησαν
τὴν σφετέραν αὐτῶν ἐκλιπεῖν, ἵνα τῆς ἀλλοτρίας
ἄρχωσιν, ὥσπερ ἐξῳκισμένοι μᾶλλον ἢ κρατεῖν δυνάμενοι,
καὶ ἦν ὥσπερ αἴνιγμα, Μακεδόνες οὐκ ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ, ἀλλ´
οὗ δύναιντο βασιλεύοντες ἕκαστοι, ὥσπερ φρουροὶ μᾶλλον
τῶν πόλεων καὶ τῶν χωρίων ὄντες ἢ ἄρχοντες, ἀνάστατοί
τινες βασιλεῖς, οὐχ ὑπὸ τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως, ἀλλ´ ὑφ´
ἑαυτῶν αὐτοὶ γεγενημένοι, εἰ δὲ οἷόν τ´ εἰπεῖν, ἐοικότες
σατράπαις ἐρήμοις βασιλέως. καίτοι τὴν τοιαύτην κατάστασιν
πότερον λῃστείᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ βασιλείᾳ προσεοικέναι φήσομεν;
Νῦν δὲ ὅροι μὲν δήπουθεν οὐ μεμπτοὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς
ἐκτέτανται, οὐδ´ ὥστε εἶναι μέτρῳ λαβεῖν τὸ ἐντὸς αὐτῶν. ἀλλ´ οὗ μὲν τότε
ὡρίζετο τοῦ Πέρσου ἡ ἀρχὴ, ἐντεῦθεν ἀρξαμένῳ βαδίζειν πρὸς ἑσπέραν πολὺ
πλείων ἐστὶν ἡ λοιπὴ τῆς ἐκείνου πάσης. ἐκφεύγει δὲ ὑμᾶς οὐδὲν, οὐ
πόλις, οὐκ ἔθνος, οὐ λιμὴν, οὐ χωρίον, πλὴν εἴ τινων
ἄρα ἀχρηστίαν κατέγνωτε. ἐρυθρά τε θάλαττα καὶ Νείλου
καταρράκται καὶ λίμνη Μαιῶτις, ἃ τοῖς πρότερον ἐν πέρασι γῆς ἠκούετο,
ἴσα καὶ αὐλῆς ἑρκία τῇδε τῇ πόλει.
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Traduction française :
| [205] before he could set the wreath properly on his head, his misfortune
would be much like Alexander's. Did Alexander leave any laws for the
various countries? Did he institute any regular levies of taxes, troops,
or skips? Did he run the government with any permanent apparatus to
function automatically at stated intervals of time? Did he carry out any
policies toward his subjects? He left behind only one feat, one memorial
worthy of his talents — the city in Egypt named after him. He was
doing you a favor when he founded it, so that you might have it and
be in possession of the next largest city after yours. All in all, he broke
the power of the Persians, but barely started to exercise it himself.
When he died, the Macedonians at once split up into a million pieces,
giving tangible proof that the empire was too much for them. They could
no longer hold even Macedonia. Their lot was so hard that they had
to abandon their own country for the sake of ruling abroad. They were
more like outcasts than men fit to rule; and it was a kind of riddle that
Macedonians rule, not in Macedonia, but each wherever he can. They
garrisoned rather than governed their cities and provinces—mere refugee
kings, not creatures of the Great King, but upstarts. Or (if I may call
them that) they were like viceroys without a king. Shall we say this
status of theirs was closer to buccaneering than to royalty?
Now, however, the empire has boundaries too far-flung to be belittled,
or even for the area within them to be defined by measurement. If we set
out from what was the western boundary of the Persian empire, then
the part of your empire west of that is much larger than the whole of
theirs. Nothing escapes you — city, province, port, or district — unless
you have rejected some for uselessness. The Red Sea, the Cataracts
of the Nile, and Lake Maeotis, which formerly had the aura of being
at the ends of the earth, are no more than fence-posts for this city.
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