Isocrate, Panegirico

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.