Texte grec :
| [32,35] αὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο περὶ οὗ λέγειν ἠρξάμην, ὁρᾶτε ἡλίκον ἐστίν.
ὅπως μὲν γὰρ ἑστιᾶσθε καθ´ ἑαυτοὺς ἢ κοιμᾶσθε ἢ
διοικεῖτε τὴν οἰκίαν ἕκαστος οὐ πάνυ δῆλός ἐστιν· ὅπως
μέντοι θεωρεῖτε καὶ ποῖοί τινες ἐνθάδε ἐστὲ ἅπαντες Ἕλληνες καὶ
βάρβαροι ἴσασιν. ἡ γὰρ πόλις ὑμῶν τῷ μεγέθει καὶ
τῷ τόπῳ πλεῖστον ὅσον διαφέρει καὶ περιφανῶς ἀποδέδεικται
δευτέρα τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον. ἥ τε γὰρ Αἴγυπτος {ὑμῶν}, τηλικοῦτον
ἔθνος, σῶμα τῆς πόλεώς ἐστι, μᾶλλον δὲ προσθήκη,
τοῦ τε ποταμοῦ τὸ ἴδιον τῆς φύσεως {καὶ} παρὰ τοὺς ἄλλους
ἅπαντας λόγου μεῖζον, τό τε θαυμαστὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ ὠφέλιμον,
τήν τε θάλατταν τὴν καθ´ ἡμᾶς ἅπασαν ἐκδέχεσθε, κάλλει τε
λιμένων καὶ μεγέθει στόλου καὶ τῶν πανταχοῦ γιγνομένων ἀφθονίᾳ
καὶ διαθέσει, καὶ τὴν ἔξωθεν ὑπερκειμένην ἔχετε, τήν
τε Ἐρυθρὰν καὶ τὴν Ἰνδικήν, ἧς πρότερον τοὔνομα ἀκοῦσαι χαλεπὸν ἦν·
ὥστε τὰς ἐμπορίας οὐ νήσων οὐδὲ λιμένων οὐδὲ πορθμῶν τινων καὶ
ἰσθμῶν, ἀλλὰ σχεδὸν ἁπάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης γίγνεσθαι παρ´ ὑμῖν. κεῖται
γὰρ ἐν συνδέσμῳ τινὶ τῆς ὅλης γῆς καὶ
τῶν πλεῖστον ἀπῳκισμένων ἐθνῶν, ὥσπερ ἀγορὰ μιᾶς πόλεως εἰς
ταὐτὸ ξυνάγουσα πάντας καὶ δεικνύουσά τε ἀλλήλοις καὶ καθ´ ὅσον
οἷόν τε ὁμοφύλους ποιοῦσα. ἴσως οὖν χαίρετε ἀκούοντες, καὶ
νομίζετε ἐπαινεῖσθαι ταῦτα ἐμοῦ λέγοντος, ὥσπερ ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων
τῶν ἀεὶ θωπευόντων ὑμᾶς· ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπῄνεσα ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν καὶ λιμένας
καὶ τόπους καὶ πάντα μᾶλλον ἢ ὑμᾶς. ποῦ γὰρ εἶπον ὥς
ἐστε φρόνιμοι καὶ σώφρονες καὶ δίκαιοι; οὐχὶ τἀναντία τούτων;
ἔστι γὰρ ἀνθρώπων ἔπαινος εὐταξία, πρᾳότης, ὁμόνοια, κόσμος
πολιτείας, τὸ προσέχειν τοῖς ὀρθῶς λέγουσι, τὸ μὴ πάντοτε ζητεῖν
ἡδονάς. ἀναγωγαὶ δὲ καὶ κατάρσεις καὶ πλήθους ὑπερβολὴ καὶ
ὠνίων καὶ νεῶν πανηγύρεως καὶ λιμένος καὶ ἀγορᾶς ἐστιν ἐγκώμιον,
οὐ πόλεως· οὐδέ γε, ἂν ὕδωρ ἐπαινῇ τις, ἀνθρώπων ἔπαινος
οὗτός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ φρεάτων· οὐδ´ ἂν περὶ εὐκρασίας λέγῃ τις, τοὺς
ἀνθρώπους εἶναί φησιν ἀγαθούς, ἀλλὰ τὴν χώραν· οὐδ´ ἂν περὶ
ἰχθύων, τὴν πόλιν ἐπαινεῖ· πόθεν; ἀλλὰ θάλατταν ἢ λίμνην ἢ
ποταμόν. ὑμεῖς δέ, ἂν ἐγκωμιάζῃ τις τὸν Νεῖλον, ἐπαίρεσθε, ὥσπερ
αὐτοὶ ῥέοντες ἀπὸ Αἰθιοπίας. σχεδὸν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἱ
πλείους ἐπὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις χαίρουσι, καὶ μακαρίους ἑαυτοὺς κρίνουσιν,
ἂν οἰκῶσι καθ´ Ὅμηρον νῆσον δενδρήεσσαν ἢ βαθεῖαν {ἤ}
τινα ἤπειρον {εὔβοτον, εὔμηλον,} ἢ πρὸς ὄρεσι σκιεροῖς ἢ πηγαῖς
διαυγέσιν· ὧν οὐδὲν ἴδιόν ἐστιν ἐκείνων· ἀρετῆς δὲ οὐδὲ ὄναρ αὐτοῖς μέλει.
ἐγὼ δὲ τούτων ἐμνήσθην οὔτε ὑμᾶς ἐπαίρων οὔτε
τοῖς συνήθως ὑμνοῦσιν αὐτὰ ῥήτορσιν ἢ ποιηταῖς παραβάλλων
ἐμαυτόν. δεινοὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι καὶ μεγάλοι σοφισταὶ καὶ γόητες· τὰ
δ´ ἡμέτερα φαῦλα καὶ πεζὰ ἐν τοῖς λόγοις, οὐ μέντοι περὶ φαύλων.
{τὰ μὲν γὰρ λεγόμενα αὐτὰ οὐ μεγάλα, περὶ μεγίστων δὲ
ὡς οἷόν τε.} καὶ νῦν εἶπον τὰ περὶ τῆς πόλεως, δεῖξαι βουλόμενος
ὑμῖν ὡς ὅ,τι ἂν ἀσχημονῆτε οὐ κρύφα γίγνεται τοῦτο οὐδ´ ἐν ὀλίγοις,
ἀλλ´ ἐν ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις.
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Traduction française :
| [32,35] But to take just that topic which I mentioned in
the beginning, see how important it is. For how you
dine in private, how you sleep, how you manage your
household, these are matters in which as individuals
you are not at all conspicuous ; on the other hand,
how you behave as spectators and what you are like
in the theatre are matters of common knowledge
among Greeks and barbarians alike. For your
city is vastly superior in point of size and situation,
and it is admittedly ranked second among all cities
beneath the sun. For not only does the mighty
nation, Egypt, constitute the framework of your
city—or more accurately its appanage—but the
peculiar nature of the river, when compared with
all others, defies description with regard to both
its marvellous habits and its usefulness ; and
furthermore, not only have you a monopoly of the
shipping of the entire Mediterranean by reason of
the beauty of your harbours, the magnitude of your
fleet, and the abundance and the marketing of the
products of every land, but also the outer waters
that lie beyond are in your grasp, both the Red Sea
and the Indian Ocean, whose name was rarely
heard in former days. The result is that the trade,
not merely of islands, ports, a few straits and isthmuses,
but of practically the whole world is yours.
For Alexandria is situated, as it were, at the crossroads
of the whole world, of even the most remote
nations thereof, as if it were a market serving a
single City, a market which brings together into one
place all manner of men, displaying them to one
another and, as far as possible, making them a
kindred people.
Perhaps these words of mine are pleasing to your
ears and you fancy that you are being praised by
me, as you are by all the rest who are always flattering
you ; but I was praising water and soil and harbours
and places and everything except yourselves. For
where have I said that you are sensible and temperate
and just ? Was it not quite the opposite?
For when we praise human beings, it should be for
their good discipline, gentleness, concord, civic
order, for heeding those who give good counsel,
and for not being always in search of pleasures.
But arrivals and departures of vessels, and superiority
in size of population, in merchandise, and in ships,
are fit subjects for praise in the case of a fair, a
harbour, or a market-place, but not of a city; nay,
if a man speaks in praise of water, he is not praising
men but wells ; if he talks of good climate, he does
not mean that the people are good but the land ; if
he speaks of fish, he is not praising the city—how
absurd !—but a sea, a lake, or a stream. Yet if
someone eulogizes the Nile, you Alexandrians are as
elated as if you yourselves were rivers flowing
from Ethiopia. Indeed, it is safe to say that most
other people also are delighted by such things and
count themselves blessed if they dwell, as Homer
puts it, "on a tree-clad isle"' or one that is "deepsoiled"
or on a mainland "of abundant pasture,
rich in sheep" or hard by "shadowy mountains" or
"fountains of translucent waters", none of which
is a personal attribute of those men themselves;
however, touching human virtue, they care not at
all, not even in their dreams !
But my purpose in mentioning such matters was
neither to elate you nor to range myself beside those
who habitually sing such strains, whether orators or
poets. For they are clever persons, mighty sophists,
wonder-workers ; but I am quite ordinary and prosaic
in my utterance, though not ordinary in my theme.
For though the words that I speak are not great in
themselves, they treat of topics of the greatest
possible moment. And what I said just now about
the city was meant to show you that whatever
impropriety you commit is committed, not in secrecy
or in the presence of just a few, but in the presence
of all mankind.
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