Texte grec :
| [223] καὶ ὡς ἁπάντων ὧν ἂν (223) βουληθῇ τε καὶ αἰτήσῃ ῥᾳδίως τυγχάνει,
δημοκρατίαν νομιεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν ἐνδεῖν πλὴν ὧν ἐξαμαρτάνει δῆμος· ὅταν
δὲ εἰς τὴν γερουσίαν ἴδῃ τὴν βουλευομένην τε καὶ τὰς
ἀρχὰς ἔχουσαν, ἀριστοκρατίαν οὐκ εἶναι ταύτης ἀκριβεστέραν νομιεῖ·
εἰς δὲ τὸν πάντων τούτων ἔφορόν τε καὶ
πρύτανιν βλέψας, παρ´ οὗ τῷ τε δήμῳ τὸ τυγχάνειν ὧν
βούλεται καὶ τοῖς ὀλίγοις τὸ ἄρχειν καὶ δύνασθαι, τοῦτον
ἐκεῖνον ὁρᾷ, τὸν τὴν τελεωτάτην ἔχοντα μοναρχίαν, τυράννου τε κακῶν
ἄμοιρον καὶ βασιλέως σεμνότητος μείζονα. καὶ ταῦτ´ οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς οὕτω
διελέσθαι καὶ κατιδεῖν μόνους ὑμᾶς καὶ περὶ τῶν ἔξω καὶ περὶ τῶν
ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πόλει· μόνοι γὰρ ἐστὲ ὑμεῖς ἄρχοντες ὡς εἰπεῖν κατὰ
φύσιν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοι οἱ πρὸ ὑμῶν δυναστεύσαντες
δεσπόται καὶ δοῦλοι ἀλλήλων ἐν τῷ μέρει γιγνόμενοι καὶ
νόθοι τῆς ἀρχῆς ὄντες οὕτω διεξῆλθον, ὥσπερ ἐν σφαίρᾳ
τὴν τάξιν μεταλαμβάνοντες· καὶ ἐδούλευσαν Μακεδόνες
Πέρσαις, Πέρσαι Μήδοις, Μῆδοι Σύροις. ὑμᾶς δὲ ἐκ
τοσούτου πάντες ἴσασιν, ἐξ ὅτου περ ἴσασιν, ἄρχοντας.
ἅτ´ οὖν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὄντες ἐλεύθεροι καὶ οἷον ἐπὶ τὸ ἄρχειν
εὐθὺς γενόμενοι, πάντα τὰ πρὸς τοῦτο φέροντα καλῶς
ἐξηρτύσασθε, καὶ πολιτείαν γε εὕρετε ἣν οὔπω πρόσθεν
οὐδεὶς καὶ θεσμοὺς καὶ τάξεις ἀφύκτους ἅπασιν ἐπεστήσατε.
Ὃ δὲ ἐκ πολλοῦ μὲν ὕπεισί με καὶ πολλάκις ὤχληκε
πρὸς αὐτοῖς τοῖς χείλεσι γιγνόμενον, παρενήνεκται δὲ ὑπὸ
τοῦ λόγου δεῦρο ἀεὶ, τοῦτο νῦν εἰπὼν οὐκ ἂν ἴσως ἄπο
καιροῦ πέσοιμι. ὅσον γὰρ μεγέθει τῆς ἁπάσης ἀρχῆς,
τοσοῦτον ἐγκρατείᾳ καὶ πολιτείας ἐπινοίᾳ πάντας ὑπερβάλλεσθε,
ὡς ἔστιν ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις. νῦν δέ μοι δοκεῖ
κἀκεῖνό τις εἰπὼν οὐκ ἂν ἁμαρτεῖν, ὅτι οἱ μὲν ἄνω πάντες
καὶ οἱ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον γῆς ἄρξαντες ὥσπερ σωμάτων
γυμνῶν αὐτῶν τῶν ἐθνῶν ἦρξαν. πότε γὰρ πόλεις τοσαῦται
κατ´ ἤπειρον καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν, ἢ πότε οὕτω διὰ
πάντων ἐκοσμήθησαν; ἢ τίς πω οὕτω τῶν τότε διεξήλασεν,
ἐπαριθμῶν ταῖς ἡμέραις τὰς πόλεις,
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Traduction française :
| [223] who easily get all they want and ask for,
you would think Rome is a democracy, lacking nothing but
the people's misdeeds. But viewing the senate, that deliberates and holds
the magistracies, you would think there is no truer aristocracy than this.
And look at the guardian and chief of them all, from whom the people
obtain their wishes and the upper class has authority and influence.
There you see the man with the most absolute sovranty, free of a
tyrant's woes and more august than a king. It is no wonder that you
alone have had such discernment and insight in external and in municipal
affairs too, for you alone are ruler by nature, so to speak. The others, who
ran things before you, were masters and slaves to one another in turn.
They were bastard heirs to empire and went on shifting positions as in
a ball-game: the Macedonians were slaves to the Persians, the Persians
to the Medes, the Medes to the Syrians. But all people know you for
rulers ever since they know you at all. As you were from the outset free
and seem to have been born to rule, you have made good provision for
everything bearing on that. You have framed a constitution made by no
one heretofore, and have imposed an inviolable code and discipline upon all.
Perhaps it would not be out of order for me now to express an idea
that came to me way back and has often been struggling at the tip of
my tongue but always got pushed ahead by the flow of speech. How
much you surpass all in the size of the whole empire, {in self-restraint,}
and in wisdom of government, has already been said. Now, I think, it
would not be amiss to say also that whereas all pre-Roman kings that
ruled the most territory ruled mere tribes, naked bodies as it were ...
Were there ever so many
cities, inland and maritime? Were they ever so thoroughly modernized?
In the past could a person ever travel in such style, counting up the
cities by the number of days on the road,
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