Texte grec :
| [4,120] οὐδέν γε μὴν προσέοικεν ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκεν οὔτε ἀετοῖς οὔτε γεράνοις
οὔτε ἄλλῳ τινὶ πτηνῷ γένει τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἄν τις αὐτὸν προσεικάσειε
τῇ Ἰκαρίου βιαίῳ καὶ παρὰ φύσιν φορᾷ, οὐ δυνατὸν τέχνημα ἐπιχειρήσαντος
(121) Δαιδάλου τεχνήσασθαι. τοιγαροῦν ὑπὸ νεότητος καὶ ἀλαζονείας
ἐπιθυμῶν ὑψηλότερος τῶν ἄστρων φέρεσθαι χρόνον μέν τινα ἐσῴζετο
βραχύν, χαλωμένων δὲ τῶν δεσμῶν καὶ τοῦ κηροῦ ῥέοντος,
ἐπωνυμίαν ἀπὸ τοῦδε τῷ πελάγει παρέσχεν, οὗπερ ἠφανίσθη
(122) πεσών· κἀκεῖνος ἀσθενέσι καὶ κούφοις τῷ ὄντι πιστεύσας πτεροῖς,
λέγω δὲ τιμαῖς τε καὶ ἐπαίνοις ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν πολλῶν
ὡς ἔτυχε γιγνομένοις, ἐπισφαλῶς καὶ ἀσταθμήτως φέρεται καὶ
φέρει τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν αὑτοῦ ζηλωτήν τε καὶ ὑπηρέτην, νῦν μὲν
ὑψηλὸν καὶ μακάριον πολλοῖς φαινόμενον, πάλιν δὲ αὖ ταπεινόν
τε καὶ ἄθλιον τοῖς τε ἄλλοις καὶ πρώτῳ καὶ μάλιστα αὑτῷ δοκοῦντα.
(123) εἰ δέ τῳ οὐ φίλον πτηνὸν αὐτὸν διανοεῖσθαι καὶ ποιεῖν, ὁ
δὲ ἀφομοιούτω αὐτὸν τῇ τοῦ Ἰξίονος χαλεπῇ καὶ βιαίῳ φορᾷ τε καὶ
ἀνάγκῃ, τροχοῦ τινος ῥύμῃ κύκλῳ κινουμένου τε καὶ φερομένου.
οὐ γὰρ ἀπεοικὸς οὐδὲ μακρὰν δὴ τῶν σοφῶν τε καὶ κομψῶν εἰκασμάτων
εἴη ἂν ὁ τροχὸς δόξῃ παραβαλλόμενος, τῇ τε κινήσει καὶ
μεταβολῇ πάνυ ῥᾳδίως περιθέων, ἐν δὲ τῇ περιφορᾷ παντοῖα σχήματα
τὴν ψυχὴν ἀναγκάζων λαμβάνειν μᾶλλον ἢ ὁ τῶν κεραμέων
(124) τὰ ἐπ´ αὐτῷ πλαττόμενα. ἄνδρα δὴ τοιοῦτον εἱλούμενον ἀεὶ καὶ
περιφερόμενον, κόλακα δήμων τε καὶ ὄχλων ἐν ἐκκλησίαις ἢ ἐπιδείξεσιν
ἢ βασιλέων ἢ τυράννων λεγομέναις δὴ φιλίαις καὶ θεραπείαις,
τίς οὐκ ἂν ἐλεήσειε τῆς φύσεως καὶ τοῦ βίου; λέγω δὲ οὐχ ὃς ἂν
ἀπὸ τοῦ βελτίστου προεστηκὼς πολύ τι πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων πειθοῖ
καὶ λόγῳ μετ´ εὐνοίας καὶ δικαιοσύνης πειρᾶται ῥυθμίζειν τε καὶ
ἄγειν ἐπὶ τὰ βελτίω.
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Traduction française :
| [4,120] "As to his safety, this spirit is not at all to be
classed with either eagles or cranes or any other
feathered species; nay, one might rather liken
his flight to the violent and unnatural soaring of
Icarus, whose father undertook to contrive a device
that proved disastrous. So then the lad, moved by
the conceit of youth and desiring to soar above the
stars, was safe enough for a short time, but when the
fastenings became loose and the wax ran, he gave his
name from this circumstance to the sea where he fell
to be seen no more. Just so with this spirit of
ambition : When he also puts his faith in weak and
truly airy wingsI mean the honours and plaudits
bestowed at haphazard by the general crowdhe floats
away on his perilous and unsteady voyage, taking with
him the man, his admirer and henchman, who now
appears to many to be high and blessed, but now
again seems low and wretched, not only to others,
but first and foremost to himself. But if there be
anyone who does not care to conceive of and portray
him as winged, let him liken him to Ixion, constrained
to cruel and violent gyrations as he is rapidly whirled
round and round on a wheel. Indeed, the comparison
of the wheel with reputation would not be
unfitting nor far inferior in truth to the clever
and brilliant metaphors of the rhetoricians : by its
shifting movement it very readily turns round,
and in its revolutions forces the soul to assume all
kinds of shapes, more truly than the potter's wheel
affects the things that are being shaped upon it.
Such a man, ever turning and revolving, a flatterer
of peoples and crowds, whether in public assemblies
or lecture halls, or in his so-called friendship with
tyrants or kings and his courting of themwho would
not feel pity for his character and manner of living ?
I am flot speaking of the man, however, who,
having managed his own life admirably, endeavours
by the persuasion of speech combined with goodwill
and a sense of justice to train and direct a great
multitude of men and to lead them to better things.
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