Texte grec :
| [3,30] Ὦ Σώκρατες, ἔφη, τοῦτο μὲν ἐπίστασαι παντὸς μᾶλλον,
ὅτι τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον ἀνθρώπων ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ἰσχυρότατος καὶ μηδὲ
τῶν θεῶν αὐτῶν ἥττονα ἔχων δύναμιν, ᾧ γε ἔνεστι
καὶ τὰ ἀδύνατα δοκοῦντα ποιῆσαι δυνατά, {εἰ βούλοιτο πεζεύεσθαι
(31) μὲν τὴν θάλατταν, πλεῖσθαι δὲ τὰ ὄρη, τοὺς δὲ ποταμοὺς ἐκλείπειν
ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων πινομένους}. ἢ οὐκ ἀκήκοας ὅτι Ξέρξης ὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς
τὴν μὲν γῆν ἐποίησε θάλατταν, διελὼν τὸ μέγιστον
τῶν ὀρῶν καὶ διαστήσας ἀπὸ τῆς ἠπείρου τὸν Ἄθω, διὰ δὲ τῆς
θαλάττης τὸν πεζὸν στρατὸν ἄγων ἤλαυνεν ἐφ´ ἅρματος; ὥσπερ
οἶμαι τὸν Ποσειδῶνά φησιν Ὅμηρος· καὶ τυχὸν ὁμοίως οἵ τε δελφῖνες
καὶ τὰ κήτη κάτωθεν ὑπέπλει τὴν σχεδίαν, ὁπότε ἐκεῖνος ἤλαυνεν.
(32) καὶ ὁ Σωκράτης, Οὐδὲ τοῦτό σοι ἔχω εἰπεῖν, εἴτε μέγιστον
ὁ ταῦτα ποιῶν δύναται, καθάπερ σὺ λέγεις, εἴτε ἐλάχιστον ἢ τὸ
παράπαν οὐδέν. αὐτίκα εἰ μὲν ἦν σώφρων καὶ ἀνδρεῖος καὶ
δίκαιος καὶ μετὰ γνώμης ἔπραττεν ὅσα ἔπραττεν, ἰσχυρὸν αὐτὸν
ἡγοῦμαι καὶ μεγίστην ἔχειν τῷ ὄντι δύναμιν·
(33) εἰ δὲ αὖ δειλὸς καὶ ἀνόητος καὶ ἀσελγὴς καὶ παράνομος καὶ δι´ ὕβριν ταῦτα
ἐπιχειρῶν, τοὐναντίον ἔμοιγε ἀσθενέστερος εἶναι δοκεῖ τῶν σφόδρα πενήτων
καὶ μηδὲ ἕνα γῆς κεκτημένων βῶλον, ὥστε διαθρύψαι μακέλλῃ
τροφῆς ἕνεκεν, {οὐχ ὅπως τὰ μέγιστα διθρύπτειν ὄρη, καθάπερ σὺ φῄς}.
(34) ὁ γὰρ ἀδύνατος μὲν ὀργὴν ἐπικατασχεῖν πολλάκις ὑπὲρ μικρῶν
γιγνομένην, ἀδύνατος δὲ ἐπιθυμίαν παῦσαι τῶν αἰσχίστων, ἀδύνατος δὲ
ἀπώσασθαι λύπην, ἐνίοτε μηδενὸς λυπηροῦ παρόντος,
οὐ δυνάμενος δὲ ὑπομεῖναι πόνους, οὐδὲ τοὺς ἡδονῆς ἕνεκεν γιγνομένους,
ἀδύνατος δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπελάσαι φόβον, οὐδὲν ὠφελοῦντα
ἐν τοῖς δεινοῖς, ἀλλὰ τὰ μέγιστα βλάπτοντα, πῶς οὐκ ἄνανδρος
σφόδρα, ἡττώμενος μὲν γυναικῶν, ἡττώμενος δὲ εὐνούχων;
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Traduction française :
| [3,30] " Socrates," said he, " you know perfectly well that of all
men under the sun that man is most powerful and in might no
whit inferior to the gods themselves who is able to accomplish
the seemingly impossibleif it should be his
will, to have men walk dryshod over the sea, to sail
over the mountains, to drain rivers dry by drinking-
or have you not heard that Xerxes, the king of the
Persians, made of the dry land a sea by cutting
through the loftiest of the mountains and separating
Athos from the mainland, and that he led his
infantry through the sea, riding upon a chariot just
like Poseidon in Homer's description ? And perhaps
in the same way the dolphins and the monsters of the
deep swam under his raft as the king drove along."
(32) " I cannot tell you that either," replied Socrates ;
" I mean whether the man who does such things has
the greatest power, as you affirm, or the least power,
or none at all. If, for example, he was temperate,
brave, and just, if all his acts were marked by judgment,
I think he was a powerful man and really had
the greatest might. But if, on the other hand, he
was cowardly, foolish, licentious, and lawless, and
undertook what he did in wanton insolence, then, on
the contrary, I think he was a weaker man than the
veriest beggar who has not even a clod of earth to
break up with the pick to gain his livelihoodto say
nothing of breaking through the highest mountains,
the feat of which you speak. For he who cannot check
a fit of anger, which is often caused by mere trifles ;
who cannot conquer a lust for the basest things ;
who cannot thrust pain aside, imaginary as it often
is ; who cannot endure toil, even to gain pleasure ;
who cannot drive fear from his soul, though it avails
naught in the midst of alarms but works the greatest
mischiefmust not such a man be greatly lacking in
strength, be weaker than a woman, weaker than aeunuch ?
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