REALLY EASY 10 POINTS! please, pleeeeeeeeeeeease, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE HELP!?

鈥淎 Call to Arms鈥?br> By: Callinus
translated by Richmond Lattimore

How long will you lie idle, and when will you find some courage,
you young men? Have you no shame of what other cities will say,
you who hang back? You think you can sit quiet in peacetime.
This is not peace, it is war which has engulfed our land.

A man, as he dies, should make one last throw with his spear.
It is a high thing, a bright honor, for a man to do battle
with the enemy for the sake of his children, and for his land
and his true wife; and death is a thing that will come when the spinning
Destinies make it come. So a man should go straight on
forward, spear held high, and under his shield the fighting
strength coiled ready to strike in the first shock of the charge.
When it is ordained that a man shall die, there is no escaping
death, not even for one descended from deathless gods.
Often a man who has fled from the fight and the clash of the thrown
spears
goes his way, and death befalls him in his own house,
and such a man is not loved nor missed for long by his people;
the great and the small alike mourn when a hero dies.
For all the populace is grieved for the high-hearted warrior
after his death; while he lives, he is treated as almost divine.
Their eyes gaze on him as if he stood like a bastion before them.
His actions are like an army鈥檚, though he is only one man.

can you please help me..i鈥檝e been struggling on this question for a while.

What unified impression does 鈥淎 Call to Arms鈥?create?

This poem is designed to persuade young men to go to war; today it would be called a recruitment message. Notice that it is mostly about the individual glory and honor the man will get for himself if he joins up. The recurring theme (unified impression?) is that there is no greater glory than being a warrior (soldier): . . . "while he lives, he is treated as almost divine.
Their eyes gaze on him as if he stood like a bastion before them.
His actions are like an army鈥檚, though he is only ONE man."

The poet (recruiter?) addresses death by saying since death is inevitable, it is better to die in battle than in shame at home: . . . such a man is not loved nor missed for long by his people;"
but, in comparison if he fights:
. . . "the great and the small alike mourn when a hero dies.
For all the populace is grieved for the high-hearted warrior
after his death;"

So, I'd guess that the unified theme is that the honor that a man gets on the battlefield is beyond any other honor. (At least to the Spartans.)

This attitude is in stark contrast to Falstaff's in one of Shakespeare's "King "plays (I forget exactly which one). Falstaff says that he has no desire to " . . . in grinning honor lie," ( in death the face muscles contort in a horrible "grin"), and so he lies down and fakes being dead. I think Falstaff has a point!

The US military is currently having a hard time recruiting soldiers. Do you think that Callinius' recuitment poem would persuade today's young men to join up? I doubt it; the military today offers very different incentives.

Good luck with this assignment. It's a tough one. Hope this helps.

I think it creates the impression that cowards (or people who retreat from a battle and give up out of fear) are not remembered/loved/missed. If a man lives after surrendering in a fight, no one thinks good of him. They just think he is a coward.
However, if a man dies trying to fight for his country in battle, he will be remembered for his courage and determination.
Even though he is just one man, people will recall him as one man with enough courage for one army.

to go to war????