Texte grec :
| [8,28] Φέρε, ἐὰν δὲ δὴ κατορθώσῃς, τί τὸ θαυμαστὸν
ἔσται σοι καὶ περιμάχητον ἀγαθόν, ἢ τίνας
ἐξοίσῃ δόξας; καὶ γὰρ τοῦτ´ ἐξέτασον. πρῶτον μὲν
τῶν φιλτάτων τε καὶ ἀναγκαιοτάτων ὑπάρξει σοι στερέσθαι
σωμάτων, μητρὸς ἀθλίας, ᾗ γενέσεως καὶ τροφῆς
καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὧν ἔσχεν ἐπὶ σοὶ πόνων οὐ καλὰς
ἀμοιβὰς ἀποδίδως· ἔπειτα γαμετῆς σώφρονος, ἣ διὰ
τὸν σὸν πόθον ἐν ἐρημίᾳ καὶ χηρείᾳ κάθηται πᾶσαν
ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα τὰς σὰς φυγὰς ὀδυρομένη· πρὸς δὲ
τούτοις τέκνων δυεῖν, οὓς ἐχρῆν ἀγαθῶν προγόνων
ὄντας ἀπογόνους καρποῦσθαι τὰς ἐκείνων τιμὰς εὐδοξοῦντας ἐν
εὐτυχούσῃ τῇ πατρίδι. ὧν ἁπάντων οἰκτρὰς
καὶ ἀτυχεῖς ἀναγκασθήσῃ θεωρεῖν καταστροφάς, εἰ τολμήσεις
προσάγειν τοῖς τείχεσι τὸν πόλεμον· οὐ γὰρ δὴ
φείσονται τῶν σῶν οὐθενὸς οἱ περὶ τῶν σφετέρων
κινδυνεύοντες καὶ εἰς τὰ ὅμοια κακῶς ὑπὸ σοῦ πάσχοντες, ἀλλ´
εἰς αἰκισμοὺς αὐτῶν δεινοὺς καὶ ὕβρεις
ἀνηλεεῖς καὶ πᾶσαν ἄλλην ἰδέαν προπηλακισμοῦ χωρήσουσιν
ὑπὸ τῶν συμφορῶν βιαζόμενοι· καὶ τούτων οὐχ
οἱ δρῶντες, ἀλλ´ ὁ τὴν ἀνάγκην αὐτοῖς ἐπιτιθεὶς αἴτιος
ἔσῃ· ἡδονὰς μὲν δὴ τοιαύτας καρπώσῃ κατὰ γνώμην
χωρήσαντός σοι τοῦδε τοῦ ἔργου, ἔπαινον δὲ καὶ ζῆλον
καὶ τιμάς, ὧν ὀρέγεσθαι χρὴ τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας,
σκόπει ποίας τινάς· μητροκτόνος κεκλήσῃ καὶ παιδοφόνος καὶ
γυναικὸς ἀλιτήριος καὶ πατρίδος ἀλάστωρ,
καὶ οὔτε θυσιῶν οὔτε σπονδῶν οὔθ´ ἑστίας, ὅποι ποτ´
ἂν ἀφίκῃ, κοινωνεῖν ἐθελήσει σοι τῶν εὐσεβῶν καὶ
δικαίων οὐθείς, αὐτοῖς τ´ οὐκ ἔσῃ τίμιος, οἷς εὔνοιαν
ἐνδεικνύμενος ταῦτα δρᾷς, ἀλλὰ καρπωσάμενοί τινα
ἕκαστος τούτων ἐκ τῶν σῶν ἀσεβημάτων ὠφέλειαν
μισήσουσι τὴν αὐθάδειαν τοῦ τρόπου. ἐῶ γὰρ λέγειν,
ὅτι χωρὶς τοῦ μίσους, ὃ παρὰ τῶν ἐπιεικεστάτων ἕξεις,
καὶ φθόνος ἀπαντήσεται πολὺς ἐκ τῶν ἴσων καὶ φόβος
ἐκ τῶν ἡσσόνων καὶ δι´ ἄμφω ταῦτ´ ἐπιβουλαὶ καὶ
ἄλλα πολλὰ καὶ χαλεπά, ὅσα εἰκὸς συμπεσεῖν ἀνδρὶ
ἐρήμῳ φίλων καὶ ἐν ξένῃ ὄντι γῇ. τὰς γὰρ δὴ παρὰ
θεῶν τε καὶ δαιμόνων ἐπιπεμπομένας τοῖς ἀνόσια καὶ
δεινὰ διαπραξαμένοις ἐρινύας ἐῶ, ὑφ´ ὧν αἰκιζόμενοι
ψυχάς τε καὶ σώματα κακοὺς μὲν διαντλοῦσι βίους,
οἰκτρὰς δ´ ὑπομένουσι τελευτάς. ταῦτ´ ἐνθυμηθείς, ὦ
Μάρκιε, μετάγνωθι καὶ παῦσαι μνησικακῶν τῇ σεαυτοῦ
πατρίδι· τύχην τε πάντων αἰτίαν ἡγησάμενος ὧν πέπονθας πρὸς
ἡμῶν ἢ δέδρακας ἡμᾶς κακῶν, ἄπιθι
χαίρων ἐπὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα, καὶ κόμισαι μητρός τε περιβολὰς
προσηνεστάτας καὶ γυναικὸς {τε} φιλοφροσύνας ἡδίστας
καὶ τέκνων ἀσπασμοὺς γλυκυτάτους, καὶ σεαυτὸν ἀπόδος
ὀφείλημα κάλλιστον τῇ γειναμένῃ σε καὶ τηλικοῦτον
ἄνδρα παιδευσαμένῃ πατρίδι.
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Traduction française :
| [8,28] "Come now, if you do succeed, what wonderful, what enviable advantage will be
yours, or what glory will you gain? For this also you must consider. In the first place,
it will be your fate to be deprived of those who are dearest and nearest of kin to you —
of an unhappy mother, to whom you are making no honourable return for your birth
and rearing and for all the hardships she underwent on your account; and again, of a
faithful wife, who through yearning for you sits in solitude and widowhood,
lamenting every day and night your banishment; and furthermore of two sons who
ought, being descendants of worthy ancestors, to benefit from their honours by being
held in high esteem in a flourishing fatherland. But you will be forced to behold the
pitiable and unhappy deaths of all these if you dare to bring the war to our walls. For
surely no mercy will be shown to any of your family by those (p81) who are in danger of
losing their own and are treated by you with the same cruelty. On the contrary, they
will proceed to inflict on them dreadful tortures, pitiless indignities and every other
kind of abuse, if they are forced thereto by their calamities. And for all these things it
will not be those who do them that are to blame, but you, who impose the necessity
upon them. Such will be the pleasures you will reap if this enterprise of yours
succeeds; but as for praise and emulation and honours, which good men ought to
strive for, consider of what nature they will be. You will be called the slayer of your
mother, the murderer of your children, the assassin of your wife, and the evil genius
of your country; wherever you go, no man who is pious and just will be willing to let
you partake with him in sacrifices or libations or in the hospitality of his home; and
even by those for whom out of friendliness you perform these services you will not be
held in honour, but every one of them, after reaping some advantage from your
impious actions, will detest your arrogant manner. I forbear to add that, besides the
hatred which you will encounter on the part of the most fair-minded men, you will
have to face much envy from your equals and fear from your inferiors and, in
consequence of both the envy and the fear, plots and many other disagreeable things
which are likely to befall a man destitute of friends and living in a foreign land. I say
nothing, indeed, of the Furies sent by the gods and other divinities to punish those
who have been guilty of impious and dreadful deeds — those Furies tormented by
whom in both soul and body they drag out a miserable life while awaiting a pitiable
death. Bearing these things in mind, (p83) Marcius, repent of your purpose and give up
your grudge against your country; and regarding Fortune as having been the cause of
all the evils you have suffered at our hands or have inflicted on us, return with joy to
your family, receive a mother's most affectionate embraces, a wife's sweetest
welcome, and give yourself back to your country as a most honourable repayment of
the debt you owe to her for having given birth and rearing to so great a man."
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