For country ’tis a sweet and seemly thing
To die.[Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.]
Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Odes, Book 3, Ode 2, l. 13
Alt trans:
- "Sweet and glorious it is to die for our country." [J. C. Elgood, The Works of Horace]
We cannot evade life’s course, but we can school ourselves to be superior to fortune and also to look unflinchingly upon the most painful things.
Herman Hesse (1877-1962)
Gertrude (1910) [tr. H. Rosner]
To persevere, trusting in what hopes he has,
Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Is courage in a man. The coward despairs.
Heracles, l. 100 [tr. W. Arrowsmith (1956)]
Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, does not value gifts and honors as much as he values this — that there should be growth in the essentials of all religions. Growth in essentials can be done in different ways, but all of them have as their root restraint in speech, that is, not praising one’s own religion, or condemning the religion of others without good cause. And if there is cause for criticism, it should be done in a mild way. But it is better to honor other religions for this reason. By so doing, one’s own religion benefits, and so do other religions, while doing otherwise harms one’s own religion and the religions of others. Whoever praises his own religion, due to excessive devotion, and condemns others with the thought “Let me glorify my own religion,” only harms his own religion. Therefore contact (between religions) is good. One should listen to and respect the doctrines professed by others.
Asoka (c. 269-232 BC) Indian Buddhist emperor [Ashoka, Piyadasi]
Edicts, Girnar version (256 BC)
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