Texte grec :
| [4,130] πάλιν οὖν ἐνθάδε κινδυνεύσω τὸ δεύτερον εἰς τὸν
αὐτὸν πεσεῖν μῦθον τὸν Ἰξίονος. καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνόν φασιν ἐπιθυμήσαντα
τῶν Ἥρας μακαρίων γάμων νεφέλῃ τινὶ συγγενόμενον σκοτεινῇ
καὶ ἀχλυώδει ἄχρηστα καὶ ἀλλόκοτα γεννῆσαι τέκνα, τὸ τῶν
(131) Κενταύρων γένος ποικίλον καὶ συμπεφορημένον. ὁ γὰρ εὐκλείας
ἔρωτος διαμαρτών, ἔπειτα δόξης ἐπιθυμίᾳ συνών, τῷ ὄντι νεφέλῃ
λέληθεν ἀντὶ τῆς θείας καὶ σεμνῆς ὁμιλίας συνών. ἐκ δὲ τῶν
τοιούτων συνουσιῶν ἢ γάμων ὠφέλιμον μὲν ἢ χρήσιμον οὐδὲν ἂν
γένοιτο, θαυμαστὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλογα, προσεοικότα τοῖς Κενταύροις,
(132) δημαγωγῶν τινων πολιτεύματα καὶ ξυγγράμματα σοφιστῶν.
ξεναγοὶ γὰρ καὶ σοφισταὶ καὶ δημαγωγοί· λέγω δὲ διακρίνων στρατηγούς
τε καὶ παιδευτὰς καὶ πολιτικοὺς ἄνδρας ἀπὸ τῶν νῦν εἰρημένων·
οὗτοι πάντες ἐκείνῳ τῷ δαίμονι προσνέμεσθαι ἄξιοι καὶ
τῆς ἐκείνου μερίδος τε καὶ ἑταιρείας ἀριθμεῖσθαι.
(133) καὶ δὴ νῦν μὲν ἐπεξῆλθον τοὺς ὑφ´ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου τῶν εἰρημένων
δαιμόνων ἐλαυνομένους· πολλάκις δὲ καὶ δύο τὸν αὐτὸν ἢ
πάντες εἰλήχασι, τἀναντία ἀλλήλοις προστάττοντες καὶ ἀπειλοῦντες,
(134) εἰ μὴ πείθοιτο, μεγάλαις τισὶ περιβαλεῖν ζημίαις, ὁ μὲν φιλήδονος
ἀναλίσκειν εἰς τὰς ἡδονὰς κελεύων, καὶ μήτε χρυσοῦ μήτε
ἀργύρου μήτε ἄλλου κτήματος φείδεσθαι μηδενός, ὁ δ´ αὖ φιλοχρήματος
καὶ μικρολόγος οὐκ ἐῶν, ἀλλὰ κατέχων τε καὶ ἀπειλῶν,
εἰ πείσεται ἐκείνῳ, λιμῷ τε καὶ δίψῃ καὶ ἁπάσῃ πενίᾳ τε καὶ
ἀπορίᾳ διολλύειν αὐτόν.
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Traduction française :
| [4,130] So I shall be tempted here again
to make a second allusion to the same story of Ixion.
'Tis said that in his eagerness for the blissful union
with Hera he embraced a dark and dismal cloud
and became the parent of a useless and monstrous
brood, the curious hybrid race of the centaurs.
And in the samre way he who has been disappointed
in his love for true fame and has then dallied with a
lust for notoriety has in reality been consorting with
a cloud without knowing it instead of enjoying
intercourse with the divine and august. And from
such associations and unions nothing useful or
serviceable can come, but only strange irrational
creations that resemble the centaursI mean the
political acts of certain demagogues and the treatises
of the sophists; for both sophists and demagogues are
purely mercenary leaders. But in saying this I
distinguish the generals and educators and statesmen
from those whom I have just mentioned, all of whom
may well be assigned to that spirit of ambition and
be counted in its faction and following.
(133) "And now I have described those who are under
the sway of each of the spirits named ; but very often
two or all of them get hold of the same individual,
make conflicting demands upon him, and threaten
that, if he does not obey, they will inflict severe
penalties upon him. The pleasure-loving spirit bids
him to spend money on pleasures and to spare neither
gold nor silver nor anything else he has, while the
avaricious and parsimonious spirit objects, and
checks him and threatens that it will destroy him
with hunger, thirst, and utter beggary and want, so
surely as he heeds the other.
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