Texte grec :
| [6,7] Πρῶτον μὲν τὸ παρ´ ἀλλήλων πιστόν, οὗ
μάλιστα δεῖ τοῖς μέλλουσι τῶν ἐχθρῶν κρατήσειν. οὐ
γὰρ ἀρξαμένους ὑμᾶς τήμερον ἀλλήλοις εἶναι βεβαίους
φίλους δεῖ καὶ πιστοὺς συμμάχους, ἀλλ´ ἡ πατρὶς ἐκ
πολλοῦ τοῦθ´ ἅπασι παρεσκεύακε τἀγαθόν. καὶ γὰρ
ἐτράφητε ὁμοῦ καὶ παιδείας ἐτύχετε κοινῆς καὶ θεοῖς
ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν βωμῶν ἐθύετε καὶ πολλῶν μὲν ἀγαθῶν
ἀπολελαύκατε, πολλῶν δὲ κακῶν πεπείρασθε κοινῇ, ἐξ
ὧν ἰσχυραὶ καὶ ἀδιάλυτοι πεφύκασι συγκεράννυσθαι
πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις φιλίαι· ἔπειτα δ´ ὁ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων
κοινὸς ἅπασιν ὑπάρχων ἀγών. εἰ γὰρ ὑποχείριοι
γενήσεσθε τοῖς ἐχθροῖς, οὐχὶ τοῖς μὲν ὑμῶν ὑπάρξει
μηδενὸς πειραθῆναι δεινοῦ, τοῖς δὲ τὰ ἔσχατα παθεῖν,
ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἀξίωμα καὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν
ἅπασιν ὁμοίως ἀπολωλεκέναι, καὶ μήτε γυναικῶν μήτε
παίδων μήτ´ οὐσίας μήτ´ ἄλλου τινὸς ὧν
ἔχετε ἀπολαύσειν ἀγαθῶν, τοῖς δ´ ἡγουμένοις τῆς πόλεως
καὶ τὰ κοινὰ διοικοῦσι τὸν οἴκτιστον μόρον ἀποθανεῖν σὺν
αἰκίαις καὶ βασάνοις. ὅπου γὰρ οὐδὲν
πεπονθότες ὑφ´ ἡμῶν κακὸν οὔτε μεῖζον οὔτ´ ἔλαττον
πολλὰ καὶ παντοδαπὰ ἐξύβρισαν εἰς ὑμᾶς ἅπαντας, τί
χρὴ προσδοκᾶν ποιήσειν αὐτούς, ἂν νῦν κρατήσωσι
τοῖς ὅπλοις, μνησικακοῦντας, ὅτι τῆς πόλεως μὲν αὐτοὺς
ἀπεστήσατε καὶ τὰς οὐσίας ἀφείλεσθε καὶ οὐδ´
ἐπιβῆναι τῆς πατρῴας γῆς ἐᾶτε; τελευταῖον δὲ τῶν
εἰρημένων οὐδενὸς ἑτέρου φήσαιτ´ ἂν εἶναι πλεονεκτημάτων
ἔλασσον, ἐὰν ὀρθῶς σκοπῆτε, τὸ μὴ τοιαῦτα
ἡμῖν ἀπηντῆσθαι παρὰ τῶν πολεμίων, οἷα ὑπελάβομεν,
ἀλλὰ πολλῷ τῆς δόξης ἐνδεέστερα. ἔξω γὰρ τῆς Ἀντιατῶν
ἐπικουρίας οὐδένας ἄλλους ὁρᾶτε κοινωνοὺς
παρόντας αὐτοῖς τοῦ πολέμου· ἡμεῖς δ´ ἅπαντας
Οὐολούσκους ἥξειν αὐτοῖς ὑπελαμβάνομεν συμμάχους καὶ
Σαβίνων τε καὶ Ἑρνίκων συχνοὺς καὶ μυρίους ἄλλους
διὰ κενῆς ἀνεπλάττομεν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς φόβους. πάντα
δ´ ἦν ἄρα ταῦτα Λατίνων ὀνείρατα, ὑποσχέσεις ἔχοντα
κενὰς καὶ ἐλπίδας ἀτελεῖς. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐγκαταλελοίπασιν
αὐτῶν τὴν ἐπικουρίαν καταφρονήσαντες τῶν
στρατηγῶν ἐπὶ τῆς στρατολογίας, οἱ δὲ μελλήσουσι
μᾶλλον ἢ βοηθήσουσι τρίβοντες ἐν ταῖς ἐλπίσι τὸν χρόνον,
οἱ δὲ νῦν ὄντες ἐν παρασκευαῖς ὑστερήσαντες τῆς
μάχης οὐδὲν ἔτι αὐτοῖς χρήσιμοι γενήσονται.
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Traduction française :
| [6,7] "First, there is the confidence you have in one another, which is the thing most
needed by men who are going to conquer their foes; for you do not need to begin
to-day to be firm friends and faithful allies to one another, but your country has long
since prepared this boon for you all. For you have been brought up together and have
received the same education; you were wont to sacrifice to the gods upon the same
altars; and you have both enjoyed many advantages and experienced many evils in
common, by the sharing of which strong and indissoluble friendships are wont to be
formed among all men. Secondly, the struggle, in which your highest interests are at
stake, is common to you all alike. For if you fall into the enemy's power it will not
mean that some of you will meet with no severity while others suffer the worst of
fates, but all of you alike will have lost your proud position, your sovereignty and your
liberty, and will no longer have the enjoyment of (p259) your wives, your children, your
property, or any other blessing you now have; and those who are at the head of the
commonwealth and direct the public affairs will die the most miserable death
accompanied by indignities and tortures. For if your enemies,6 though they have
received no injury, great or small, at your hands, have heaped many outrages of every
sort upon all of you, what must you expect them to do if they now conquer you by
arms, resentful as they are because you drove them from the city, deprived them of
their property, and do not permit them even to set foot upon the land of their fathers?
And finally, of the advantages I have mentioned you cannot, if you consider the
matter aright, call this one inferior to any other — that the forces of the enemy have
not proved to be so formidable as we conceived them to be, but are far short of the
opinion we entertained of them. For, with the exception of the support furnished by
the Antiates, you see no other allies present to take part with them in the war;
whereas we were expecting that all the Volscians and many of the Sabines and
Hernicans would come to them as allies, and were conjuring up in our minds a
thousand other vain fears. But all these things, it appears, were only dreams of the
Latins, holding out empty promises and futile hopes. For some of their allies have
failed to send the promised aid, out of contempt for the inexperience of their
generals; others, (p261) instead of assisting them, will keep delaying, wearing away the
time by merely fostering their hopes; and those who are now engaged in making their
preparations will arrive too late for the battle and will be of no further use to them.
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