Texte grec :
| [53,10] ὥσπερ Ἑκαταῖός τε καὶ Ἡρόδοτος καὶ Θουκυδίδης,
οὗτος μὲν {οὖν} οὐχ ἅπαξ μόνον ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς ἱστορίας, ἀλλὰ
πολλάκις διαμαρτυρόμενος καθ´ ἕκαστον χειμῶνα καὶ θέρος ὅτι
ταῦτα ξυνέγραψε Θουκυδίδης. ὁ δὲ οὕτως ἄρα ἐλευθέριος ἦν καὶ
μεγαλόφρων ὥστε οὐδαμοῦ φανήσεται τῆς ποιήσεως αὑτοῦ μεμνημένος,
ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι ὥσπερ οἱ προφῆται τῶν θεῶν ἐξ ἀφανοῦς καὶ
ἀδύτου ποθὲν φθεγγόμενος.
(53,11) ὅτι δὲ καὶ ὠφέλιμα πάντα καὶ χρήσιμα ἔγραψε, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα
εἰ διεξίοι τις, πολὺ ἂν ἔργον εἴη, ὅσα πεποίηκε περὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας·
περὶ δὲ τῶν βασιλέων ἐν βραχεῖ οἵους φησὶ δεῖν εἶναι.
ὃν γὰρ ἂν ἐπαινῇ τῶν βασιλέων, Διὶ μῆτιν ἀτάλαντόν φησιν εἶναι
καὶ διοτρεφέας ἅπαντας τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς βασιλεῖς καὶ τὸν Μίνω,
μεγίστην ἐπὶ δικαιοσύνῃ δόξαν ἔχοντα παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι, τοῦ Διὸς
ὁμιλητήν τε καὶ μαθητὴν εἶναί φησιν, ὡς πρῶτον δὴ καὶ μέγιστον
ἁπάντων ἐκεῖνον βασιλέα καὶ μόνον αὐτὸν ἐπιστάμενον καὶ παραδιδόντα
τὴν βασιλικὴν τέχνην, καὶ τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς βασιλεῖς δέον
πρὸς ἐκεῖνον βλέποντας κατευθύνειν τὴν ἀρχήν, ἀφομοιοῦντας, ὡς
δυνατόν ἐστιν ἀνθρώποις, θεῷ τὸν αὑτῶν τρόπον.
(53,12) τὸ δὲ τοῦ Διὸς ἦθος καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ὁποία τις {ἦν}, ἐν πολλοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις ποιεῖ φανεράν, ὡς δ´ ἐν βραχεῖ περιλαβόντα εἰπεῖν τὴν δύναμιν
αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν δηλοῖ πολλάκις, ἀεί ποτε αὐτὸν οὕτως ὀνομάζων ‚πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε‛· ὡς δέον τὴν τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιμέλειαν
πατρικὴν καὶ κηδεμονικὴν εἶναι μετ´ εὐνοίας καὶ φιλίας καὶ
μηδέποτε ἄλλως προσῆκον ἀνθρώπων προΐστασθαί τε καὶ ἄρχειν
ἢ ἀγαπῶντα καὶ προνοοῦντα, ὁπότε ὁ Ζεὺς οὐχ ὑπερορᾷ πατὴρ
ἀνθρώπων καλεῖσθαι.
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Traduction française :
| [53,10] Take, for example, Hecataeus and Herodotus and Thucydides, Thucydides,
in fact, solemnly affirming,
not merely once at the beginning (p367) of his history, but many times, in
connexion with each winter and summer, "Thucydides composed this." Homer, on
the contrary, was so liberal and magnanimous that nowhere in his poetry will he be
found to refer to himself, but in fact, like the prophets of the gods, he speaks, as it
were, from the invisible, from somewhere in the inmost sanctuary.
11 Again, since everything Homer wrote is both beneficial and practically serviceable, if
one were to review all he has said on the subject of virtue and vice, it would be a vast
undertaking; however, on the subject of kings a brief statement must be made as to
what he says they should be like. Whenever, for instance, he praises any king, he calls
him "the peer of Zeus in wisdom"; and all the good kings are "Zeus-nurtured"; and
Minos, who has the highest reputation among the Greeks for justice, he says is both
the associate and pupil of Zeus, his idea being that Minos was the first and greatest
king of all, and the only one who himself understood and handed down the art of
kingship, and also that good kings should shape their course with an eye to Minos,
patterning their own conduct after a god, so far as humanly possible.
12 Moreover, the
poet makes manifest the character of Zeus and the nature of his kingship in a
multitude of ways, but, to put it briefly and succinctly, he frequently indicates his
power and disposition by the constant epithet, "father of gods and of men," the notion
being that the care exercised (p369) by kings should be that of a solicitous father,
accompanied by kindness and affection, and that he should never lead and govern
men in any other way than with love and protective care, since Zeus does not disdain
being called men's father.
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