(no subject)
I'm being a loser and reading Pericles' funeral speech from Thucydides 'History of the Peloponnesian War,' because I've never read the whole speech before. I just came to this section, where he's consoling the parents of the fallen soldiers:
"Yet you who are still of an age to beget children must bear up in the hope of having others in their stead; not only will they help you to forget those whom you have lost, but will be to the state at once a reinforcement and a security; for never can a fair or just policy be expected of the citizen who does not, like his fellows, bring to the decision the interests and apprehensions of a father."
<-- Typical of ancient writing, but HOW HARSH?!
"Yet you who are still of an age to beget children must bear up in the hope of having others in their stead; not only will they help you to forget those whom you have lost, but will be to the state at once a reinforcement and a security; for never can a fair or just policy be expected of the citizen who does not, like his fellows, bring to the decision the interests and apprehensions of a father."
<-- Typical of ancient writing, but HOW HARSH?!