[289]
Read for his benefit
the epitaph, which the state resolved by public vote to inscribe upon their
monument. Even from these verses, Aeschines, you may learn something of your own
callousness, and malignity, and brutality. Read.“
Epitaph
Here lie the brave, who for their country's right
Drew sword, and put th' insulting foe to flight.
Their lives they spared not, bidding Death decide
Who flinched and lived, and who with courage died.
They fought and fell that Greece
might still be free,
Nor crouch beneath the yoke of slavery.
Zeus spoke the word of doom; and now they rest
Forspent with toil upon their country's breast.
God errs not, fails not; God alone is great;
But man lies helpless in the hands of fate.
”unknown
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by C. A. Vince, M. A. and J. H. Vince, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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