Among several attractive reprints just published. by Mr. Black- well,
of Oxford, the most timely is Thomas Hobbes's version of
The Funeral. Oration Spoken by Pericles, from the Second Hook of Thucydides (2s. 6d. net). The Athenian statesman's praises of the
valiant men who died for their country, and his words of consola- tion to the stricken parents, sound as fresh as if they had just been uttered :-
" For having every one given his body to the commonwealth, they receive in plaee thereof an undecaying commendation, and a most conspicuous sepulchre, not wherein they are buried so much, as wherein their glory is laid up on all occasions, both of speech and action, to be remembered for ever. For- to men of renown all the earth is a sepulchre, and not only does the inscription on their monuments in their own- country testify-their-virtues but even in a foreign land an unwritten record of the mind rather than of any monument, remains with every one for ever. In imitation therefore of these men, and placing happiness in liberty, and liberty in valour, be not sluggish to encounter the dangers of war:"
"After two. thousand years the words attributed to Pericles still ring true.
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