Texte grec :
| [3,135] ὁ δὲ αὐλήσεως ἐραστὴς ἐγένετο· ὁ δὲ ἀγαθὸς βασιλεὺς
τῶν μὲν τοιούτων οὐδέποτε ἀκροᾶται συνεχῶς·
κάλλιστον δὲ εὕρεμα ἡγεῖται κυνηγεσίαν, καὶ τούτῳ μάλιστα χαίρει·
δι´ οὗ τὸ μὲν σῶμα γίγνεται ῥωμαλεώτερον, ἡ ψυχὴ δὲ ἀνδρειοτέρα,
(136) τὰ πολεμικὰ δὲ ἅπαντα ἀσκεῖται. καὶ γὰρ ἱππεῦσαι καὶ δραμεῖν
ἀναγκαῖον καὶ ὑφίστασθαι πολλὰ τῶν ἀλκίμων θηρίων καὶ καῦμα
ἀνέχεσθαι καὶ ψῦχος ὑπομένειν, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ λιμοῦ καὶ δίψους
πειραθῆναι, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐθίζοντα καρτερεῖν μεθ´ ἡδονῆς
(137) οὐ μέντοι τήν γε Περσικὴν θήραν. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ παραδείσοις
περιλαβόντες, ὁπότε ἐπιθυμήσειαν, ὥσπερ ἐν εἱρκτῇ τὰ θηρία
ἔκτεινον, ὡς μήτε ζητοῦντες πονεῖν μήτε αὖ κινδυνεύοντες, ἅτε
ἀσθενῆ καὶ δεδουλωμένα· ὁμοίως δὲ ἀφῃροῦντο τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ εὑρεῖν {τε} χαρὰν
καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ φθάσαι σπουδὴν καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ συμβῆναι ἀγωνίαν.
(138) ὅμοιον γὰρ ἐποίουν ὥσπερ εἰ πολεμικοὶ φάσκοντες εἶναι
ἀφέντες τὸ τοῖς πολεμίοις μάχεσθαι τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους οἴκοι λαβόντες ἔκτεινον.
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Traduction française :
| [3,135] but the good king never makes a practice
even of listening to such things. He
considers hunting the best recreation and finds his
greatest delight therein. It makes his body stronger,
his heart braver, and affords a field for the practice
of every military activity. For he must ride, run,
in many cases meet the charge of the big game,
endure heat and withstand cold, often be tortured
by hunger and thirst, and he becomes habituated to
enduring any hardship with pleasure through his passion
for the chase. But he does not hold this opinion
of the Persian chase. Those people would enclose
the game in parks and then, whenever they listed,
slaughter it as if it were in a pen, showing that
they neither sought hard work nor ran any risk
since their quarry was weak and broken in spirit.
But they robbed themselves alike of the joy of
uncovering the game, of the excitement in running
it down, and of the struggle on coming to close
quarters. It is just as if they had claimed to be
fond of war and then, letting slip the chance to
engage their enemy, had seized the prisoners at
home and put them to death.
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