§33ἀποβλέπειν δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς εὐγενῶς καὶ μεγαλοφρόνως τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς γενομένους θανάτους καὶ πράως ὑποστάντας, Ἀναξαγόραν τὸν Κλαζομένιον καὶ Δημοσθένη τὸν Ἀθηναῖον καὶ Δίωνα τὸν Συρακόσιον καὶ τὸν βασιλέα Ἀντίγονον, καὶ συχνοὺς ἄλλους τῶν τε παλαιῶν καὶ τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς.
And one must also look to those who bore nobly, magnanimously, and mildly the deaths that befell their sons: Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, Demosthenes of Athens, Dion of Syracuse, and King Antigonus, and many others both of the ancients and of those in our time.
τούτων γὰρ Ἀναξαγόραν παρειλήφαμεν, ὥς φασι, φυσιολογοῦντα καὶ διαλεγόμενον τοῖς γνωρίμοις, ἀκούσαντα παρά τινος τῶν ἀναγγειλάντων αὐτῷ τὴν περὶ τὸν υἱὸν τελευτήν, μικρὸν ἐπισχόντα πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας εἰπεῖν
ᾔδειν ὅτι θνητὸν ἐγέννησα τὸν υἱόν
. Περικλέα δὲ τὸν Ὀλύμπιον προσαγορευθέντα διὰ τὴν περὶ τὸν λόγον καὶ τὴν σύνεσιν ὑπερβεβλημένην δύναμιν, πυθόμενον ἀμφοτέρους αὐτοῦ τοὺς υἱοὺς μετηλλαχέναι τὸν βίον, Πάραλόν τε καὶ Ξάνθιππον, ὥς φησι Πρωταγόρας εἰπεῖν οὕτως
τῶν γὰρ υἱέων νεηνιέων ἐόντων καὶ καλῶν, ἐν ὀκτὼ δὲ τῇσι πάσῃσι ἡμέρῃσι ἀποθανόντων νηπενθέως ἀνέτλη·
For of these, we have received that Anaxagoras, as they say, while investigating nature and conversing with his acquaintances, on hearing from one of those who announced to him the death of his son, paused for a moment and said to those present: "I knew that I had begotten a mortal son." And Pericles, who was addressed as "the Olympian" on account of his surpassing power in speech and intellect, when he learned that both of his sons, Paralus and Xanthippus, had departed this life, as Protagoras says, spoke thus: "For when his sons, being young men and beautiful, died within eight days in all, he endured it without grief; for he held onto tranquillity, from which he benefited much every day toward good fortune, painlessness, and reputation among the many.
εὐδίης γὰρ εἴχετο, ἐξ ἧς πολλὸν ὤνητο κατὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέρην εἰς εὐποτμίην καὶ ἀνωδυνίην καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖσι πολλοῖσι δόξαν· πᾶς γάρ τίς μιν ὁρέων τὰ ἑωυτοῦ πένθεα ἐρρωμένως φέροντα, μεγαλόφρονά τε καὶ ἀνδρήιον ἐδόκεε εἶναι καὶ ἑωυτοῦ κρέσσω, κάρτα εἰδὼς τὴν ἑωυτοῦ ἐν τοιοῖσδε πράγμασι ἀμηχανίην
τοῦτον γὰρ εὐθὺς μετὰ τὴν προσαγγελίαν ἀμφοτέρων τῶν υἱέων οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐστεφανωμένον κατὰ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος καὶ λευχειμονοῦντα δημηγορεῖν
βουλὰς τʼ ἐξάρχοντʼ ἀγαθὰς
πρός τε τὸν πόλεμον ἐπιπαρορμῶντα τοὺς Ἀθηναίους.
For everyone seeing him bearing his own griefs strongly thought him to be magnanimous, brave, and superior to themselves, knowing full well their own helplessness in such matters." For indeed, immediately after the announcement of both of his sons, he none the less, crowned according to ancestral custom and wearing white garments, made a public speech, "leading good counsels," and urging the Athenians to the war.
Ξενοφῶντα δὲ τὸν Σωκρατικὸν θύοντά ποτε, παρὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ πολέμου πυθόμενον ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ Γρύλλος ἀγωνιζόμενος ἐτελεύτησε, περιελόμενον τὸν στέφανον ἐξετάζειν τίνα τρόπον ἐτελεύτησε.
And Xenophon the Socratic, when once sacrificing, learned from the messengers from the war that his son Gryllus had died while fighting, took off his crown and inquired in what manner he had died.
τῶν δὲ ἀπαγγειλάντων ὅτι γενναίως ἀριστεύων καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν πολεμίων κατακτείνας, μικρὸν παντελῶς διασιωπήσαντα χρόνον καὶ τῷ λογισμῷ τὸ πάθος παρακατασχόντα, ἐπιθέμενον πάλιν τὸν στέφανον ἐπιτελεῖν τὴν θυσίαν, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀγγέλους εἰπεῖν ὅτι
θεοῖς ηὐξάμην οὐκ ἀθάνατον οὐδὲ πολυχρόνιον γενέσθαι μοι τὸν υἱὸν τὸ γὰρ τοιοῦτον ἄδηλον εἰ συμφέρει, ἀγαθὸν δὲ καὶ φιλόπατριν, ὃ δὴ καὶ γέγονεν. Δίωνα δὲ τὸν Συρακόσιον συνεδρεύοντα μετὰ τῶν φίλων, κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν θορύβου γενομένου καὶ μεγάλης κραυγῆς, πυθόμενον τὴν αἰτίαν καὶ τὸ συμβεβηκὸς ἀκούσαντα ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ καταπεσὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ στέγους ἐτελεύτησεν, οὐδὲν ἐκπλαγέντα τὸ μὲν σωμάτιον κελεῦσαι τοῦ μεταλλάξαντος ταῖς γυναιξὶ παραδοῦναι πρὸς τὴν νόμιμον ταφήν, αὐτὸν δὲ περὶ ὧν διεσκέπτετο μὴ παραλιπεῖν.
And when they reported that he had died courageously performing brave deeds and killing many of the enemy, having fell silent for a very short time and restrained his passion with reason, he put the crown back on and performed the sacrifice, and said to the messengers: "I prayed to the gods that my son should become neither immortal nor long-lived—for such a thing is unclear if it is expedient—but good and a lover of his country, which indeed has come to pass." And Dion of Syracuse, while holding council with his friends, when a disturbance and a great cry arose in his house, having inquired the cause and heard the event, that his son had died falling from the roof, not being at all dismayed, ordered the body of the departed to be delivered to the women for the customary burial, while he himself did not leave off the matters about which he was deliberating.
τοῦτον ζηλῶσαι λέγεται καὶ Δημοσθένην τὸν ῥήτορα, τὴν μόνην καὶ ἀγαπητὴν ἀπολέσαντα θυγατέρα, περὶ ἧς φησιν Αἰσχίνης, κατηγορεῖν αὐτοῦ δόξας, ταυτί. ἑβδόμην δʼ ἡμέραν τῆς θυγατρὸς αὐτῷ τετελευτηκυίας, πρὶν πενθῆσαι καὶ τὰ νομιζόμενα ποιῆσαι, στεφανωσάμενος καὶ λευκὴν ἐσθῆτα ἀναλαβὼν ἐβουθύτει καὶ παρενόμει, τὴν μόνην ὁ δείλαιος καὶ πρώτην αὐτὸν πατέρα προσειποῦσαν ἀπολέσας. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ῥητορικῶς προθέμενος αὐτοῦ κατηγορῆσαι ταῦτα διεξῆλθεν, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι διὰ τούτων αὐτὸν ἐπαινεῖ τὸ πενθεῖν παρωσάμενον καὶ τὸ φιλόπατρι πρὸ τῆς τῶν ἀναγκαίων συμπαθείας ἐπιδειξάμενον.
And the orator Demosthenes is said to have emulated him, who lost his only and beloved daughter, concerning whom Aeschines, thinking to accuse him, says these things: "And on the seventh day after his daughter had died, before he had mourned and performed the customary rites, having put on a crown and assumed white raiment, he sacrificed a bull and transgressed the laws, though having lost his only and first daughter who called him father, wretched as he was." This man, therefore, having set out rhetorically to accuse him, went through these things, not knowing that through these he praised him for having pushed aside mourning and having displayed patriotism before sympathy for his relatives.
Ἀντίγονον δὲ τὸν βασιλέα πυθόμενον τὴν Ἀλκυονέως τοῦ υἱοῦ τελευτὴν ἐν παρατάξει γενομένην μεγαλοφρόνως τε πρὸς τοὺς ἀπαγγείλαντας αὐτῷ τὴν συμφορὰν ἀπιδεῖν καὶ μικρὸν ἐπισχόντα καὶ κατηφιάσαντα προσειπεῖν
ὦ Ἀλκυονεῦ, ὀψίτερον μετήλλαξας τὸν βίον, οὕτως ἀφειδῶς ἐξορμῶν πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ οὔτε τῆς ἑαυτοῦ σωτηρίας οὔτε τῶν ἐμῶν παραινέσεων φροντίζων
Τούτους δὴ τοὺς ἄνδρας θαυμάζουσι μὲν τῆς μεγαλοφροσύνης πάντες καὶ ἄγανται, μιμεῖσθαι δʼ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων οὐ δύνανται διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀπαιδευσίας ἀσθένειαν τῆς ψυχῆς.
And King Antigonus, having learned of the death of his son Alcyoneus occurring in battle, looked magnanimously upon those who reported the misfortune to him, and having paused for a short time and cast down his eyes, spoke: "O Alcyoneus, you have departed this life too late, since you rushed so unsparingly against the enemy, caring neither for your own safety nor for my exhortations." These men, indeed, everyone admires for their magnanimity and wonders at, but they are unable to imitate them in deeds because of the weakness of the soul arising from lack of education.
πλὴν πολλῶν ὄντων παραδειγμάτων τῶν διὰ τῆς ἱστορίας ἡμῖν παραδιδομένων τῆς τε Ἑλληνικῆς καὶ τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς τῶν γενναίως καὶ καλῶς ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀναγκαίων τελευταῖς διαγενομένων ἀποχρήσει τὰ εἰρημένα πρὸς τὴν ἀπόθεσιν τοῦ πάντων ἀνιαροτάτου πένθους καὶ τῆς ἐν τούτῳ πρὸς οὐδὲν χρήσιμον ματαιοπονίας.
Except that, although there are many examples handed down to us through history, both Greek and Roman, of those who have behaved nobly and well in the deaths of their relatives, what has been said is sufficient for the putting away of the most painful of all mourning and of the vain labor in this toward nothing useful.