A Spartan 'scaping from the fight, <br />His mother met him in his flight, <br />Upheld a falchion to his breast, <br />And thus the fugitive address'd: <br />'Thou canst but live to blot with shame <br />Indelible thy mother's name, <br />While every breath that thou shalt draw <br />Offends against thy country's law; <br />But if thou perish by this hand, <br />Myself indeed, throughout the land, <br />To my dishonor, shall be known <br />The mother still of such a son; <br />But Sparta will be safe and free <br />And that shall serve to comfort me.'<br /><br />William Cowper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-the-same-by-palladas/
