[19]
Of necessity it happens, when a battle takes place,1 that the one side is beaten and the
other victorious; but I should not hesitate to assert that in my judgement the
men who die at the post of duty on either side do not share the defeat but are
both alike victors. For the mastery among the survivors is decided as the deity
disposes, but that which each was in duty bound to contribute to this end, every
man who has kept his post in battle has done. But if, as a mortal being, he
meets his doom, what he has suffered is an incident caused by chance, but in
spirit he remains unconquered by his opponents.2
1 The particular reference is to the battle of Chaeronea, 338 B.C., where the Greeks were defeated by Philip of Macedon.
2 Blass notes this sentiment in Dem. 18.208, and in Isoc. 4.92. It is subsidiary to the recognition of the supremacy of the deity, fate or fortune, Dem. 18.192, Dem. 18.207, Dem. 18.208. To commemorate the valor of the fallen Thebans a monumental seated lion was erected facing in the direction of the enemy. It is still extant.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by Norman W. DeWitt, Ph.D., and Norman J. DeWitt, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1949.
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