The Greek Revolution, 1821

‘Each person must imagine that they have to save their nation. Each person is born a potential saviour of their nation; even though few know they have been born as such, that they can be saviours, if they want. We must imagine that I alone am responsible for saving the nation, and that if I do not save it, no one else will. Nor must I look at what others do; instead I must imagine that only I have the great obligation to save the nation.’

(Ion Dragoumis, My Hellenism and the Hellenes, [1903])

 The Sun had set (ah, men of Greece, a Sunset for you!)
And the Moon was no more to be seen,
No more to be seen the clear Morning Star,
Nor the Star of Eve that shines in its place,
For these four held council, and spoke in secret,
The Sun spins round and tells them, spins round and says
‘Last night when I set I hid myself behind a little rock,
And I heard the weeping of women, and the mourning of men
For those slain heroes lying in the field,
And all the earth soaked in their blood –
Poor souls all gone below in their country’s cause.’
(Composed by General Makriyiannis at the Siege of Athens, 1826)