Sir, I'm delighted to see a distinguished officer of the Marines respond to Peter Desmond.
My own translation, from my age 21:
Tell them in Lakedaimon, passerby,
that here obeying their commands we lie.
Yesterday I watched "The Rise and Fall of the Spartans," on the History Channel. In the long hours of that coverage, the most moving parts are the Spartans' defense of the Hot Gates, the Athenians' triumph at Salamis, and the final triumph of Thebes and her allies over imperious Sparta under the generalship of Epaminondas. It was a good refresher course on the triumph of what became our Western ideals.
I was excused service to my country on the grounds of my sexuality (how the Thebans would have laughed at that!), but I salute those who have served, and those who have fallen. Timothy
|