The Funeral Speech

The Hippothoontidae bore in mind the marriage of Alope, from which Hippothoon was born, and they knew also who their founder was; about these matters—to avoid impropriety on an occasion like this[*](Alope’s son was said to have been twice exposed, and twice rescued and suckled by a mare. The use of mare’s milk as a food prevailed among the Scythians, as the Greeks knew well from their colonists in the region of the Black Sea, if not from Hdt. 4.2; Gylon, grandfather of Demosthenes, had lived in the Crimea and was said to have married a Thracian wife. The orator was sometimes twitted by his opponents about his Thracian blood. He may have been sensitive. Consequently the attitude here revealed might be construed as evidence for the genuineness of the speech.) I forbear to speak plainly—they thought it was their duty to be seen performing deeds worthy of these ancestors. It did not escape the Aeantidae that Ajax, robbed of the prize of valor, did not consider his own life worth living.[*](Ajax, worsted by Odysseus in a contest for possession of the arms of Achilles, was said to have slain himself: Hom. Od. 11.541-567; the story of his madness and of slaughtering flocks and herds as if they were his enemies is not Homeric: Soph. Aj.) When, therefore, the god was giving to another the prize of valor, at once they thought they must die trying to repel their foes so as to suffer no disgrace to themselves. The Antiochidae were not unmindful that Antiochus was the son of Heracles.[*](The mother of Antiochus was Meda, daughter of Phylas, king of the Dryopes, but the story was unimportant and little known.) They concluded therefore that they must either live worthily of their heritage or die nobly.

Now, though the living kinsmen of these dead deserve our sympathy, bereaved of such brave men and divorced from close and affectionate association, and though the life of our native land is desolate and filled with tears and mourning, nevertheless these dead by a just calculation are happy.[*](Compare Hyp. 24 Are we not to think them fortunate because their valor was proven rather than unfortunate because their lives were lost?) First of all, bartering little for much, a brief time for all eternity, they leave behind them an ageless fame[*](With εὔκλειαν ἀγήρω compare Thuc. 2.43.2 ἀγήρων ἔπαινονand Hyp. 42 εὐδοξίαν ἀγήρατον.)

In which the children of these men shall be reared in honor and the parents of these men shall enjoy distinction[*](This topic is touched upon in Hyp. 27.) and tender care in their old age, cherishing the fame of these men as an assuagement of their sorrow.[*](Thuc. 2.44.4and be comforted by the fair fame of these your sons.) In the second place, immune from disease of body and beyond the reach of anguish of spirit,[*](In Hyp. 43 may be found ἀπηλλαγμένοι εἰσὶ νόσων καὶ λύπης, as Blass observes.) such as the living must suffer because of the misfortunes which have befallen, they today receive high honor and inspire great emulation while they are accorded the customary obsequies.[*](Annual sacrifices were performed at the public sepulchre in Athens. They were followed by athletic contests.) How, then, since the whole country unites in according them a public burial, and they alone receive the words of universal praise, while their kinsmen and fellow-citizens are not alone in mourning them, but every land that has the right to be called Hellas and the greater part of the whole world mourns with them,[*](Thuc. 2.43.3for the whole world is the sepulchre of famous men.) how can we do otherwise than consider them blessed of fortune?