Texte grec :
| [8,52] Ἀλλ´ ἐξ οὗ ἐπολιτεύου καὶ τὰ κοινὰ ἔπραττες,
ἡδονήν τινα ἐκαρπωσάμην ἡ μήτηρ ἐγὼ διὰ σέ; τότε
μὲν οὖν τὰ μάλιστα ἠτύχουν στάσεως πολιτικῆς μέσον
ὁρῶσά σε κείμενον. ἐν οἷς γὰρ ἀνθεῖν ἐδόκεις πολιτεύμασι καὶ
πολὺς ἔπνεις ἐναντιούμενος ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀριστοκρατίας τοῖς
δημοτικοῖς, ταῦτ´ ἐμοὶ φόβου μεστὰ
ἦν ἐνθυμουμένῃ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον, ὡς ἐπὶ μικρᾶς
αἰωρεῖται ῥοπῆς, καὶ ἐκ πολλῶν ἀκουσμάτων τε καὶ
παθημάτων μαθούσῃ, ὅτι τοῖς ἐπισήμοις ἀνδράσι θεία
τις ἐναντιοῦται νέμεσις ἢ φθόνος τις ἀνθρώπινος πολεμεῖ· καὶ ἦν
ἄρα μάντις ἀληθὴς ὡς μήποτε ὤφελον
τῶν ἐκβησομένων. κατηγωνίσατό γ´ οὖν σε πολὺς
ἐπιρράξας ὁ πολιτικὸς φθόνος καὶ ἀνήρπασεν ἐκ τῆς
πατρίδος· ὁ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτά μου βίος, εἰ δὴ καὶ βίον
αὐτὸν δεῖ καλεῖν, ἀφ´ οὗ με καταλιπὼν ἔρημον ἐπὶ
τοῖς παιδίοις τούτοις ἀπῆλθες, ἐν τούτῳ δεδαπάνηται
τῷ ῥύπῳ καὶ ἐν τοῖς πενθίμοις τρύχεσι τούτοις. ἀνθ´
ὧν ἁπάντων ταύτην ἀπαιτῶ σε χάριν, μηδέποτέ σοι
βαρεῖα γενομένη μηδ´ εἰς τὸν λοιπὸν ἐσομένη χρόνον,
ἕως ἂν ζῶ, διαλλαγῆναι πρὸς τοὺς σεαυτοῦ πολίτας
ἤδη ποτὲ καὶ παύσασθαι τὸν ἀμείλικτον χόλον φυλάσσοντα
κατὰ τῆς πατρίδος· κοινὸν ἀγαθὸν ἀμφοτέροις
ἡμῖν ἀξιοῦσα λαβεῖν καὶ οὐκ ἐμαυτῆς ἴδιον μόνης. σοί
τε γάρ, ἐὰν πεισθῇς καὶ μηθὲν ἀνήκεστον ἐξεργάσῃ,
καθαρὰν καὶ ἀμίαντον ἔχειν συμβήσεται τὴν ψυχὴν
ἀπὸ παντὸς χόλου καὶ ταράγματος δαιμονίου· ἐμοί
τε ἡ παρὰ τῶν πολιτῶν τε καὶ πολιτίδων τιμὴ ζώσῃ
τε παρακολουθοῦσα τὸν βίον εὐδαίμονα ποιήσει, καὶ
μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἀποδιδομένη καθάπερ εἰκὸς εὔκλειαν
ἀθάνατον οἴσει. καὶ εἴ τις ἄρα τὰς ἀνθρωπίνους ψυχὰς
ἀπολυθείσας τοῦ σώματος ὑποδέξεται τόπος, οὐχ ὁ καταχθόνιος
καὶ ἀφεγγὴς ὑποδέξεται τὴν
ἐμήν, ἐν ᾧ φασι τοὺς κακοδαίμονας οἰκεῖν, οὐδὲ τὸ
λεγόμενον τῆς Λήθης πεδίον, ἀλλ´ ὁ μετέωρος καὶ καθαρὸς
αἰθήρ, ἐν ᾧ τοὺς ἐκ θεῶν φύντας οἰκεῖν λόγος
εὐδαίμονα καὶ μακάριον ἔχοντας βίον· οἷς διαγγέλλουσα τὸ σὸν
εὐσεβὲς καὶ τὰς σὰς χάριτας, αἷς αὐτὴν
ἐκόσμησας, ἀεί τινας αἰτήσεταί σοι παρὰ θεῶν ἀμοιβὰς καλάς.
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Traduction française :
| [8,52] "But from the time when you took up the life of a statesman and engaged in
public affairs have I, your mother, enjoyed any pleasure on your account? Nay, it was
then that I was most unhappy, seeing you placed in the midst of civil strife. For those
very measures which seemed to make you flourish and blow strong in popularity as
you opposed the plebeians in behalf of the aristocracy filled me with fear, as I called
to mind what the life of man is, how it hangs nicely suspended as in a balance, and
had learned from many instances what I had heard and experienced that a kind of
divine vengeance opposes men of prominence or a certain envy of men makes war
upon them; and I proved a true prophet of what was to be — would to Heaven I had
not! At any rate, you were overpowered by the ill-will of your fellow citizens, which
burst upon you violently and snatched you away from your country; and my life
thereafter — if, indeed I ought to call it life since you departed leaving me and these
children, too, desolate — has been spent in this squalor and in these rent garments of
mourning. In return for all this I, (p155) who was never a burden to you nor ever shall
be as long as I live, ask this favour of you — that you will be at last be reconciled to
your fellow citizens and cease nursing that implacable anger against your country. In
doing this I am but asking to receive what will be a boon common to us both, and not
mine alone. For you, if you hearken to me and commit no irreparable deed, will
have a mind free and unvexed by any heaven-sent wrath and disquiet, while as for
me, the honour I shall receive from the men and women of the city, attending me
while I live, will make my life happen, and being paid to my memory after my death,
as I may well expect, will bring me everlasting fame. And if there is in very truth a
place which will receive men's souls when released from the body, it is not that
subterranean and gloomy place where, men say, the unhappy dwell, that will receive
mine, nor the region called the Plain of Lethe, but the pure ether high up in the
heavens, where, as report has it, those who are sprung from the gods dwell, enjoying
a happy and a blessed life; and to them my soul will relate your piety and the acts of
kindness with which you honoured her, and will ever ask the gods to requite you with
glorious rewards.
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