[13]
In the meantime it is necessary to interrupt my
discourse for a moment, before declaring the deeds of these men, to solicit the
goodwill of those born outside this race who have accompanied us to the
tomb.1 For if I had been appointed to do honor to this burial
through expenditure of money or by providing some different kind of a spectacle
consisting of equestrian or gymnastic contests, the greater my zeal and the more
lavish my expenditure in preparing such spectacles, the better I should have
been thought to have done my duty. Having been chosen, however, to extol these
men in a speech, unless I have the sympathy of my hearers, I fear that because
of my eagerness I may effect the very opposite of what I ought.
1 The welcome extended to aliens at the public funerals is mentioned in Thuc. 2.34.4. Pericles recognizes their presence, Thuc. 36.4.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by Norman W. DeWitt, Ph.D., and Norman J. DeWitt, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1949.
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