| Keywords |
- Name: Alexander the Great, [wurzel: Alexand]
- Ethnonym: Assyrii, [wurzel: Assyri]
- Region: Bablyon, [wurzel: Babylon]
- Ethnonym: Gothi, [wurzel: Goth]
- Ethnonym: Hispani, [wurzel: Hispan]
- Ethnonym: Indi, [wurzel: Ind]
- Region: India, [wurzel: India]
- Region: Oceanus, [wurzel: ]
- Ethnonym: Persae, [wurzel: Pers]
- Ethnonym: Romani, [wurzel: roman]
- Region: Romania, [wurzel: Romani]
- Ethnonym: Suebi, [wurzel: Sue*]
|
| ID |
1524 |
| Text |
Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII (417 - 418) Orosius |
| Quotation |
8 Hispanus et Morinus ad supplicandum Alexandro Babylonam adiit cruentumque ultro dominum, ne hostem exciperet, per Assyriam Indiamque quaesiuit, terrarum metas lustrans et utrique infeliciter notus Oceano: et tamen tam uiolentae necessitatis memoria uel obliuione defecit uel uiluit uetustate. 9 Et nos perpetuae recordationi haesurum putamus, quod plurima orbis parte secura unum angulum fugax latro uiolauit? quasi uero Gotthorum et Sueborum pacem ut non dicam uersa uice Indus uel Assyrius, sed etiam uel ipse, qui hostem patitur, Hispanus orauerit. 10 At uero si illa Alexandri tempora laudanda potius propter uirtutem qua totus orbis obtentus, quam detestanda propter ruinam qua totus orbis euersus est iudicantur: inuenientur et modo plurimi, qui haec laudanda censeant, quia multa uicerunt et miserias aliorum felicitatem suam reputent. 11 Sed dicat quisquam: isti hostes Romaniae sunt. respondebitur: hoc et tunc toto orienti de Alexandro uidebatur, talesque et Romani aliis uisi sunt, dum bellis ignotos quietosque petiuerunt. sed illi adquirere regna, isti euertere student. separata sunt hostis excidia et iudicia uictoris. 12 Siquidem et illi prius eos bellis adflixerunt, quos postea suis legibus ordinarunt: et hi nunc hostiliter turbant quae - in quo non permiserit Deus - si edomita obtinerent, ritu suo conponere molirentur, dicendi posteris magni reges, qui nunc nobis saeuissimi hostes adiudicantur. 13 quolibet haec gesta talia nomine censeantur, hoc est siue dicantur miseriae siue uirtutes, utraque prioribus conparata in hoc tempore minora sunt, atque ita utraque pro nobis faciunt in conparatione Alexandri atque Persarum: si uirtus nunc uocanda est, minor est hostium; si miseria, minor est Romanorum. |
| Translation |
8. The Spanish and the Morini came to Babylon to grovel before
Alexander, and of their own free will sought out this bloodstained warlord
through Assyria and India in order to stop him becoming their enemy,
scouring the ends of the earth and coming to know in their misfortune both
oceans. But the memory of this violent necessity that was forced upon
them has either been forgotten altogether, or is little remembered because
it happened long ago. 9. So do we think that we shall set in our memory
forever the fact that some fugitive thief managed to plunder one corner of
the world, when for the most part it remained free of him? It is as if an
Indian or Assyrian asked the Goths and Sueves, not to mention the reverse,
for peace, or even a Spaniard who is suffering their attacks. 10. But if
Alexander’s life and times are judged to be more worthy of praise because
of the courage with which he conquered the whole world than worthy of
contempt because of the chaos into which he plunged it, even more men
will be found who think the present day worthy of praise because there have
been many victories and because they consider the sufferings of others to be
their own good fortune.
11.But someone will say, ‘But those men are the enemies of the Roman
World’. The reply to this is that this is how Alexander seemed to the
whole East, and how the Romans too seemed to others, when they made war
on unknown, peaceful peoples.
‘But Alexander and Rome strove to obtain a kingdom, while the barbarians fight to overthrow them’, will come the counter.
However, the destruction wrought by an enemy and the order imposed
by a victor are two separate things. 12. Alexander and Rome first made
war on those whom afterwards they brought under their laws. Similarly,
the barbarians too are now throwing into confusion as their enemies those
whom, if they conquer them, and, may God not allow this to come to pass,
they will endeavour to rule after their own fashion, and thus those whom we now regard as our most brutal enemies, will be considered as great kings
by posterity. |
| Quotation source |
Lib. 3, Cap. 20, 8-13 (pp. 173-5, trans. Fear, pp. 141-2) |
| Temporal Coverage |
-330 - -323 |
| Associated use case(s) |
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| Comment |
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