There as I gazed, the guests of God, An angel host before mine eyes, Silent as if on air they trod Marched straight from Paradise. And one sprang forth to join the throng From where the grass was gold and green, His body seemed more lithe and strong Than it had ever been. I cried, "But why in bright array Of crowns and palms toward the north And those white trenches far away, Doth this great host go forth?" He answered, "Forth we go to fight To help all need where need there be, Sworn in for right against brute might Till Europe shall be free." H. D. RAWNSLEY EXTRACTS FROM PLATO'S DIALOGUE "MENEXENUS" BEING PART OF A SPEECH IN HONOUR OF THOSE WHO HAD DIED IN BATTLE FOR THEIR COUNTRY And I think that I ought now to repeat the message which your fathers, when they went out to battle, urged us to deliver to you who are their survivors, in case anything happened to them. I will tell you what I heard them say, and what, if they could, they would fain be saying now, judging from what they then said; but you must imagine that you hear it all from their lips. Thus they spoke:-- "Sons, the event proves that your fathers were brave men. For we, who might have continued to live, though without glory, choose a glorious death rather than bring reproach on you and your children, and rather than disgrace our fathers and all of our race who have gone before us, believing that for the man who brings shame on his own people life is not worth living, and that such an one is loved neither by men nor gods, either on earth or in the underworld when he is dead.