Texte grec :
| [32,100] μὴ οὖν σφόδρα οὕτως περιέχεσθε τούτου, μηδὲ ἀμούσους καὶ φορτικὰς
καὶ ἀμαθεῖς ποιεῖτε τὰς Χάριτας, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον Εὐριπίδην μιμεῖσθε οὕτω
λέγοντα·
μὴ παυσαίμην τὰς Χάριτας
Μούσαις ἀναμιγνύς, ἁδίσταν συζυγίαν·
ἵνα μὴ τὸ Μουσεῖον ὑμῖν ἄλλως εἶναι δοκῇ τόπος ἐν τῇ πόλει,
καθάπερ οἶμαι καὶ ἄλλοι τόποι μάτην προσαγορεύονται, τὸ πρᾶγμα
μὴ ἔχοντες μετὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος.
ἀλλὰ γὰρ δέδοικα μὴ κἀμοὶ συμβέβηκεν ὅ φασιν Αἰγυπτίων
τινὶ τῶν σφόδρα ἀρχαίων μουσικῷ. ἐκείνῳ γὰρ τὸ δαιμόνιόν ποτε
προειπεῖν καθ´ ὕπνον ὡς εἰς ὄνου ὦτα ᾄσεται. καὶ δὴ τὸν μὲν
ἄλλον χρόνον οὐ προσεῖχεν οὐδὲ ἐφρόντιζε τοῦ ὀνείρατος, ὡς οὐδενὸς
ὄντος. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ τύραννος τῶν Σύρων ἧκεν εἰς Μέμφιν, ἐκπληττομένων
αὐτὸν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐκάλεσεν. ἐπεδείκνυτο οὖν
πάσῃ προθυμίᾳ καὶ τἀκριβέστερα τῆς τέχνης· ὁ δέ, οὐ γὰρ ἦν οἱ
σύνεσις μουσικῆς, ἐκέλευε παύσασθαι αὐτὸν ἀτιμάσας. ὁ δὲ ἀναμνησθεὶς
ἐκείνου τοῦ ὀνείρατος, Τοῦτ´ ἦν ἄρα, ἔφη, τὸ εἰς ὄνου
ὦτα ᾄδειν. ὁ δὲ τύραννος ἀκούσας τῶν ἑρμηνέων οἷα ἔλεγεν ἔδει
καὶ ἐμαστίγου τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ τοῦτο πολέμου λέγουσιν αἴτιον γενέσθαι.
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Traduction française :
| [32,100] Therefore be not so devoted to that laughter, nor
cause the Graces to be unmusical and vulgar and
boorish, but rather imitate Euripides in these lines of his :
"May I ne'er cease to join in one
The Muses and the Graces ;
Such union is surpassing sweet",
and thus will your Mouseion be regarded, not just
as a place in the city, as indeed, I fancy, there are
other places with labels devoid of meaning, not
possessing a character to match the name.
But enough of this, for I fear that I too have had
the experience that they say befell a certain
Egyptian, a musician of the very early school. For
the story goes that the deity once told that musician
in a dream that he was destined to sing into an ass's
ears. And for a while he paid no heed and gave no
thought to the dream, as being a matter of no consequence.
But when the tyrant of Syria came to
Memphis, since the Egyptians admired the artist
greatly, he summoned him. So the musician gave a
performance with all zest and displayed the more
intricate phases of his art ; but the tyrant—for he had
no appreciation of music—bade him cease and treated
him with disdain. And the musician, recalling that
forgotten dream, exclaimed, " So that was the
meaning of the saying, ` to sing into an ass's ears'.
And the tyrant, having heard from his interpreters
what the musician had said, bound and flogged the
man, and this incident, they say, was the occasion of a war.
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