Texte grec :
| [14,6] Ὅτι οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι μεγαλοπρεπεῖς. τῶν γὰρ
ἄλλων ὀλίγου δεῖν πάντων ἔν τε τοῖς κοινοῖς τῶν
πόλεων πράγμασι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις βίοις πρὸς τὰ τελευταῖα
τῶν συμβαινόντων τὰς διανοίας μεθαρμοττομένων
καὶ πολλάκις ἔχθρας τε μεγάλας διὰ τὰς τυχούσας
φιλανθρωπίας καταλυομένων καὶ φιλίας πολυχρονίους
διὰ μικρὰ καὶ φαῦλα προσκρούματα διαιρούντων
ἐκεῖνοι τοὐναντίον ἐπὶ τῶν φίλων ᾤοντο χρῆναι ποιεῖν,
ταῖς τε παλαιαῖς εὐεργεσίαις χαρίζεσθαι τὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς
προσφάτοις ἐγκλήμασιν ὀργάς. Θαυμαστὸν μὲν δὴ
καὶ τοῦτο τῶν ἀνδρῶν· λέγω δὲ τὸ μηδενὶ μνησικακῆσαι
τῶν Τυσκλάνων, ἀλλὰ πάντας ἀφεῖναι τοὺς
ἐξαμαρτόντας ἀζημίους· πολλῷ δ´ ἔτι τούτου θαυμασιώτερον,
ὃ μετὰ τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν ἐγκλημάτων αὐτοῖς
ἐχαρίσαντο. σκοπούμενοι γάρ, ὡς μηδὲν ἔτι τοιοῦτον
ἐν τῇ πόλει γενήσεται μηδ´ ἀφορμὴν νεωτερισμοῦ λήψονταί
τινες, οὔτε φρουρὰν εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν αὐτῶν
ᾤοντο δεῖν εἰσάγειν, οὔτε παρὰ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων
ἀνδρῶν ὅμηρα λαμβάνειν, οὔτε ὅπλα τοὺς ἔχοντας ἀφελέσθαι,
οὔτ´ ἄλλο σημεῖον οὐδὲν ἀπιστουμένης φιλίας
ποιῆσαι· μίαν δὲ πρᾶξιν οἰόμενοι συνέχειν ἅπαντας
τοὺς κατὰ συγγένειαν ἢ φιλίαν προσήκοντας ἀλλήλοις
τὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἰσομοιρίαν, πολιτείαν ἔγνωσαν τοῖς
κρατηθεῖσι χαρίσασθαι, πάντων μεταδόντες ὧν τοῖς
φύσει Ῥωμαίοις μετῆν, οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν διάνοιαν
λαβόντες τοῖς ἀξιοῦσι τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἄρχειν οὔτ´ Ἀθηναίοις
οὔτε Λακεδαιμονίοις· τί γὰρ δεῖ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων
Ἑλλήνων λέγειν; Ἀθηναῖοι μέν γε Σαμίους ἀποίκους
ἑαυτῶν ὄντας, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ Μεσσηνίους ἀδελφῶν
οὐδὲν διαφέροντας, ἐπειδὴ προσέκρουσαν αὐτοῖς τι,
διαλυσάμενοι τὴν συγγένειαν οὕτως ὠμῶς διεχειρίσαντο
καὶ θηριωδῶς, ἐπειδὴ τὰς πόλεις αὐτῶν ὑποχειρίους
ἔλαβον, ὥστε μηδὲ τοῖς ἀγριωτάτοις τῶν βαρβάρων
ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εἰς τὰ ὁμόφυλα παρανομίας
παραλιπεῖν. Μυρία τοιαῦτα λέγειν ἄν τις ἔχοι
ταῖς πόλεσι ταύταις ἡμαρτημένα, ἃ παρίημι, ἐπεὶ καὶ
τούτων μεμνημένος ἄχθομαι· τὸ γὰρ Ἑλληνικὸν οὐκ
ὀνόματι διαφέρειν τοῦ βαρβάρου ἠξίουν οὐδὲ διαλέκτου
χάριν, ἀλλὰ συνέσει καὶ χρηστῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων
προαιρέσει, μάλιστα δὲ τῷ μηδὲν τῶν ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην
φύσιν εἰς ἀλλήλους παρανομεῖν. ὅσοις
μὲν οὖν ταῦτα ἐπὶ πλεῖον ὑπῆρξεν ἐν τῇ φύσει, τούτους
οἶμαι δεῖν λέγειν Ἕλληνας, ὅσοις δὲ τἀναντία
βαρβάρους. καὶ τὰς μὲν ἐπιεικεῖς καὶ φιλανθρώπους
διανοίας τε καὶ πράξεις αὐτῶν Ἑλληνικὰς εἶναι λογίζομαι,
τὰς δ´ ὠμὰς καὶ θηριώδεις, ἄλλως τε κἂν περὶ
συγγενεῖς τε καὶ φίλους γίνωνται, βαρβαρικάς. Τυσκλανοὶ
μὲν δὴ πρὸς τῷ μηδὲν ἀφαιρεθῆναι τῶν σφετέρων
ἁλούσης τῆς πόλεως, {ἀλλὰ} καὶ τὰ τῶν κεκρατηκότων
ἀγαθὰ προσλαβόντες ἀπῄεσαν.
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Traduction française :
| [14,6] The Romans are magnanimous. For, whereas nearly all others both in the
public relations of their states and in their private lives change their
feelings according to the latest developments, often laying aside great enmities
because of chance acts of kindness and breaking up long-standing friendships
because of slight and trivial offences, the Romans thought they ought to do just
the opposite in the case of their friends and out of gratitude for ancient
benefits to give up their resentment over recent causes for complaint. 2
Even this, then, was remarkable on the part of those men, namely that they bore
no malice against any of the Tusculans, but let all the offenders go unpunished;
yet much more remarkable than this was the favour which they showed them after
pardoning their offences. For when they were considering ways and means that
nothing of the sort might happen again in that city and that none might find a
ground for rebellion, they thought they ought neither to introduce a garrison
into the Tusculans' citadel nor (p267) to take hostages from the most prominent men
nor to deprive of their arms those who had them nor to give any other indication
of distrusting their friendship; 3 but believing that the one thing that holds
together all who belong to one another by reason either of kinship or friendship
is the equal sharing of their blessings, they decided to grant citizenship to
the vanquished, giving them a part in everything in which the native-born Romans
shared. Thereby they took a very different view from that held by those who
laid claim to the leadership of Greece, whether Athenians or Lacedaemonians — 4
what need is there to mention the other Greeks? For the Athenians in the case of
the Samians, their own colonists, and the Lacedaemonians in the case of the
Messenians, who were the same as their brothers, when these gave them some
offence, dissolved the ties of kinship, and after subjugating their cities,
treated them with such cruelty and brutality as to equal even the most savage of
barbarians in their mistreatment of people of kindred stock. 5 One could
name countless blunders of this sort made by these cities, but pass over them
since it grieves me to mention evenº these instances. For I would distinguish
Greeks from barbarians, not by their name nor on the basis of their speech, but
by their intelligence and their predilection for decent behaviour, and
particularly by their indulging in no inhuman treatment of one another. All in
whose nature these qualities predominated I believe ought to be called Greeks,
but those of whom the opposite was true, barbarians. 6 Likewise, their plans and
actions which (p269) were reasonable and humane, I consider to be Greek, but those
which were cruel and brutal, particularly when they affected kinsmen and
friends, barbarous. The Tusculans departed, accordingly, not only without having
been deprived of their possessions after the capture of their city, but having
actually received in addition the blessings enjoyed by their conquerors.
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