Texte grec :
| [226] ὥστ´ ἔγωγε τὸν νομιζόμενον πρὸ Τριπτολέμου
(226) βίον τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν πρὸ ὑμῶν ἐπινοῶ, σκληρόν τινα
καὶ ἄγροικον καὶ ὀρείου διαίτης ὀλίγον ἀποκεχωρηκότα,
ἀλλ´ ἄρξαι μὲν τοῦ ἡμέρου τε καὶ τοῦ νῦν τὴν Ἀθηναίων
πόλιν, βεβαιωθῆναι δὲ καὶ τοῦτον ὑφ´ ὑμῶν δευτέρων,
φασὶν, ἀμεινόνων.
Οὐδέ γε δεῖ νῦν περιήγησιν γῆς γράφειν, οὐδ´ οἷς
ἕκαστοι χρῶνται νόμοις ἀπαριθμεῖν, ἀλλ´ ὑμεῖς ἅπασι
περιηγηταὶ κοινοὶ γεγόνατε, ἀναπετάσαντες ἁπάσας τῆς
οἰκουμένης τὰς πύλας καὶ παρασχόντες ἐξουσίαν αὐτόπτας
πάντων τοὺς θέλοντας γίγνεσθαι, νόμους τε κοινοὺς
ἅπασι τάξαντες καὶ τὰ πρόσθεν λόγου μὲν διηγήσει τέρποντα,
λογισμῷ δ´ εἰ λαμβάνοι τις, ἀφόρητα παύσαντες,
γάμους τε κοινοὺς ποιήσαντες καὶ συντάξαντες ὥσπερ ἕνα
οἶκον ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην. ἀτεχνῶς δὲ, ὥσπερ οἱ
ποιηταὶ λέγουσι, πρὸ τῆς Διὸς ἀρχῆς ἅπαντα στάσεως
καὶ θορύβου καὶ ἀταξίας εἶναι μεστὰ, ἐλθόντος δὲ ἐπὶ
τὴν ἀρχὴν Διὸς πάντα δὴ καταστῆναι, καὶ τοὺς Τιτᾶνας
εἰς τοὺς κατωτάτω μυχοὺς τῆς γῆς ἀπελθεῖν, συνωσθέντας
ὑπ´ αὐτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ θεῶν, οὕτως ἄν
τις καὶ περὶ τῶν πρὸ ὑμῶν τε καὶ ἐφ´ ὑμῶν πραγμάτων
λογιζόμενος ὑπολάβοι, ὡς πρὸ μὲν τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀρχῆς
ἄνω καὶ κάτω συνετετάρακτο καὶ εἰκῆ ἐφέρετο, ἐπιστάντων δὲ ὑμῶν ταραχαὶ
καὶ στάσεις ἔληξαν, τάξις δὲ πάντων καὶ φῶς λαμπρὸν εἰσῆλθε βίου καὶ
πολιτείας, νόμοι τε ἐξεφάνησαν καὶ θεῶν βωμοὶ πίστιν ἔλαβον.
πρότερον γὰρ ὥσπερ τοὺς γονέας ἐκτέμνοντες καὶ τὴν γῆν ἔτεμον,
παῖδάς τε οὐ κατέκτεινον, ἀλλ´ ἀπώλλυσαν τοὺς ἀλλήλων
τε καὶ τοὺς ἑαυτῶν ἐν ταῖς στάσεσι καὶ πρὸς ἱεροῖς. νῦν
δὲ κοινὴ καὶ σαφὴς πᾶσι πάντων ἄδεια δέδοται αὐτῇ τε
τῇ γῇ καὶ τοῖς ἐν αὐτῇ κατοικοῦσι, καὶ τοῦ μὲν κακῶς
πάσχειν ἅπαντα ἀφεῖσθαι,
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Traduction française :
| [226] I conceive life before you to have been the life people led
before Triptolemus rough, uncultured, hardly removed from savagery.
The city of Athens inaugurated modern civilization, and it has been
consolidated by you, who come second and (as the saying goes) are
better than the first. No need now to write world guide-books or recount
the customs of each race. You are universal guides for all men. You open
all the gates of the world and enable those who so desire to see everything
for themselves. You have passed universal laws for all, and abolished
what used to make picturesque story-telling but was, if one stops to think
about it, intolerable. You have established intermarriage and joined
together the whole world like one household.
Just as poets say that before the reign of Zeus everything was full of
strife, chaos, and disorder, but when Zeus came to power, it all took
shape, and the Titans departed to the nethermost abysses of the earth,
expelled by him and the gods on his side so one might appraise and
evaluate the state of things before and under your rule. Before it, they
were all mixed up topsy-turvy, drifting hither and yon. But with you in
charge, turmoil and strife ceased, universal order and the bright light of
life and society came in, laws were proclaimed, and the gods' altars
acquired sanctity. Previously, men would lay waste the earth, as if
castrating their parents; they did not gulp down children but slaughtered
one another's and their own in internecine wars, even on holy
ground. Now, however, general and manifest freedom from all fear is
given to all the earth itself and its inhabitants. It appears to me that
they are wholly rid of oppression,
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