I will speak first of our ancestors, for it is right and seemly that now, when we are lamenting the dead, a tribute should be paid to their memory. There has never been a time when they did not inhabit this land, which by their valor they will have handed down from generation to generation, and we have received from them a free state
paying tribute and honoring the dead was held in importance. probably from traditions starting hundreds of years ago
The abuse of this authority is injurious to both; for the interests of part and whole, of body and soul, are the same, and the slave is a part of the master, a living but separated part of his bodily frame.
If you are going to be a master you must do it the right way. Not only is it damaging to your "property" but your own mind and soul
Nature, as we often say, makes nothing in vain, and man is the only animal whom she has endowed with the gift of speech
since we are the only animals that have the power of speech, maybe we are supposed to used for important matters
and that they differ, not in kind, but only in the number of their subjects
suggests that titles don't really matter, but the power is in how many people you have under you.
lovely maiden-shape, like to the immortal goddesses in face; and Athene to teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied web; and golden Aphrodite to shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs. And he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argus, to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature.
trying to building her with good qualities, maybe to be liked and loved