Marathon

I began each of my classes today with this picture.  It is of a statue near Marathon, Greece, commemorating the famous run by Phidippides, who in 490 B.C. ran the 26 miles from Marathon back to Athens to announce the Athenian victory over the Persians.  After fighting in the battle and then running full out the entire distance, he exclaimed, νικωμεν, or "We have won," and collapsed to his death.

The vastly outnumbered Athenian forces prevailed in that battle in part thanks to the cause for which they were fighting.  They fought for democracy and to prevent a tyrannical take over.  It is no surprise, then, that the generals could not wait for the entire army to march back to Athens, but sent a runner to share the news.

I shared this story with my classes today, along with the picture, which I captioned to say, "Boston, we shall win," in a nod to the Classical quotation of Phidippides. We talked about how free people then and now do not bow to tyranny of any kind, including that which uses the cowardly tactics of terrorism.  We talked of how the Race for the Cure, the Indianapolis 500, and the London Marathon will still go on as planned.  We talked of how, as the President said in his press conference, justice will prevail.

It would have been a dereliction of duty had Latin classes not spent a few minutes discussing our national tragedy and commitment to triumph, given the ancient connection to it all.  None of this will appear on any test, but then again, this was of genuine importance.