Texte grec :
| [32,45] ἐκεῖνος μὲν παίζων καὶ καταγελῶν οὐ φαύλου πράγματος, ὡς ἐγὼ
δοκῶ, ταῦτα ἔλεγεν. περὶ δὲ ὑμῶν τί ἄν τις ἔχοι λέγειν; καὶ γὰρ
ὑμεῖς ὅταν συνέλθητε, πυκτεύετε, βοᾶτε, ῥιπτεῖτε, ὀρχεῖσθε, ποίῳ
χρισάμενοι φαρμάκῳ; δῆλον ὅτι τῷ τῆς ἀνοίας· ὡς οὐκ ἦν ὑμῖν
ἐπιεικῶς αὐτὰ ὁρᾶν. μὴ γὰρ τοῦτό 〈με〉 οἴεσθε λέγειν ὡς οὐ
χρὴ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα γίγνεσθαι ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι· χρὴ γὰρ ἴσως καὶ
ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι διὰ τὴν τῶν πολλῶν ἀσθένειαν καὶ σχολήν· ἴσως
δὲ καὶ τῶν βελτιόνων εἰσὶν οἱ δεόμενοι διατριβῆς τινος καὶ παραμυθίας
ἐν τῷ βίῳ· δεῖ δὲ μετὰ κόσμου καὶ σχήματος πρέποντος ἀνθρώποις
ἐλευθέροις. οὐ γὰρ παρὰ τοῦτο οὔτε τῶν ἵππων
οὐδεὶς δραμεῖται βράδιον οὐδὲ χεῖρον ᾄσεταί τις τῶν ᾀδόντων, ἂν
εὐσχημονῆτε ὑμεῖς. νυνὶ δὲ τὸ μὲν τῶν ἡνιόχων τινὰ ἐκπεσεῖν ἐκ
τοῦ δίφρου δεινὸν ἡγεῖσθε καὶ συμφορὰν πασῶν μεγίστην· αὐτοὶ
δὲ ἐκπίπτοντες ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τοῦ προσήκοντος καὶ τῆς ἀξίας τῆς
ἑαυτῶν οὐ φροντίζετε. κἂν μὲν ὑμῖν ὁ κιθαρῳδὸς ἐκμελῶς ᾄδῃ
καὶ παρὰ τὸν τόνον, συνίετε· αὐτοὶ δὲ παντελῶς ἔξω τῆς ἁρμονίας
τῆς κατὰ φύσιν γιγνόμενοι καὶ σφόδρα ἀμούσως ἔχοντες οὐ διαφέρεσθε.
καίτοι πόσοι διὰ ταῦθ´ ὑμῶν ἀπολώλασιν; ἀδοξοῦσι
μὲν γὰρ πάντες. * αἱ δὲ Σειρῆνες ἄλλο τι ἐποίουν, ὡς ὁ μῦθός
φησιν, οὐκ ἀπώλλυον τοὺς σφόδρα ἡσθέντας αὐταῖς; ἀλλ´ ἐκεῖναι
μὲν ἐν ἐρήμῳ ἦσαν πελάγει καὶ μακρὰν ἀπῳκισμέναι καθ´ αὑτὰς
ἐπὶ σκοπέλου τινός, ὅπου μηδεὶς ῥᾳδίως παρέβαλλε· κἀκεῖ δ´ ὁ
νοῦν ἔχων ἐσώθη καὶ μεθ´ ἡσυχίας ἤκουσεν. αὗται δὲ σχεδὸν ἐν
μέσῳ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐν τῇ πολυανθρωποτάτῃ πασῶν πόλει τοιαῦτα
ἐργάζονται, μὰ Δί´ οὐ δι´ αὑτῶν τινα ἡδονὴν ἢ δύναμιν,
ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀβελτερίαν. διὰ τί γὰρ ἔξω παραπλησίως ἀκούονται
τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ πολλάκις ἀηδεῖς ἔδοξαν; μὴ τὰ
ὦτα ἐπαλήλιπται τῶν ἐκεῖ; τί οὖν τοῦτο δείκνυσι; μὰ Δί´ οὐ
μουσικῆς ἰσχὺν οὐδ´ ὑπερβολὴν τέχνης, ἀλλ´ ἀκροατῶν κουφότητα καὶ πόλεως
ἀσθένειαν. φασὶ γοῦν ἤδη τινὰς τῶν ἀπολωλότων διὰ τὴν τοιαύτην πρόφασιν
νεανιεύσασθαι, μὴ παραιτουμένους τὸν θάνατον, ἀλλὰ προσλιπαροῦντας,
ὅπως ἀκούσωσιν ἐπὶ
πλέον. τοῦτο δ´ ἐστὶ θαυμαστὸν ἐπ´ ὀνείδει καὶ καταγέλωτι τῆς
πόλεως, εἰ παρὰ μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀριστεῖς καὶ τυραννοκτόνοι
μνημονεύονται, σωτηρίας ἕνεκεν τῶν πατρίδων ἐπιδιδόντες αὑτούς·
παρὰ δὲ ὑμῖν ὑπὲρ χορδῆς τοῦτο πάσχουσι καὶ δι´ ἡδονὴν μικράν,
μᾶλλον δὲ δόξαν κενήν. οὐ γὰρ ἡδόμενοι τοσοῦτον ὅσον
οἰόμενοι καὶ βουλόμενοι προΐενται σφᾶς αὐτούς. τοσαύτη δ´ ἐστὶ
δυστυχία τῶν ταλαιπώρων, ὥστε ἀνδρεῖον ἡγοῦνται τὸ πάντων
ἀνανδρότατον καὶ σεμνὸν τὸ αἴσχιστον. ἑλοίμην γὰρ ἂν ἔγωγε
λῃστεύων ἀποθανεῖν ἢ διὰ τοιαύτην αἰτίαν. τὸ μὲν γάρ ἐστιν
ἀνδρὸς πονηροῦ θάνατος, τὸ δὲ ἀνδραπόδου δυστυχοῦς. κἀκεῖνος
μὲν ἀδικηθεὶς ἴσως ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἦλθεν, ὑπὲρ τοὺς νόμους ἀμύνασθαι
πειρώμενος, καὶ τάχα τι καὶ γενναῖον ἐδύνατο πρᾶξαι μὴ τοιούτου
τυχὼν δαίμονος· ὁδὶ δὲ κραυγῇ μόνον καὶ ἀνοίᾳ 〈διὰ〉 δυστυχῆ
φθόγγον καὶ κακὴν ἔγκλισιν καὶ τὰς ἐκμελεῖς καμπὰς καὶ λήρους
καὶ κυνισμοὺς καὶ ὀλέθρους ἀκλεῶς ἀπολλύμενος. ἔστι δὲ ὁ
τοιοῦτος μυίας θάνατος. καὶ γὰρ ἐκείναις ὅ, τι ἂν γευσαμέναις
γλυκὺ φανῇ, πρὸς τούτῳ διαφθείρονται.
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Traduction française :
| [32,45] Anacharsis was jesting and making sport about no
trifling matter, it seems to me, when he said these
things ; but what might a visitor say about
yourselves? For as soon as you get together, you
set to work to box and shout and hurl and dance
— smeared with what drug ? Evidently with the drug
of folly; as if you could not watch the spectacle
sensibly ! For I would not have you think I mean
that even such performances should not take place in
cities; for perhaps they should, and it may be
necessary, because of the frailty of the masses and
their idle habits ; and possibly even among better
people too there are those who need some diversion
and amusement in life, but they should take it with
decorum and as befits free men. For it will not
cause any of the horses to run more slowly or any of
the singers to sing less pleasingly if you preserve a
due decorum. But as things are now, if one of the
charioteers fails from his chariot, you think it terrible
and the greatest of all disasters, whereas when you
yourselves fall from the decorum that befits you and
from the esteem you should enjoy, you are unconcerned.
And if you hear the harpist sing out of tune
or off pitch, you are well aware of it, whereas when you
yourselves utterly abandon the harmony prescribed
by nature and are most discordant, you are quite indifferent.
And yet how many here have met destruction
because of these allurements ? Loss of reputation,
at any rate, everyone has suffered. And did the
Sirens do anything else according to the story?
Did they not regularly destroy those who took extravagant
delight in them ? Yet the Sirens dwelt in a
lonely sea and far away, all by themselves, on a lofty
cliff, where no one could easily approach ; and even
there the man of sense escaped in safety and heard
them with composure. These entertainers of
Alexandria, however, ply their trade in what is
practically the centre of the civilized world and in the
most populous city of all, not, by Zeus, because of
any charm or power of their own, but rather because
of your fatuity. For why is it that outside Alexandria
they produce an impression quite like that
produced by the usual run of performers, nay,
frequently have been thought to be unpleasant?
Can it be that the ears of the people in those places
have been stopped ?
What, then, does their success with you signify?
Not, by Zeus, musical power or artistic pre-eminence,
but rather the shallowness of you listeners and the
weakness of your city. It is said, at any rate, that
some who have already met their ruin through such a
cause, instead of trying by entreaty to escape their
death, with youthful bravado have implored the
privilege of listening to their destroyers even more.
And here is an amazing thing which brings reproach
and ridicule upon the city—that whereas elsewhere
nobles and tyrannicides are held in memory because
they gave their lives for the salvation of the fatherland,
with you it is for a bit of catgut that men meet
their fate and because of an enjoyment that is fleeting,
or, more properly, a fancy that has no substance.
For it is not through real enjoyment so much as
through wishful thinking that these men sacrifice their lives.
And so great is the misfortune of the poor wretches,
that they regard as manly what is most unmanly of
all, and as dignified what is most shameful. Why,
I would rather be put to death for robbery than for
such a cause. For in the one case it is the death
of a bad man but a man, in the other of a slave in
hard luck. The one possibly came to such a pass
because he had been wronged and was striving to get
redress over and above the laws, and it may be that he
might have achieved something actually noble, had
he not encountered such an evil genius ; but the other
came to his inglorious end merely through shouting
and a frenzy caused by an ill-starred voice and a
wicked nod of the head, by dissonant variations and
nonsense and a cynical, pestilential behaviour. But
such is the death of a fly ! For whatever tastes sweet
to the fly is the thing at which it meets destruction.
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