Texte grec :
| [6,54] Ἐνθυμούμενοί τε δὴ ταῦτα καὶ ὅσα δὴ ἕτερα
ἡμῖν εἴρηται πρότερον, ἔτι δὲ τῶν παρακαλούντων ἐπὶ
τὰς διαλλαγὰς ἀναμιμνησκόμενοι, ὅτι οὐ παρ´ ἡμῖν
μόνοις ἢ πρώτοις πενία πρὸς πλοῦτον ἐστασίασε καὶ
ταπεινότης πρὸς ἐπιφάνειαν, ἀλλ´ ἐν ἁπάσαις ὡς εἰπεῖν
καὶ μικραῖς καὶ μεγάλαις πόλεσι πολέμιον ὡς τὰ πολλὰ
τοῦ πλείονος τοὔλαττον καθίσταται· ἐν αἷς οἱ προεστηκότες
τοῦ κοινοῦ μετριάσαντες μὲν ἔσωσαν τὰς
πατρίδας, αὐθαδείᾳ δὲ χρησάμενοι μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων
ἀγαθῶν καὶ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς διώλεσαν· καὶ ὅτι πᾶν χρῆμα,
ὃ ἂν ἐκ πολλῶν σύνθετον ᾖ, νοσεῖν πέφυκε κατά τι
τῶν ἑαυτοῦ μορίων, καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις ὡς οὔτε
ἀνθρωπείου σώματος αἰεὶ τὸ κάμνον ἀποτεμεῖν χρὴ
μέρος· αἰσχρά τε γὰρ ἡ ὄψις ἂν γίνοιτο τοῦ λειπομένου καὶ ἡ
φύσις οὐκ ἐπὶ πολὺ διαρκής· οὔτε πολιτικῆς
κοινωνίας τὴν νοσοῦσαν ἐξελαύνειν μοῖραν· οὐ γὰρ
ἂν φθάνοι διὰ τῶν ἰδίων μερῶν τὸ σύμπαν ἀπολόμενον σὺν
χρόνῳ· τῆς τ´ ἀνάγκης ἐνθυμηθέντες ὅσον
τὸ κράτος, ᾗ καὶ θεοὶ εἴκουσι μόνῃ, μὴ χαλεπαίνετε
πρὸς τὰς τύχας, μηδ´ ὡς ἁπάντων ἡμῖν κατ´ εὐχὴν
ἐσομένων αὐθαδείας ἐμπίμπλασθε καὶ ἀμαθίας, ἀλλ´
ἐπικλάσθητε καὶ εἴξατε παραδείγμασι χρησάμενοι τῆς
εὐβουλίας μὴ τοῖς ὀθνείοις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἡμετέροις αὐτῶν ἔργοις.
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Traduction française :
| [6,54] "When you consider these things as well as those that I have mentioned earlier,
and recall, further, the considerations which encourage you to make the
accommodation, namely, that we are not the only people, nor the first, among whom
poverty has raised sedition against wealth, and lowliness against eminence, but that
in nearly all states, both great and small, the lower class is generally hostile to the
upper (and in all these states the men in power, when they have shown moderation,
have saved their countries, but when they have acted arrogantly, have lost not only
their goods, but their lives as well); and when you remember that everything that
(p19) is composed of many parts is generally affected with a disorder in some one of
them, and, furthermore, that neither the ailing part of a human body ought always to
be lopped off (for that would be to render the appearance of the rest ugly and its term
of life brief) nor the disordered part of a civil community to be driven out (since that
would be the quickest way of destroying the whole in time through the loss of its
separate parts); and when you consider also how great is the power of necessity, the
one thing to which even the gods yield, be not vexed at your misfortunes nor allow
yourselves to be filled with arrogance and folly, as if everything were going to succeed
according to our wishes, but relent and yield, deriving examples of prudence, not
from the actions of others, but from our own.
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