Texte grec :
| [36,60] ὅτε δὴ
καὶ ὁ δημιουργὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ πατὴρ ἰδὼν ἥσθη μὲν οὐδαμῶς·
ταπεινὸν γὰρ ἐν ταπεινοῖς τοῦτο πάθος· ἐχάρη δὲ καὶ ἐτέρφθη
διαφερόντως
ἥμενος Οὐλύμπῳ, ἐγέλασσε δέ οἱ φίλον ἦτορ
γηθοσύνῃ, ὅθ´ ὁρᾶτο θεοὺς
τοὺς ἅπαντας ἤδη γεγονότας καὶ παρόντας. τὴν δὲ τότε μορφὴν
τοῦ κόσμου, λέγω δὲ τήν τε ὥραν καὶ τὸ κάλλος ἀεὶ καλοῦ ὄντος
ἀμηχάνως, οὐδεὶς δύναιτ´ ἂν ἀνθρώπων διανοηθῆναι καὶ εἰπεῖν
ἀξίως οὔτε τῶν νῦν οὔτε τῶν πρότερον, εἰ μὴ Μοῦσαί τε καὶ
Ἀπόλλων ἐν θείῳ ῥυθμῷ τῆς εἰλικρινοῦς τε καὶ ἄκρας ἁρμονίας.
(36,61) ὅθεν δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐάσωμεν τὰ νῦν, ὅσον ἡμῖν δυνατὸν ἐπᾶραι τὸν λόγον οὐκ ὀκνήσαντες. εἰ δὲ ἀτεχνῶς ὑψηλόν τε καὶ ἐξίτηλον
ἀπέβη τὸ τοῦ λόγου σχῆμα, ὥσπερ οἱ δεινοὶ περὶ τοὺς ὄρνιθάς
φασι τὸν σφόδρα ἄνω χωρήσαντα καὶ τοῖς νέφεσιν ἐγκρύψαντα
αὑτὸν ἀτελῆ τὴν μαντείαν ποιεῖν, οὐκ ἐμὲ ἄξιον αἰτιᾶσθαι, τὴν δὲ
Βορυσθενιτῶν ἀξίωσιν, ὡς τότε ἐκεῖνοι λέγειν προσέταξαν.
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Traduction française :
| [36,60] At that time,
therefore, the Creator and Father of the World, beholding the work of his hands, was
not by any means merely pleased, for that is a lowly (p475) experience of lowly beings;
nay, he rejoiced and was delighted exceedingly,
"As on Olympus he sat, and his heart did laugh
For joy, beholding the gods
who were now all created and present before him."
But the form of the universe at that moment — I mean both the bloom and the beauty
of that which is for ever ineffably beauteous — no man could conceive and fitly
express, neither among men of our time nor among those of former days, but only the
Muses and Apollo with the divine rhythm of their pure and consummate harmony.
61 For that reason let us also refrain for the present, now that we have not shirked
exalting the myth to the best of our power. And if the form of that myth has turned
out to be utterly lofty and indistinct, just as those who are expert in augury declare
that the bird which ascends too high into the heavens hides itself in the clouds makes
divination incomplete, still it is not I whom you should blame, but rather the
insistence of those men of Borysthenes, because it was they who bade me speak that day.
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