# Aethiopica 8.4

Heliodorus of Emesa, Aethiopica, Book 8. Ancient Greek.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/greek/heliodorus-of-emesa/aethiopica/8.4

συνεὶς δὴ οὖν ὁ Θύαμις ὅτι τὰ περὶ τὸν Μιτράνην ἐθέλει λέγειν, ἀλλ̓ ὦ Ἀρσάκη, ἔφη, οὐ πόλεμος τάδε ἀλλ̓ εἰρήνη τὸ παρόν. κἀκεῖνος μὲν δουλοῦν, ἐλευθεροῦν δὲ αὕτη πέφυκε. κἀκεῖνο μέν ἐστι βούλημα τυραννικόν, τουτὶ δὲ δόγμα βασιλικόν. εἰρήνην δὲ καὶ πόλεμον οὐχ ἡ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἀξίωσις, ἀλλ̓ ἡ τῶν χρωμένων διάταξις ἀληθέστερον γνωρίζειν πέφυκε. τὸ μὲν δίκαιον τούτοις τιθεμένη βέλτιον ἂν φανείης ὁριζομένη, τό γε μὴν πρέπον ἢ συμφέρον οὐδὲ εἰς ἀμφισβήτησιν καθίσταται: πῶς γάρ σοι καλὸν ἢ λυσιτελοῦν νέων καὶ ξένων οὕτως ἐκθύμως φαίνεσθαί τε καὶ ὁμολογεῖν ἀντεχομένην;

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Heliodorus of Emesa, Aethiopica, ed. Immanuel Bekker. Text: The Greek Library, from the Perseus Digital Library and other open sources, CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: apostrophes normalised and the text divided into reading sections by Interlinea.
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Source: https://thegreeklibrary.pages.lisn.upsaclay.fr/works/tlg0658.tlg001.local001/.