:05:00
I know that
in one of the schools,
:05:03
the boys have risen up
in the classroom...
:05:05
and enlisted in a mass.
:05:08
But, of course, if such a thing
should happen here,
:05:11
you would not blame me
for a feeling of pride.
:05:14
Perhaps some will say...
:05:16
that you should not
be allowed to go yet,
:05:19
that you are too young, that you
have homes, mothers, fathers,
:05:23
that you should not be
torn away.
:05:26
Are your fathers so forgetful
of their fatherland...
:05:30
that they would let it perish
rather than you?
:05:36
Are your mothers so weak
that they cannot send a son...
:05:38
to defend the land
which gave them birth?
:05:41
And after all,
is a little experience...
:05:45
such a bad thing
for a boy?
:05:49
Is the honor of wearing
a uniform...
:05:52
something from which
we should run?
:05:55
And if our young ladies
glory in those who wear it,
:05:59
is that anything
to be ashamed of?
:06:01
I know you have never desired
the adulation of heroes.
:06:06
That has not been
part of my teaching.
:06:09
We have sought
to make ourselves worthy,
:06:13
and let a claim come
when it would.
:06:16
But to be
foremost in battle...
:06:19
is a virtue
not to be despised.
:06:22
I believe it will be
a quick war,
:06:25
that there will be
few losses.
:06:27
But if losses there must be,
:06:29
then let us remember
the Latin phrase...
:06:32
which must have come
to the lips of many a Roman...
:06:35
when he stood embattled
in a foreign land:
:06:39
"Dulce et decorum est
pro patria mori."
:06:44
"Sweet and fitting it is
to die for the fatherland."
:06:51
Some of you
may have ambitions.
:06:53
I know of one young man who has
great promise as a writer,
:06:58
and he has written the first act
of a tragedy...