ll be cheered by the
fame of the departed. For it is only the love of honour that never grows
old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices
the heart of age and helplessness.

"Turning to the sons or brothers of the dead, I see an arduous struggle
before you. When a man is gone, all are wont to praise him, and should
your merit be ever so transcendent, you will still find it difficult not
merely to overtake, but even to approach their renown. The living have
envy to contend with, while those who are no longer in our path are
honoured with a goodwill into which rivalry does not enter. On the other
hand, if I must say anything on the subject of female excellence to
those of you who will now be in widowhood, it will be all comprised in
this brief exhortation. Great will be your glory in not falling short of
your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least talked of
among the men, whether for good or for bad.

"My task is now finished. I have performed it to the best of my ability,
and in word, at least, the requirements of the law are now satisfied. If
deeds be in question, those who are here interred have received part of
their honours already, and for the rest, their children will be brought
up till manhood at the public expense: the state thus offers a valuable
prize, as the garland of victory in this race of valour, for the reward
both of those who have fallen and their survivors. And where the rewards
for merit are greatest, there are found the best citizens.

"And now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your
relatives, you may depart."

CHAPTER VII

_Second Year of the War--The Plague of Athens--Position and Policy of
Pericles--Fall of Potidaea_

Such was the funeral that took place during this winter, with which the
first year of the war came to an end. In the first days of summer the
Lacedaemonians and their allies, with two-thirds of their forces
as before, invaded Attica, under the command of Archidamus, son of
Zeuxidamus, King of Lacedaemon, and sat down and laid waste the country.
Not many days after their arrival in Attica the plague first began to
show itself among the Athenians. It was said that it had broken out in
many places previously in the neighbourhood of Lemnos and elsewhere;
but a pestilence of such extent and mortality was nowhere remembered.
Neither were the physicians at first of any service, ignorant as they
were of the proper