"As you are the child of your nation, and of the human race, so has every individual been in every age; and as he has to thank that greater human fabric, of which he is a portion, for his life and nearly all its content, so is his fortune linked to the greater fortune of his nation and to the destiny of mankind. Your people and your race have given you much, and they require as much from you. They have preserved your body and formed your mind, and they demand in return your body and mind. However lightly and freely you move about as an individual, you are answerable to these creditors for the use of your freedom. Whether, as mild masters, they allow you to pass your life in peace, or at some period demand it of you, your duty is the same; whilst you think that you live and die for yourself, you live and die for them. Contemplated in this way, the individual life is immeasurably small compared with the great whole. To us, the individual man who has passed away can only be discerned in so far as he has influenced others; it is only in connection with those who preceded him, and those who come after him, that he is of importance. But in this sense great and little are both of value. For every one of us who brings up his children, or governs the State, or in any way increases the welfare, comfort, and culture of his race, performs a duty towards his people. Countless numbers do this without any personal record of them remaining; they are like drops of water, which, closely united with others, run on as one great stream, not distinguishable by later eyes. But they have not on that account lived in vain; and, as countless insignificant individuals are preservers of culture, and workers for the duration of national strength, so the highest of powers in individuals--the greatest heroes and the noblest reformers--only represent in their lives a small portion of that national strength. Whilst man struggles for himself and his own ends, he unconsciously influences his own time, and his own people for all futurity. By ennobling the ideals and duties of future generations, he pays his own debt to life. You see, my beloved, how death vanishes from history in such a conception. The result of life becomes more important than life itself; beyond the man is the nation--beyond the nation is mankind; every human being that has moved upon earth has lived, not only for himself, but for all others, and for us also; thus our life has been benefited by him. As the Greeks grew up in noble freedom and passed away, and as their thoughts and labors have benefited later generations of men, so our life, though it moves in a small circle, will not be useless to future generations."