Homer ("Smyrns of Chios")

O friends, be men, and let your hearts be strong,
And let no warrior in the heat of fight
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O friends, be men, and let your hearts be strong,
And let no warrior in the heat of fight
Do what may bring him shame in others' eyes;
For more of those who shrink from shame are safe
Than fall in battle, while with those who flee
Is neither glory nor reprieve from death.

Without a sign his sword the brave man draws,
And asks no omen but his country's cause.

Without a sign his sword the brave man draws,
And asks no omen but his country's cause.

'Tis fortune gives us birth,
But Jove alone endues the soul with worth.

'Tis fortune gives us birth,
But Jove alone endues the soul with worth.

Whatever day
Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away.

Whatever day
Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away.

O friends, be men; so act that none may feel
Ashamed to meet the eyes of other men.
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O friends, be men; so act that none may feel
Ashamed to meet the eyes of other men.
Think each one of this children and his wife,
His home, his parents, living yet and dead.
For them, the absent ones, I supplicate,
And bid you rally here, and scorn to fly.