Laudator Temporis Acti

Agathias, Histories 1.1.2-5 (tr. Joseph D. Frendo):

[2] I am convinced, for my part, that our generation shall see no end to such ills, since, human nature being what it is, they are a permanent and ever increasing phenomenon and, indeed, one which is practically as old as man himself. History and literature, for example, are full of accounts of battles and fighting, almost to the exclusion of everything else.

[3] I do not, however, subscribe to the general view that such events are controlled by the movements of the heavenly bodies and by some blind impersonal fate. If the influence of fate were paramount in all things then there would be no place for free-will, we would be obliged to regard all attempts at advice, instruction and methodical exposition as a complete waste of time and the hopes and aspirations of the virtuous would be extinguished and annihilated.

[4] But I do not think it right, either, to hold the Divinity responsible for fighting and bloodshed. No, I could never put forward or accept the view that a benevolent being, which is the negation of all evil, could delight in wholesale slaughter.

[5] It is the souls of men that lapse voluntarily into greed and violence and fill every land with wars and dissensions, giving rise thereby to widespread destruction, to the uprooting of whole nations and to countless other horrors.

[2] οἶμαι γὰρ οὐδὲ ἐπιλείψειν ποτὲ τὸν αἰῶνα ἡμῶν τὰ τοιάδε, μένειν δὲ ἐς ἀεὶ καἰ ἀκμάζειν, ἔςτ’ ἂν ἡ αὐτὴ φύσις ἀνθρώπων ᾖ, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, συνεισῆλθε τῷ βίῳ. καὶ οὖν μεστὴ μὲν ἡ ποίησις, πλήρης δὲ ξύμπασα ἱστόρια πολέμων τε καὶ παρατάιξεων, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἄλλο τι εὕροις ἐν τῇδε κατὰ τὸ μᾶλλον ἀναγεγραμμένον·

[3] αἴτ́ιον δὲ οἶμαι τούτων οὐχ, ὅπερ οἱ πολλοί φασιν, ἀστέρων τε πορείας καὶ τὸ μεμαρμένον καί τινας παραλόγους ἀνάγκας. εἰ γὰρ τὰ τῆς πεπρωμένης ἐν πᾶσι νικῴη, ἀφαιρεθείη δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ προαιρετὸν καὶ ἑκούσιον, παραινέσεις μὲν ἁπάσας καὶ τέχνας καὶ διδασκαλίας κενὰ καὶ ἄχρηστα νομιοῦμεν, οἰχήσονται δὲ φροῦδοι καὶ ἄκαρποι αἰ τῶν ἄριστα βιούντων ἐλπίδες.

[4] οὐ μέντοι ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ τὸ θεῖον αἴτιον, ὥς γε ἐμὲ γιγιγνώσκειν, φόνων τε καὶ συμπλοκῶν ἡγεῖσθαι προσήκει. τὸ γὰρ ἀγαθὸν ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἀλεξίκακον φόνιόν τε καὶ φιλοπόλεμον οὔτ’ ἂν ἔγωγε φήσαιμι, οὔτε εἰπόντι πιστεύσαιμι.

[5] ἐς δὲ πλεονεξίαν τε καὶ ἀδικίαν αἱ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχαὶ αὐθαίρετα κατολισθαίνουσαι πολέμων τε καὶ ταραχῶν ἅπαντα ἐμφοροῦσιν, ἐνθένδε τε ὄλεθροι ξυμβαινουσι πολλοί,̀ καὶ γένη ἀνθρώπων ἀνάρπαστα γίγνεται, καὶ μύριαι ἄλλαι ὠδίνονται κῆρες.