Texte grec :
| [7,70] Ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ τοῦτο γέγονα τῆς ἱστορίας
τὸ μέρος, οὐκ οἴομαι δεῖν τὰ περὶ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἐπιτελούμενα ὑπ´
αὐτῶν παρελθεῖν, οὐχ ἵνα μοι χαριεστέρα
γένηται προσθήκας λαβοῦσα θεατρικὰς καὶ λόγους
ἀνθηροτέρους ἡ διήγησις, ἀλλ´ ἵνα τῶν ἀναγκαίων τι
πιστώσηται πραγμάτων, ὅτι τὰ συνοικίσαντα ἔθνη τὴν
Ῥωμαίων πόλιν Ἑλληνικὰ ἦν ἐκ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων
ἀποικισθέντα τόπων, ἀλλ´ οὐχ ὥσπερ ἔνιοι νομίζουσι
βάρβαρα καὶ ἀνέστια· ὑπεσχόμην γὰρ ἐπὶ τῷ τέλει τῆς
πρώτης γραφῆς, ἣν περὶ τοῦ γένους αὐτῶν συνταξάμενος
ἐξέδωκα, μυρίοις βεβαιώσειν τεκμηρίοις τὴν
πρόθεσιν, ἔθη καὶ νόμιμα καὶ ἐπιτηδεύματα παλαιὰ
παρεχόμενος αὐτῶν, ἃ μέχρι τοῦ κατ´ ἐμὲ φυλάττουσι
χρόνου, οἷα παρὰ τῶν προγόνων ἐδέξαντο· οὐχ ἡγούμενος
ἀποχρῆν τοῖς ἀναγράφουσι τὰς ἀρχαίας καὶ τοπικὰς ἱστορίας, ὡς
παρὰ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων αὐτὰς παρέλαβον,
ἀξιοπίστως διελθεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μαρτυριῶν οἰόμενος αὐταῖς δεῖν
πολλῶν καὶ δυσαντιλέκτων, εἰ μέλλουσι πισταὶ
φανήσεσθαι. ἐν αἷς πρῶτα καὶ κυριώτατα πάντων
εἶναι πείθομαι τὰ γινόμενα καθ´ ἑκάστην πόλιν περὶ
θεῶν καὶ δαιμόνων πατρίους σεβασμούς. ταῦτα γὰρ ἐπὶ
μήκιστον χρόνον διὰ φυλακῆς ἔχει Ἑλλάς τε καὶ βάρβαρος χώρα,
καὶ οὐθὲν ἀξιοῖ καινοτομεῖν εἰς αὐτὰ ὑπὸ
δείματος κρατουμένη μηνιμάτων δαιμονίων. μάλιστα
δὲ τοῦτο πεπόνθασιν οἱ βάρβαροι διὰ πολλὰς αἰτίας,
ἃς οὐ καιρὸς ἐν τῷ παρόντι λέγειν, καὶ χρόνος οὐθεὶς
μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος ἀπομαθεῖν ἢ παρανομῆσαί τι περὶ
τοὺς ὀργιασμοὺς τῶν θεῶν ἔπεισεν οὔτ´ Αἰγυπτίους
οὔτε Λίβυας οὔτε Κελτοὺς οὔτε Σκύθας οὔτ´ Ἰνδοὺς
οὔτ´ ἄλλο βάρβαρον ἔθνος οὐδὲν ἁπλῶς· εἰ μή τινες
ὑφ´ ἑτέρων ἐξουσίᾳ ποτὲ γενόμενοι τὰ τῶν κρατησάντων
ἠναγκάσθησαν ἐπιτηδεύματα μεταλαβεῖν. τῇ δὲ
Ῥωμαίων πόλει τοιαύτης οὐδέποτε πειραθῆναι συνέβη
τύχης, ἀλλ´ αὐτὴ τὰ δίκαια τάττει διὰ παντὸς ἑτέροις.
εἰ δὴ βάρβαρον αὐτῶν τὸ γένος ἦν, τοσούτου ἂν ἐδέησαν αὐτοὶ τὰ
πατρῷα ἱερὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους ἐθισμοὺς ἀπομαθεῖν, δι´ οὓς εἰς
τοσαύτην προῆλθον εὐδαιμονίαν, ὥστε καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν,
ὧν ἦρχον, ἐν
καλῷ κατέστησαν τοὺς θεοὺς τοῖς σφετέροις τιμᾶν νομίμοις· καὶ
οὐθὲν ἂν ἐκώλυσεν ἅπαν ἐκβεβαρβαρῶσθαι
τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἑβδόμην ἤδη κρατούμενον
ὑπ´ αὐτῶν γενεάν, εἴπερ ἦσαν βάρβαροι.
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Traduction française :
| [7,70] Since I have come to this part of my history, I believe I ought not to omit
mention of the rites performed by the Romans on the occasion of this festival. I do
this, not in order to render my narration more agreeable by dramatic embellishments
and flowery descriptions, but to win credence for an essential matter of history,
namely, that the peoples which joined in founding the city of Rome were Greek
colonies sent out from the most famous places, and not, as some believe, barbarians
and vagabonds. For I promised at the end of the first Book, which I composed and
published concerning their origin, that I would demonstrate this thesis by countless
proofs, by citing time-honoured customs, laws and institutions which they preserve
down to my time just as they received them from their ancestors. For I believe that it
is not enough that those who write the early histories of particular lands should relate
them in a trustworthy manner as they have received them from the inhabitants of the
country, but that these accounts require also for their support numerous and
indisputable testimonies, if they are to appear credible. Among such testimonies
I am convinced that the first and the most valid of all are the ceremonies connectedº
with the established worship of the gods and other divinities which are performed in
the various states. These both the Greeks and barbarian world have preserved for the
greatest length of time and have never thought fit to make any innovation
intrenchment, being restrained from doing so by their fear of the divine anger. This
has been the experience of the barbarians in particular, for many reasons which this
is (p359) not the proper occasion for mentioning; and no lapse of time has thus far
induced either the Egyptians, the Libyans, the Gauls, the Scythians, the Indians, or
any other barbarian nation whatever to forget or transgress anything relating to the
rites of their gods, unless some of them have been subdued by a foreign power and
compelled to exchange their own institutions for those of their conquerors. Now it
has not been the fate of the Roman commonwealth ever to experience such a
misfortune, but she herself always gives laws to others. If, therefore, the Romans
had been originally barbarians, they would have been so far from forgetting their
ancestral rites and the established customs of their country, by which they had
attained to so great prosperity, that they would even have made it to the interest of all
their subjects as well to honour the gods according to the customary Roman
ceremonies; and nothing could have hindered the whole Greek world, which is now
subject to the Romans for already the seventh generation, from being barbarized if
the Romans had indeed been barbarians.
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