Texte grec :
| [3,75] ἦπού γε δουλείαν δουλεύειν φαίη τις ἂν πάνυ ἰσχυράν.
εἰ γὰρ καὶ σμικρὸν ἀμελήσειε καὶ παραβαίη τῆς
αὑτοῦ τάξεως, οὐδὲν κωλύει πάντα μὲν οὐρανόν, πᾶσαν δὲ γῆν,
πᾶσαν δὲ θάλατταν οἴχεσθαι, πάντα δὲ τοῦτον τὸν εὐειδῆ καὶ
μακάριον κόσμον τὴν αἰσχίστην καὶ χαλεπωτάτην ἀκοσμίαν φανῆναι.
(76) νῦν δέ, ὥσπερ ἐν λύρᾳ φθόγγων ἁπτόμενος ἐμμελῶς, οὐδέποτε
ἐξίσταται τῆς καθαρᾶς τε καὶ ἄκρας ἁρμονίας, μίαν ἀεὶ καὶ τὴν
(77) αὐτὴν ἀπιὼν ὁδόν. ἐπεὶ δὲ δεῖται μὲν ἀλέας ἡ γῆ ὥστε γεννῆσαι
τὰ φυόμενα καὶ ὥστε αὐξῆσαι καὶ ὥστε ἐπιτελέσαι, δεῖται δὲ τὰ
ζῷα καὶ σωτηρίας ἕνεκα τῶν σωμάτων καὶ ἡδονῆς τῆς κατὰ φύσιν,
δεόμεθα δὲ πάντων μάλιστα ἡμεῖς, ἅτε πλείστης χρῄζοντες βοηθείας, θέρος
ἐποίησεν ἀεὶ {καὶ} μᾶλλον, ἐγγυτέρω προσιὼν τῆς
ἡμετέρας οἰκήσεως, ἵνα πάντα μὲν φύσῃ, πάντα δὲ θρέψῃ, πάντα
δὲ τελειώσῃ, θείαν δὲ καὶ θαυμαστὴν παράσχῃ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις
(78) εὐφροσύνην τε καὶ ἑορτήν. ἐπεὶ δὲ αὖ πάλιν τἄλλα τε καὶ ἡμεῖς
ἐν χρείᾳ γιγνόμεθα τῆς ἐναντίας κράσεως· δεῖται μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ
ψύχους τὰ σώματα συνίστασθαι, δεῖται δὲ πυκνώσεως τὰ φυτά,
δεῖται δὲ ὄμβρων ἡ γῆ· πάλιν ἄπεισιν ἀφ´ ἡμῶν ἀφιστάμενος τὸ μέτριον.
(79) οὕτω δὲ πάνυ ἀσφαλῶς καὶ ἀραρότως τηρεῖ τοὺς ὅρους
πρὸς τὸ ἡμῖν συμφέρον, ὥστε εἴτε προσιὼν ὀλίγον ἐγγυτέρω γένοιτο,
πάντα ἂν συμφλέξειεν, εἴτε ἀπιὼν μικρὸν ὑπερβάλοι, πάντα ἂν
ἀποψυγείη τῷ κρύει.
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Traduction française :
| [3,75] Verily one might say that he endures a
servitude most exacting; for, if he were to be careless
but for a moment and leave his appointed track,
absohutely nothing would prevent the whole heavens,
the whole earth, and the whole sea from going to
wrack and ruin, and all this fair and blissfuI order
from ending in the foulest and most dread disorder.
But now, as though touching the strings of the lyre
with an artist's touch, he never swerves from his
pure and exquisite harmony, ever moving along his
one recurrent track. And since the earth needs
warmth to bring forth her produce, to give it increase,
and to bring it to perfection, since animals need it
likewise both for the preservation of their bodies and
for their natural pleasure, and since we, being so
utterly dependent in our helplessness, need it above
all others, he brings on summer step by step as he
approaches nearer and nearer to our habitation, that
he may give growth to everything, nourish everything,
perfect everything, and spread a divine and
wondrous feast of good cheer before man.
(78) But when, on the other hand, we and all other
things come to need the opposite temperaturefor
our bodies need to be braced up by cold, plants
need hardening, and the earth needs rainhe goes
away from us again, withdrawing a moderate
distance; and with such perfect nicety of adjustment
does he observe his bounds with respect to our
advantage that, if in his approach he got a little
nearer, he would set everything on fire, and if he
went a little too far in his departure, everything
would be stiffened with frost.
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