Sull'Europa
176-177
ὃ δὲ πάντων καταγελαστότατον, ὅτι τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν ταῖς ὁμολογίαις τὰ χείριστα τυγχάνομεν διαφυλάττοντες. ἃ μὲν γὰρ αὐτονόμους ἀφίησι τάς τε νήσους καὶ τὰς πόλεις τὰς ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης, πάλαι λέλυται καὶ μάτην ἐν ταῖς στήλαις ἐστίν: ἃ δ᾽ αἰσχύνην ἡμῖν φέρει καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν συμμάχων ἐκδέδωκε, ταῦτα δὲ κατὰ χώραν μένει καὶ πάντες αὐτὰ κύρια ποιοῦμεν: ἃ χρῆν ἀναιρεῖν καὶ μηδὲ μίαν ἐᾶν ἡμέραν, νομίζοντας προστάγματα καὶ μὴ συνθήκας εἶναι. τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι συνθῆκαι μέν εἰσιν, αἵ τινες ἂν ἴσως καὶ κοινῶς ἀμφοτέροις ἔχωσι, προστάγματα δὲ τὰ τοὺς ἑτέρους ἐλαττοῦντα παρὰ τὸ δίκαιον;
διὸ καὶ τῶν πρεσβευσάντων ταύτην τὴν εἰρήνην δικαίως ἂν κατηγοροῖμεν, ὅτι πεμφθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑπὲρ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐποιήσαντο τὰς συνθήκας. ἐχρῆν γὰρ αὐτούς, εἴτ᾽ ἐδόκει τὴν αὑτῶν ἔχειν ἑκάστους, εἴτε καὶ τῶν δοριαλώτων ἐπάρχειν, εἴτε τούτων κρατεῖν ὧν ὑπὸ τὴν εἰρήνην ἐτυγχάνομεν ἔχοντες, ἕν τι τούτων ὁρισαμένους καὶ κοινὸν τὸ δίκαιον ποιησαμένους, οὕτω συγγράφεσθαι περὶ αὐτῶν.
The crowning absurdity of
all, however, is the fact that among the articles which are written
in the agreement it is only the worst which we guard and observe. For
those which guarantee the independence of the islands and of the
cities in Europe
have long since been broken and are dead letters on the pillars,
while those which bring shame upon us and by which many of our
allies have been given over to the enemy—these remain intact, and
we all regard them as binding upon us, though we ought to have
expunged them and not allowed them to stand a single day, looking
upon them as commands, and not as compacts; for who does not know
that a compact is something which is fair and impartial to both
parties, while a command is something which puts one side at a
disadvantage unjustly?
On this ground we may
justly complain of our envoys who negotiated this peace,
because, although dispatched by the Hellenes, they made the
Treaty in the interest of the barbarians. For they ought, no matter
whether they took the view that each of the states concerned should
retain its original territory, or that each should extend its
sovereignty over all that it had acquired by conquest, or that we
should each retain control over what we held when peace was
declared—they ought, I say, to have adopted definitely some one of
these views, applying the principle impartially to all, and on this
basis to have drafted the articles of the Treaty.
Da notare che Europa sta
per Occidente, contrapposto ad Asia, l'Oriente.
Il nome Europa viene dal
semitico Ereb.
NB per Asia si intende l'Anatolia, possesso del re persiano.
