Funeral Oration

They declared to all men, by their victory in the sea-fight, that there is better hope for the venture shared with a few in the cause of freedom than for that in which numerous subjects of a king contend for their own servitude.

They made the fullest and fairest contribution in aid of the freedom of the Greeks by providing Themistocles as commander, most competent to speak and decide and act, and ships more numerous than those of all their allies, and men of the greatest experience. For indeed who among the rest of the Greeks could have vied with these in decision, in number, and in valor?

Hence it was just that they should receive from Greece without dispute the prize of prowess in the sea-fight, and reasonable that they should attain a prosperity in accord with the measure of their perils, having taught the barbarians of Asia that their own valor was genuine and native to their soil.

By thus proving their quality in the sea-fight, and bearing by far the greatest share in its dangers, they obtained through their particular prowess a general access of freedom for the rest of Greece. But after this the Peloponnesians built a wall across the Isthmus; and being satisfied with their safety, and considering that they were now rid of the peril from the sea, they were disposed to stand by and see the other Greeks subdued by the barbarians.

Then the Athenians, in anger, advised them, if they meant to be of this mind, to encompass the whole Peloponnese with a wall: for if they themselves, betrayed by the Greeks, should be united with the barbarians, these on their part would have no need of a thousand ships, nor would the wall at the Isthmus help its builders, since the empire of the sea would belong without hazard to the King.

Taking the lesson to heart, and deeming their action unjust and ill advised, while the words of the Athenians were just and their recommendation was the wisest, they went to their support at Plataea. Most of the allies had deserted their posts at nightfall, owing to the multitude of the enemy; but the Lacedaemonians and Tegeates routed the barbarians, while the Athenians and Plataeans fought and vanquished all the Greeks who had despaired of freedom and submitted to slavery.

On that day they brought the ventures of the past to a most glorious consummation; for not only did they secure a permanence of freedom for Europe, but had given proof of their own valor in all those trials, whether alone or with others, in land-fights or in sea-fights, against the barbarians or against the Greeks; and thus they were judged worthy by all—by their comrades in peril no less than their foes in the field—to have the leadership of Greece.

In later times a Grecian war arose from envy of what had come to pass, and jealousy of what had been achieved: great was the conceit of all, and small the allegation that each found needful. The Athenians, in a sea-fight with the Aeginetans and their allies, took seventy of their warships.

As they were blockading Egypt and Aegina at the same time, and their men of serviceable age were absent either in their ships or in their land army, the Corinthians and their allies, conceiving that if they invaded our land they would either find it unprotected or draw off our forces from Aegina, marched out in full strength and seized Geranea.[*](Near Megara.)

But the Athenians, though their men were away and the enemy close at hand, would not deign to summon anyone. Trusting in their own spirit, and despising the invaders, the elderly and those below the age of service thought fit to take the risk upon themselves alone; the former had acquired their valor by experience, the latter by nature;

those had proved their own worth on many a field,while these would imitate them, and as the seniors knew how to command, so the juniors were able to carry out their orders.

With Myronides as general they made a sally of their own into the land of Megara and conquered in battle the whole force of the enemy with troops whose strength was already failing or not yet capable,—of an enemy who had chosen to invade their country, but whom they had hastened to meet on alien soil.

There they set up a trophy of an exploit most glorious for them, but most disgraceful for the foe. One part of them had ceased, and the other had not begun, to be able-bodied; but together they took strength from their spirit, and thus with fairest renown they returned to their own land, where the young resumed their education and the old took counsel on what remained to be done.

Now it is not easy for one person to recount in detail the perils undergone by many men, or to show forth in a single day the deeds of all past times. For what speech or time or orator would suffice to declare the valor of the men who lie here?

By means of countless toils, conspicuous struggles, and glorious perils they made Greece free, while proving the supremacy of their native land: they commanded the sea for seventy years[*](From 476 B.C., when Athens became the head of the Delian League, to 405 B.C., when she was defeated at Aegospotami.) and saved their allies from faction,

not suffering the many to be slaves of the few, but compelling all to live on an equality; [*](i.e., they were the general promoters of democracy.) instead of weakening their allies, they secured their strength along with their own, and displayed their own power to such effect that the Great King no more coveted the possessions of others, but yielded some of his own and was in fear for what remained.

In that time no warships sailed from Asia, no despot held sway among the Greeks, no city of Greece was forced into serfdom by the barbarians; so great was the restraint and awe inspired in all mankind by the valor of our people. And for this reason none but they should become protectors of the Greeks and leaders of the cities.

And in misfortunes also they displayed their accustomed valor. For when the ships were destroyed in the Hellespont[*](At Aegospotami, 405 B.C.)—whether it was through the fault of the commander or by the design of Heaven—and that supreme disaster overtook not only us, who suffered that misfortune, but all the rest of the Greeks, it became evident shortly after that the power of our city was the salvation of Greece.

The leadership was taken by others, and a people who had never before embarked upon the sea defeated the Greeks in a naval action; they sailed to Europe and enslaved cities of the Greeks, in which despots were established, some after our disaster, and others after the victory of the barbarians.[*](The Persian fleet under Conon defeated the Lacedaemonians under Peisander at Cnidus in Cilicia, 394 B.C. In the preceding years Sparta, relying on the support of Persia, had placed her governors in many Greek cities: after Cnidus the Greeks of Asia Minor were abandoned to Persian rule.)

So it would have been fitting for Greece to come then and mourn over this tomb, and lament those who lie here, seeing that her own freedom was interred together with their valor. Unhappy Greece, to be bereft of such men, and happy King of Asia, to be at grips with other leaders! For Greece, deprived of these men, is sunk in slavery, while he, finding others in command, is moved to emulate the designs of his ancestors.