Menexenus Passage 241

ΣΩ. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἀριστεῖα τῷ λόγῳ ἐκείνοις ἀναθετέον, τὰ δὲ δευτερεῖα τοῖς περὶ Σαλαμῖνα καὶ ἐπʼ Ἀρτεμισίῳ ναυμαχήσασι καὶ νικήσασι. καὶ γὰρ τούτων τῶν ἀνδρῶν πολλὰ μὲν ἄν τις ἔχοι διελθεῖν, καὶ οἷα ἐπιόντα ὑπέμειναν κατά τε γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν, καὶ ὡς ἠμύναντο ταῦτα· ὃ δέ μοι δοκεῖ καὶ ἐκείνων κάλλιστον εἶναι, τούτου μνησθήσομαι, ὅτι τὸ ἑξῆς ἔργον τοῖς Μαραθῶνι διεπράξαντο. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Μαραθῶνι τοσοῦτον μόνον ἐπέδειξαν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ὅτι κατὰ γῆν οἷόν τε ἀμύνασθαι τοὺς βαρβάρους ὀλίγοις πολλούς, ναυσὶ δὲ ἔτι ἦν ἄδηλον καὶ δόξαν εἶχον Πέρσαι ἄμαχοι εἶναι κατὰ θάλατταν καὶ πλήθει καὶ πλούτῳ καὶ τέχνῃ καὶ ῥώμῃ· τοῦτο δὴ ἄξιον ἐπαινεῖν τῶν ἀνδρῶν τῶν τότε ναυμαχησάντων, ὅτι τὸν ἐχόμενον φόβον διέλυσαν τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ ἔπαυσαν φοβουμένους πλῆθος νεῶν τε καὶ ἀνδρῶν. ὑπʼ ἀμφοτέρων δὴ συμβαίνει, τῶν τε Μαραθῶνι μαχεσαμένων καὶ τῶν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχησάντων, παιδευθῆναι τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας, ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν κατὰ γῆν, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν κατὰ θάλατταν μαθόντας καὶ ἐθισθέντας μὴ φοβεῖσθαι τοὺς βαρβάρους. τρίτον δὲ λέγω τὸ ἐν Πλαταιαῖς ἔργον καὶ ἀριθμῷ καὶ ἀρετῇ γενέσθαι τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς σωτηρίας, κοινὸν ἤδη τοῦτο Λακεδαιμονίων τε καὶ Ἀθηναίων. τὸ μὲν οὖν μέγιστον καὶ χαλεπώτατον οὗτοι πάντες ἠμύναντο, καὶ διὰ ταύτην τὴν ἀρετὴν νῦν τε ὑφʼ ἡμῶν ἐγκωμιάζονται καὶ εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον ὑπὸ τῶν ὕστερον· μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο πολλαὶ μὲν πόλεις τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἔτι ἦσαν μετὰ τοῦ βαρβάρου, αὐτὸς δὲ ἠγγέλλετο βασιλεὺς διανοεῖσθαι ὡς ἐπιχειρήσων πάλιν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας. δίκαιον δὴ καὶ τούτων ἡμᾶς ἐπιμνησθῆναι, οἳ τοῖς τῶν προτέρων ἔργοις τέλος τῆς σωτηρίας ἐπέθεσαν ἀνακαθηράμενοι καὶ ἐξελάσαντες πᾶν τὸ βάρβαρον ἐκ τῆς θαλάττης. ἦσαν δὲ οὗτοι οἵ τε ἐπʼ Εὐρυμέδοντι ναυμαχήσαντες καὶ οἱ εἰς Κύπρον στρατεύσαντες καὶ οἱ εἰς Αἴγυπτον πλεύσαντες καὶ ἄλλοσε πολλαχόσε, ὧν χρὴ μεμνῆσθαι καὶ χάριν αὐτοῖς εἰδέναι, ὅτι βασιλέα ἐποίησαν δείσαντα τῇ ἑαυτοῦ σωτηρίᾳ τὸν νοῦν προσέχειν, ἀλλὰ μὴ τῇ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐπιβουλεύειν φθορᾷ.

Soc. To them, therefore, we award in this our speech the first prize for valor, and the second to those who fought and won the sea-fights off Salamis and at Artemisium . And truly concerning these men also one might have much to relate, regarding the manner of onsets they endured both by land and sea, and how they repelled them; but the achievement I shall mention is that which was, in my judgement, the noblest that they performed, in that it followed up the achievement of the men of Marathon. For whereas the men of Marathon had only proved to the Greeks thus much, - that it was possible to repel the barbarians by land though few against many, yet the prospect in a sea-fight remained still doubtful, and the Persians still retained the reputation of being invincible by sea, in virtue of their numbers and their wealth, their naval skill and strength. For this, then, the men who fought those sea-fights merit our praise, that they delivered the Greeks from the second of their fears, and put an end to the terrors inspired by multitudes of ships and men. So it came about, by the action of both - the soldiers who fought at Marathon and the sailors who fought at Salamis - , that the rest of the Greeks were trained and accustomed to have no fear of the barbarians, neither by land, as our soldiers taught them, nor yet, as our sailors taught them, by sea. The exploit at Plataea I put third both in order and in merit of those which secured the salvation of Greece ; and in this exploit, at last, the Lacedaemonians cooperated with the Athenians. By the action of all these men the greatest and most formidable danger was warded off, and because of this their valor we pronounce their eulogy now, as our successors will in the time to come. But, in the period that followed, many cities of the Greeks were still in league with the barbarian, and of the king himself it was reported that he was purposing to renew his attempt against the Greeks. Wherefore it is right that we should make mention also of those men who put the finishing touch to the work of salvation executed by their predecessors by sweeping away the whole of the barbarian power and driving it clean off the seas. These were the men who fought the sea-fight at the Eurymedon, the men who served in the expedition against Cyprus , the men who voyaged to Egypt and to many another quarter, - men whom we ought to hold in memory and render them thanks, seeing that they put the king in fear and caused him to give his whole mind to his own safety in place of plotting the destruction of Greece .

[241a] la seconde appartient aux vainqueurs des journées navales de Salamine et d’Artémise. On pourrait raconter beaucoup de choses à leur gloire ; quels dangers ils ont bravés, tant sur terre que sur mer, et comment ils les ont surmontés ; mais je ne rappellerai que ce qui me paraît leur plus beau titre à la gloire, l’accomplissement de l’œuvre commencée à Marathon. Ceux de Marathon avaient appris aux Grecs [241b] qu’un petit nombre d’hommes libres suffisait pour repousser sur terre une multitude de barbares, mais il n’était point encore prouvé que cela fut possible sur mer ; les Perses y passaient pour invincibles par leur multitude, leurs richesses, leur habileté et leur valeur. Ils méritent donc nos éloges, ces braves marins qui délivrèrent les Grecs de leur frayeur, et rendirent les vaisseaux des Perses aussi peu redoutables que leurs soldats. Ce sont les vainqueurs de Marathon et [241c] de Salamine qui ont instruit et accoutumé les Grecs à mépriser les barbares et sur terre et sur mer. Le troisième fait de l’indépendance grecque, en date et en courage, est la bataille de Platée, la première dont la gloire ait été commune aux Lacédémoniens et aux Athéniens. La conjoncture était critique, le péril imminent ; ils triomphèrent de tout. Tant de vertu leur mérite nos éloges et ceux [241d] des siècles à venir. Cependant un grand nombre de villes grecques étaient encore au pouvoir des barbares ; on annonçait même que le grand roi projetait une nouvelle expédition contre les Grecs ; il est donc juste de rappeler aussi la mémoire de ceux qui achevèrent ce que les premiers avaient commencé, et accomplirent notre délivrance, en purgeant les mers des barbares. Ce furent ceux qui combattirent sur mer à Eurymédon, [241e] descendirent en Chypre, passèrent en Égypte, et portèrent leurs armes en beaucoup d’autres lieux. Souvenons-nous avec reconnaissance qu’ils réduisirent le grand roi à craindre pour lui-même, et à ne songer qu’à sa propre sûreté, loin de méditer encore la perte de la Grèce. Cette guerre fut soutenue par Athènes avec toutes ses forces, et pour