Texte grec :
| [33,55] εἶτα ἐπ´ ἀνθρώπου μὲν ὁ πταρμὸς ἐξήλεγξε τὸν τρόπον καὶ πρὸς
τἄλλα πάντα ἴσχυσε τὸ μὴ λαθεῖν·
πόλιν δὲ οὐκ ἂν ἕν τι τοιοῦτον διαβάλοι καὶ δόξης ἀναπλήσειε
πονηρᾶς, καὶ ταῦθ´ ὅπου μὴ δεῖται δεινοῦ τοῦ συνήσοντος
τίνος ἐστὶ σημεῖον; ἀλλ´ ἔγωγε πυθοίμην ἂν ἡδέως τῶν ἐμπείρων
τίνι τοῦτο ἔοικεν ἢ τί βούλεται δηλοῦν. οὔτε γὰρ κλωσμὸς
οὔτε ποππυσμὸς οὔτε συριγμός ἐστιν· ἢ τίνος ἐστὶν οἰκεῖον ἔργου
καὶ πότε μάλιστα γιγνόμενον· οὔτε γὰρ νέμουσιν οὕτως οὔτε ἀροῦσιν
(56) οὔτε κυνηγετοῦσιν, ἀλλ´ οὐδὲ ναυτῶν ἐστιν ἡ φωνή. πότερον
οὖν ἀσπαζομένων ἀλλήλους ἢ καλούντων ἢ φιλοφρονουμένων; ἀλλ´
ὥσπερ ὑμέναιος ἴδιόν τι μέλος ἐστὶν ἀρχαῖον ἐπὶ τῶν γαμούντων,
οὕτως καινὸς οὗτος εὕρηται ῥυθμὸς ἄλλης τινὸς ἑορτῆς.
ἀλλ´ ἀπελεύσεσθε ἀγανακτοῦντες καὶ λεληρηκέναι με φάσκοντες,
εἰ τοσούτους λόγους μάτην διεθέμην καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν τῶν χρησίμων.
μηδεμίαν γὰρ ἐκ τούτου βλάβην ἀπαντᾶν μηδὲ χεῖρον οἰκεῖσθαι
(57) τὴν πόλιν. παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἕλλησι πρότερον δεινὸν ἐδόκει τὸ μετακινεῖν
τὴν μουσικήν, καὶ κατεβόων πάντες τῶν ῥυθμὸν εἰσαγόντων
ἕτερον καὶ τὰ μέλη ποικιλώτερα ποιούντων, ὡς διαφθειρομένης
ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις τῆς Ἑλλάδος. οὕτω σφόδρα τὰ ὦτα ἐφύλαττον
καὶ τηλικαύτην ἡγοῦντο δύναμιν τὴν ἀκοὴν ἔχειν, ὥστε θηλύνειν
τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ ἀδικεῖσθαι τὰ τῆς σωφροσύνης, εἰ παρὰ μικρὸν
ἐνδοίη τὰ τῆς ἁρμονίας. τοιγαροῦν φασι Λακεδαιμονίους, ἐπειδὴ
Τιμόθεος ἧκε παρ´ αὐτοὺς, λαμπρὸς ὢν ἤδη καὶ δυναστεύων ἐν
τῇ μουσικῇ, τήν τε κιθάραν αὐτὸν ἀφελέσθαι καὶ τῶν χορδῶν τὰς
περιττὰς ἐκτεμεῖν. καὶ ὑμεῖς, ἄνδρες Ταρσεῖς, μιμήσασθε τοὺς
(58) Λακεδαιμονίους, ἐκτέμετε τὸν περιττὸν φθόγγον. ὁ παλαιὸς
μῦθός φησι τὴν Κίρκην μεταβάλλειν τοῖς φαρμάκοις, ὥστε σῦς καὶ λύκους
ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γίγνεσθαι· καὶ ταῦτα ἀπιστοῦμεν Ὁμήρου λέγοντος,
οἱ δὲ συῶν μὲν ἔχον κεφαλὰς φωνήν τε τρίχας τε καὶ δέμας.
ἀλλ´ ἐκείνοις μὲν τὸν νοῦν μένειν φησὶν ἔμπεδον, τούτων δὲ ὁ
(59) νοῦς πρῶτος ἀπόλωλε καὶ διέφθαρται. καὶ μὴν οὐχ οὕτω δεινόν
ἐστιν, εἰ ἄνθρωποι μεταξὺ προβάτων φωνὴν λάβοιεν οὐδ´ εἰ βοῶν,
οὐδ´ ἂν χρεμετίζωσιν οὐδ´ ἂν ὑλακτῶσιν, ὥσπερ τὴν Ἑκάβην οἱ
ποιηταὶ λέγουσιν ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς δεινοῖς τελευταῖον ποιῆσαι τὰς Ἐρινύας
χαροπὰν κύνα·
χάλκεον δέ οἱ γνάθων ἐκ πολιᾶν φθεγγομένας
ὑπάκουε μὲν Ἴδα Τένεδός τε περιρρύτα
Θρηίκιοί τε φιλήνεμοι γύαι.
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Traduction française :
| [33,55] You see, then, that the sneeze revealed the character
of a man, and in the face of all his other traits
was sufficient to prevent his eluding detection ;
and might not some such thing subject a city to
false accusations and infect it with an evil reputation,
and that too in a matter requiring no expert to
determine what disorder the trait betokens ? However,
I for my part should like to ask the experts
what this snorting resembles or what it means—for
it is neither a clucking sound nor a smacking of the
lips nor yet an explosive whistling—or to what line
of work it is related and when it is most likely to
be made; for neither shepherds nor plowmen nor
huntsmen employ that sound, nor does it belong to
sailors. Is it, then, a sound made by men when they
greet one another or eall to one another or display
affection? On the contrary, just as the hymeneal
is a special song of early origin and used at weddings,
so this must be a rhythm of recent origin, no doubt,
and used at a different kind of festival.
However, you will depart in high dudgeon, declaring
that I have talked nonsense, if I have uttered
so many words in vain and to no useful purpose.
For you will assert that no harm is encountered
in consequence of this snorting and that the city is
none the worse in its administration because of it.
But among the Greeks in times gone by it used to be
regarded as an awful thing to tamper with the art
of music, and they all cried out against those who
tried to introduce a different rhythm or to complicate
the melody, holding that Greece was being corrupted
in the theatre. So carefully did they safeguard their
ears ; and they attributed to what was heard such
power as to effeminate the mind and violate the virtue
of self-control if the principles of harmony should
give way ever so little. For instance, they say that
the Spartans, on an occasion when Timotheus was
visiting their city, he being already an artist of distinction
and an authority in music, not only took
away from him his lyre but even cut out the superfluous
strings. Do you likewise, men of Tarsus, in
imitation of the Spartans, cut out the superfluous sound.
(58)The ancient story relates that Circê worked transformations
by means of her drugs, so that swine and wolves were produced
from men; and we are incredulous when Homer says :
"Both heads and voice and hair of swine had they,
And c'en the shape."
Their minds, however, remained steadfast, he says,
whereas the mind of the men of Tarsus has been the
very first thing to be ruined and utterly corrupted.
And really it is not so terrible that human beings
should for a time take on the voice of sheep or kine
or that they should neigh or howl—as indeed the
poets say of Hecuba, that, as a climax to all her
terrible misfortunes, the Furies made her
"Like to a hound with flashing eyes ; and when
She poured her brazen cry from hoary jaws,
Ida gave ear and sea-girt Tenedos
And all the wind-swept crags of Thrace."
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