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To: Robert DeLong; Reily

I’ll give it a shot, From Wiki:

“The speech begins by praising the custom of the public funeral for the dead, but criticizes the inclusion of the speech, arguing that the “reputations of many brave men” should “not be imperiled in the mouth of a single individual”. Pericles argues that the speaker of the oration has the impossible task of satisfying the associates of the dead, who would wish that their deeds be magnified, while everyone else might feel jealous and suspect exaggeration.”

From Lincoln’s address:

“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.”

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The takeaway is that both speechwriters acknowledge that no speech can capture or describe the depth of what happened.

There may be more similarities but we can definitely see Lincoln pulling a Greek classic off the shelf and reading while pondering what could be said about such an event.


15 posted on 09/08/2019 5:36:37 PM PDT by Hostage (Article V)
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To: Hostage
I must confess I thought you were referring to the commencement speech. 8>)

I should see who you are responding to rather than what your response is before responding back, LOL. That's why I didn't see the connection or similarities. My very bad. Now I fully understand that you were comparing the Pericles Funeral Oration to the Gettysburg address. Thus I can see the similarities, finally. 8>)

24 posted on 09/08/2019 6:41:23 PM PDT by Robert DeLong
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