The Funeral Speech

for to the departed such conduct would seem most becoming in you and honorable to them, and to the whole State and to the living it would bring the greatest glory.[*](This topic is treated at greater length in Plato Menex. 247d-248c.) It is a grievous thing for fathers and mothers to be deprived of their children and in their old age to lack the care of those who are nearest and dearest to them. Yes, but it is a proud privilege to behold them possessors of deathless honors and a memorial of their valor erected by the State, and deemed deserving of sacrifices and games for all future time.