And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. Be not ye afraid of them - Are they more terrible or stronger than God?
Fight for your brethren - Your own countrymen, who worship the same God, and are come from the same stock; your sons, whom they wish to slay or lead into captivity; your daughters and wives, whom they wish to deflower and defile; and your houses, which they wish to seize and occupy as their own. They had every thing at stake; and therefore they must fight pro aris et focis, for their religion, their lives, and their property. A people thus interested, who once take up the sword, can never be conquered.
There is an address made to the Greeks by their leader in Aeschylus, Pers. ver. 402, similar to this, to excite them against the Persians: -
- Ω Παιδες Ἑλληνων, ιτε,
Ελευθερουτε πατριδ,ελευθερουτε δε
Παιδας, γυνιακας, θεων ρε πατρῳων ἑδη,
Θηκας τε προγονων· νυν ὑπερ παντων αγων.
" - Sons of the Greeks, go on!
Free now your country, and your children free;
Your wives, the temples of your fathers' gods,
And dear abodes of farthest ancestors: -
Now strike the blow for all!"
J. B. B. C.