Laudator Temporis Acti

Thucydides 7.69.2 (tr. Jeremy Mynott):

Nicias for his part was badly shaken by the situation that confronted them, seeing just what danger they were in and how close it now was, since they were on the point of putting to sea. And supposing, as men do on the eve of great battles, that all too little had been done on their side and not enough had been said, he once again called on each one of the trierarchs, addressing them by their father’s name, their personal names and the names of their tribes. He urged them to be true to whatever claims for distinction they made for themselves, and appealed to those of them with distinguished ancestors not to tarnish their family honour; he reminded them of their country — the freest in the world, and one in which they all had the opportunity of living unregimented lives. He went on to say all those things men come out with in such moments of crisis, when they cease to be embarrassed about using the traditional language of references to ‘wives, children and the ancestral gods’, which occur in much the same form on all these occasions, but instead loudly invoke them, regarding them as helpful sentiments at a time of distress.

ὁ δὲ Νικίας ὑπὸ τῶν παρόντων ἐκπεπληγμένος καὶ ὁρῶν οἷος ὁ κίνδυνος καὶ ὡς ἐγγὺς ἤδη [ἦν], ἐπειδὴ καὶ ὅσον οὐκ ἔμελλον ἀνάγεσθαι, καὶ νομίσας, ὅπερ πάσχουσιν ἐν τοῖς μεγάλοις ἀγῶσι, πάντα τε ἔργῳ ἔτι σφίσιν ἐνδεᾶ εἶναι καὶ λόγῳ αὐτοῖς οὔπω ἱκανὰ εἰρῆσθαι, αὖθις τῶν τριηράρχων ἕνα ἕκαστον ἀνεκάλει, πατρόθεν τε ἐπονομάζων καὶ αὐτοὺς ὀνομαστὶ καὶ φυλήν, ἀξιῶν τό τε καθ᾽ ἑαυτόν, ᾧ ὑπῆρχε λαμπρότητός τι, μὴ προδιδόναι τινὰ καὶ τὰς πατρικὰς ἀρετάς, ὧν ἐπιφανεῖς ἦσαν οἱ πρόγονοι, μὴ ἀφανίζειν, πατρίδος τε τῆς ἐλευθερωτάτης ὑπομιμνῄσκων καὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ ἀνεπιτάκτου πᾶσιν ἐς τὴν δίαιταν ἐξουσίας, ἄλλα τε λέγων ὅσα ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ ἤδη τοῦ καιροῦ ὄντες ἄνθρωποι οὐ πρὸς τὸ δοκεῖν τινὶ ἀρχαιολογεῖν φυλαξάμενοι εἴποιεν ἄν, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων παραπλήσια ἔς τε γυναῖκας καὶ παῖδας καὶ θεοὺς πατρῴους προφερόμενα, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τῇ παρούσῃ ἐκπλήξει ὠφέλιμα νομίζοντες ἐπιβοῶνται.

A.W. Gomme et al. ad loc.: See Karl Maurer, Interpolation in Thucydides (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995 = Mnemosyne, Suppl., 150), pp. 120-121, who called (p. 121, n. 32) ἄλλα τε λέγων ... ἐπιβοῶνται "one of the greatest, most truly beautiful periods in Thuc."