Texte grec :
| [3,55] τήν τε τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιμέλειαν οὐ πάρεργον οὐδὲ ἀσχολίαν
ἄλλως νενόμικεν, βαρυνόμενος οἶμαι τὰς φροντίδας, ἀλλὰ
ἔργον αὑτοῦ καὶ τέχνην ταύτην. καὶ ὅταν μὲν ἄλλο τι ποιῇ,
οὐδὲν ἡγεῖται σπουδαῖον οὐδὲ τῶν αὑτοῦ πράττειν· ὅταν δὲ
ἀνθρώπους ὠφελῇ, τότε νομίζει τὸ προσῆκον ἀποτελεῖν, ἅτε
ὑπὸ τοῦ μεγίστου θεοῦ ταχθεὶς ἐπὶ τοῦτο τὸ ἔργον, ᾧ ἀπειθεῖν
οὐ θέμις οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἄχθεσθαι.
(56) {ἅτε προσηκούσας αὑτῷ νομίζων τὰς εὐεργεσίας}.
οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὕτω μαλακὸς οὐδὲ φιλήδονος
ὃς οὐχ ἥδεται τῇ αὑτοῦ πράξει, κἂν τύχῃ ἐπίπονος· ὡς
ἥκιστα μὲν κυβερνήτης ἂν ἀχθεσθείη τοῖς ἐν θαλάττῃ πόνοις,
ἥκιστα δὲ γεωργὸς τοῖς περὶ γεωργίαν ἔργοις, ἥκιστα δὲ κυνηγέτης
οἷς δεῖ θηρῶντα κάμνειν· καίτοι σφόδρα μὲν ἐπίπονον γεωργία,
σφόδρα δὲ κυνηγεσία.
(57) οὐ μὴν ἀπαξιοῖ τὸ κάμνειν καὶ ἐνοχλεῖσθαι
τῶν ἄλλων ἕνεκεν, οὐδὲ ταύτῃ χεῖρον πράττειν νενόμικεν, ἐὰν δέῃ
πλείστους αὐτὸν ἀνέχεσθαι πόνους καὶ πλεῖστα πράγματα ἔχειν.
<58> καὶ τοίνυν τὴν μὲν ἀνδρείαν καὶ τὴν ἐγκράτειαν καὶ τὴν φρόνησιν
ἀναγκαίας νομίζει καὶ τοῖς ἀμελοῦσι τοῦ δικαίου καὶ βουλομένοις
τυραννεῖν, εἰ μὴ τάχιστα ἀπολοῦνται, ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον ἔτι τούτων ὁρᾷ
<59> δεομένους αὐτούς, ὅσῳ δὲ πλείους μὲν ἔχει τοὺς μισοῦντας, πλείους δὲ
τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύοντας, οὐδένα δὲ πιστὸν οὐδὲ κηδόμενον, τοσούτῳ γε
μᾶλλον, εἰ σωθήσεταί τινα χρόνον, καὶ ἀγρυπνητέον εἶναι καὶ φροντιστέον, ὡς
ἀμυνόμενόν τε μὴ ἡττᾶσθαι τῶν πολεμίων καὶ ἐπιβουλευόμενον μὴ ἀγνοεῖν
τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύοντας,
|
|
Traduction française :
| [3,55] Then, the care bestowed on his subjects he does
not consider an incidental thing or mere drudgery,
when weighed clown, let us say, by cares, but as his
own work and profession. And when he is otherwise
engaged, he does not feel that he is doing anything
worth while or that he is attending to his own
business ; it is only when he helps men that he
thinks he is doing his duty, having been appointed
to this work by the greatest god, whom it is not right
for him to disobey in aught nor yet to feel aggrieved,
believing, as he does, that these tasks are his duty.
For no one is so effeminate or enslaved to pleasure as
not to like his own occupation even if it chance to be
laborious. A sea-captain, for example, never finds
his toil at sea irksome, nor a farmer his work in
tilling the soil; never is the huntsman wearied by
the hardships of the chase ; and yet both farming and
hunting are most laborious. No indeed, the king
does not object to toil and discomfort in behalf of
others, nor does he deem his lot any the worse simply
because he has to face the most tasks and have the
most troubles. For he sees that the sun, too, although
inferior to none of the gods, frets not because, to
preserve man and life, he must accomplish all his
many tasks throughout the ages.
(58) And again, he considers courage, self-control, and
prudence necessary even for those who disregard
justice and wish to play the tyrant, if they are not
speedily to perish ; nay, he sees that they stand in need
of these qualities even more than those others, and
that the more such a man is beset by those who hate
him and by those who plot against him, while he has
no one on whom he can rely or look to for sympathy ;
so much the more, if he is to remain safe for any
time, must he be on the alert and use his wits, guarding
against defeat by his enemies and plotting to
have full knowledge of the plotters, and so much the
more must he abstain from pleasure and refuse to
yield under any pressure to the allurement of high
living, sloth, and carnal pleasureyea, much more
than the man beloved by all who has no one plotting
against him.
|
|
