Texte grec :
| [211] ἐπειδή τε τοῖς ἐκείνων ἀδικήμασι καὶ τῷ μίσει τῷ
διὰ ταῦτα εἰς αὐτοὺς παρὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων αὐξηθέντες Θηβαῖοι
ἐκράτησαν αὐτῶν τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις μάχην, ὁμοῦ
τε Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἐκποδὼν ἦσαν καὶ Θηβαίους οὐδεὶς αὖ
φέρειν ἠδύνατο μίαν μάχην εὐτυχήσαντας. ἀλλά τοι ἐφάνθη λυσιτελοῦν ἔτι τὴν
Καδμείαν ἀνέχεσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ κεκρατηκέναι Λακεδαιμονίων, οὕτως
ἐμισήθησαν. καὶ ταῦτα οὐ δή που κατηγορίας ἕνεκα κοινῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων
συνεσκευασάμην, ὥσπερ ὁ θαυμαστὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ τὸν Τρικάρανον ποιήσας,
μήποτε ἀνάγκη τοσαύτη γένοιτο, ἀλλ´
ἐκεῖνο ἐπιδεικνύναι βούλομαι ὅτι οὔπω πρὸ ὑμῶν ἦν τὸ
ἄρχειν εἰδέναι· εἰ γὰρ ἦν, ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἦν ἂν, οἳ πλεῖστον δή που τῶν γε
ἄλλων σοφίᾳ διήνεγκαν· ἀλλὰ καὶ
τοῦτο ὑμέτερόν ἐστιν εὕρημα καὶ ὁμοῦ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπεισελθόν.
ἐπεὶ τό γε λεχθὲν ἐπ´ Ἀθηναίων κινδυνεύει καὶ
περὶ πάντων εἴ τις εἴποι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀληθὲς εἶναι, ἐπεὶ
τοῖς μὲν ἄρχουσιν ἀντιστῆναι καὶ κρατῆσαι Πέρσας καὶ
Λυδοὺς καὶ πλοῦτον καὶ πόνους ὑπενεγκεῖν ἀγαθοὶ παντὸς μᾶλλον ἦσαν,
ἄρχειν δὲ αὐτοὶ ἔτι ἀπαίδευτοι ἦσαν,
πειρώμενοί τε ἐσφάλλοντο. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν φρουροὺς εἰσέπεμπον εἰς τὰς
πόλεις, οἳ τῶν μὲν ἐπιχωρίων ἑκάστων καὶ
εἰς οὓς ἐπέμποντο οὐκ ἐλάττους ἀεὶ δήπουθεν ἦσαν·
ὑπόνοιαν δὲ ἐποίουν καὶ τοῖς μήπω φρουρουμένοις ὡς
πάντα πρὸς ἰσχὺν καὶ βίαν ἄγοντες. ἀμφότερα οὖν συνέβαινε,
μήτε τὰς πόλεις ἀσφαλῶς ἔχειν καὶ προσέτι μισεῖσθαι καὶ τὰ κακὰ
τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀντὶ τῶν τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀγαθῶν καρποῦσθαι,
τὴν μὲν πλεονεξίαν οὐ βέβαιον, τὴν
δὲ τῆς πλεονεξίας δόξαν ἰσχυρὰν ἔχοντας. ἔπειτα τί πρὸς
τούτοις συνέβαινε διασπωμένους ἀεὶ καὶ διαιρουμένους
ἀσθενεστέρους τὰ οἴκοι γίγνεσθαι καὶ μὴ ἱκανοὺς τὴν
ἑαυτῶν σώζειν, διὰ τὸ ζητεῖν τὴν ἑτέρων ἔχειν. οὔτ´ οὖν
ὧν ἄρχειν ἐφίεντο ὑπερβαλέσθαι τότε ἠδύναντο πλήθει
τούτων ὧν ἔπεμπον οὔθ´ ἑαυτοῖς τὸ μένειν ἴσοις κατέλιπον,
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Traduction française :
| [211] Their crimes, and the hatred which Greece consequently felt toward them,
strengthened the Thebans, who conquered them at the battle of Leuctra. But no
sooner were the Lacedaemonians out of the way than nobody could
bear the Thebans either, after their one victory. It showed people that
they were better off with the Cadmea still subject to the Lacedaemonians
than triumphant over them — so hated were the Thebans.
Unlike that incredible character who wrote Tricaranus, I have not
composed this as a general indictment of the Greeks. May such a bitter
necessity never come! But I do wish to prove that before you nobody
could ever have known how to rule. Otherwise, it would have been
familiar to the Greeks, who enormously surpassed the rest of mankind
in wisdom. It is, however, your discovery, and an importation everywhere
else. What has been said about the Athenians would, I fear, be
true of all the Greeks, if you were to apply it to them: they were superlatively
good at resisting rulers, at overcoming Persians, Lydians, and
riches, at enduring hardships; but when it came to ruling, they too were
still untrained, and they falled in the attempt. First, in subordinate cities
they would post garrisons that were presumably not always outnumbered
by the inhabitants of each place where they were posted. They made
even the cities not yet garrisoned suspect them of doing everything by
force and violence. Two results followed: they could not hold the cities
securely, and on top of it they were hated. They got the thorns of
empire instead of the fruits of empire. Their imperialism was shaky,
but the infamy of imperialism was constant. Then what would happen
next? By dispersing and fragmenting their forces, they would become
weaker at home, too few to save their own country because they were
trying to hold someone else's. Then they could not send an expeditionary
force that would outnumber those whom they wanted to rule; nor did
they leave themselves enough to be an even match on the defensive.
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