Texte grec :
| [4,75] Εὖ δὲ ἴσθι, ἔφη, ὅτι οὐ πρότερον ἔσῃ βασιλεύς, πρὶν ἂν ἱλάσῃ τὸν αὑτοῦ
δαίμονα καὶ θεραπεύσας ὡς δεῖ ἀποδείξῃς ἀρχικόν τε καὶ ἐλευθέριον καὶ
βασιλικόν, ἀλλὰ μή, ὡς νῦν ἔχεις, δοῦλον καὶ ἀνελεύθερον καὶ
(76) πονηρόν. ἐνταῦθα δὴ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐκπεπληγμένος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
τὸ ἀνδρεῖον καὶ τὸ ἀδεές, νομίσας πλέον τι τῶν ἄλλων ἐπίστασθαι
αὐτόν, παντοδαπὸς ἦν ἱκετεύων μὴ φθονῆσαι μηδένα τρόπον, ἀλλὰ
φράσαι τίς ἔστιν ὁ δαίμων αὐτοῦ καὶ πῶς χρὴ ἱλάσασθαι αὐτόν.
ἤλπιζε γὰρ ὄνομά τι ἀκούσεσθαι δαίμονος καὶ θυσίας τινὰς ἢ
(77) καθαρμούς, οὓς δεῖ ἐπιτελέσαι. κατιδὼν οὖν αὐτὸν ὁ Διογένης
τεθορυβημένον καὶ σφόδρα τῇ ψυχῇ μετέωρον, προσέπαιζε καὶ
περιεῖλκεν, εἴ πως δύναιτο κινηθεὶς ἀπὸ τοῦ τύφου καὶ τῆς δόξης
(78) μικρόν τι ἀνανῆψαι. καὶ γὰρ δὴ ᾐσθάνετο αὐτὸν νῦν μὲν ἡδόμενον,
νῦν δὲ λυπούμενον ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἄκριτον
οὖσαν, ὥσπερ τὸν ἀέρα ἐν ταῖς τροπαῖς, ὅταν ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ νέφους
ὕῃ τε καὶ λάμπῃ ὁ ἥλιος. συνίει δὲ ὅτι καὶ τοῦ τρόπου κατεφρόνει,
ἐν ᾧ διελέγετο πρὸς αὐτόν, ἅτε οὐδέποτε ἀκηκοὼς δεινοῦ
λέγειν ἀνδρός, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τῶν σοφιστῶν θαυμάζων λόγους, ὡς
(79) ὑψηλούς τε καὶ μεγαλοπρεπεῖς. βουλόμενος οὖν χαρίσασθαι αὐτῷ,
ἅμα τε ἐπιδεῖξαι ὅτι οὐκ ἀδύνατός ἐστιν ὥσπερ ἵππον εὐμαθῆ
καὶ πειθόμενον, ὅταν αὐτῷ δοκῇ, τὸν λόγον ἐπᾶραι, λέγει πρὸς
αὐτὸν οὕτως περὶ δαιμόνων, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶν ἔξωθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων
οἱ πονηροὶ καὶ ἀγαθοὶ δαίμονες, οἱ τὰς συμφορὰς καὶ τὰς εὐτυχίας
φέροντες αὐτοῖς,
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Traduction française :
| [4,75] "Be assured," he continued, " that you will never
be king until you have propitiated your attendant
spirit and, by treating it as you should, have made
it commanding, free-spirited and kingly, instead of, as
in your present state, slavish, illiberal, and vicions."
Then was Alexander amazed at the courage and
fearlessness of the man ; yet deeming him to have
greater knowledge than other men, he urgently
besought him not to say him nay but to explain
what his attendant spirit was and how he must
propitiate it. For he assumed that he would hear
some deity's name and of certain sacrifices or
purifications that he would have to perform. So
when Diogenes perceived that he was greatly excited
and quite keyed up in mind with expectancy, he
toyed with him and pulled him about in the hope
that somehow he might be moved from his pride and
thirst for glory and be able to sober up a little. For
he noticed that at one moment he was delighted, and
at another grieved, at the same thing, and that his
soul was as unsettled as the weather at the solstices
when both rain and sunshine come from the very same
cloud. He realized, too, that Alexander despised
the way in which he argued with him, due to the
fact that the prince had never heard a real master
of discourse but admired the style of the sophists,
as being lofty and distinguished. So wishing to win his
favour and at the same time to show that he was
quite able, whenever he chose, to make his discourse
step out like a well-trained and tractable horse,
he spoke to him as follows about attendant spirits,
showing that the good and the bad spirits that bring
happiness and misery are not outside the man,
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