44.
'Wherefore I do not now commiserate the parents of the dead who stand here; I would
rather1 comfort them.
You know that your life has been passed amid manifold vicissitudes; and that they may
be deemed fortunate who have gained most honour, whether an honourable death like
theirs, or an honourable sorrow like yours, and whose days have been so ordered that the
term of their happiness is likewise the term of their life.
[2]
I know how hard it is to make you feel this, when the good fortune of others will too
often remind you of the gladness which once lightened your hearts.
And sorrow is felt at the want of those blessings, not which a man never knew, but
which were a part of his life before they were taken from him.
[3]
Some of you are of an age at which they may hope to have other children, and they ought
to bear their sorrow better; not only will the children who may hereafter be born make
them forget their own lost ones, but the city will be doubly a gainer. She
will not be left desolate, and she will be safer.
For a man's counsel cannot have equal weight or worth, when he alone has no children to
risk in the general danger.
[4]
To those of you who have passed their prime, I say: ‘
Congratulate yourselves that you have been happy during the greater part of
your days; remember that your life of sorrow will not last long, and be
comforted by the glory of those who are gone.
For the love of honour alone is ever young,
and not riches, as some say, but honour is the delight of men when they are old
and useless.
’
1 The parents of the dead are to be comforted rather than pitied. Some of them may yet have children who will lighten their sorrow and serve the state; while others should remember how large their share of happiness has been, and be consoled by the glory of those who are gone.
Thucydides translated into English; with introduction, marginal analysis, notes, and indices. Volume 1. Thucydides. Benjamin Jowett. translator. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1881.
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