The Funeral Speech

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.[*](The welcome extended to aliens at the public funerals is mentioned in Thuc. 2.34.4. Pericles recognizes their presence, Thuc. 36.4.) 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.