27
To them we owe it that fathers have grown famous, and mothers looked up to in the city, that sisters, through the benefit of law, have made, and will make, marriages worthy of them, that children too will find a passport to the people’s hearts in these men’s valor; these men who, far from dying—death is no word to use where lives are lost, as theirs were, for a noble cause—have passed from this existence to an eternal state.
28
For if the fact of death, to others a most grievous ill, has brought to them great benefits, are we not wrong indeed to count them wretched or to conclude that they have left the realm of life? Should we not rather say they have been born anew, a nobler birth than the first? Mere children then, they had no understanding, but now they have been born as valiant men.
29
Formerly they stood in need of time and many dangers to reveal their courage; now, with that courage as a base, they have become known to all, to be remembered for their valor.
30
On what occasion shall we fail to recollect the prowess of these men, in what place fail to see them win their due of emulation and the highest praise? What if the city prospers? Surely the successes, which they have earned, will bring their praises, and none other’s, to our lips and to our memories. Shall we then forget them in times of personal satisfaction? We cannot; for it is through their valor that we shall have the safe enjoyment of those moments.
31
Will there be men of any age who will not count them blessed? What of the older generation, who think that through the efforts of these men they have been placed in safety and will pass the rest of their lives free from dread? Consider their compeers . . .The sense is supplied by Kenyon as follows: To them it has been given, because these died in battle, to enjoy their lives in honor and safety.
