History of the Peloponnesian War, written by Thucydides, is a work that concerns many aspects of this long combat.

History of the Peloponnesian War, written by Thucydides, is a work that concerns many aspects of this long combat. One of its sections includes the speech made by Pericles in honor of the soldiers fallen in the battlefield. Greeks took the process of the burial very seriously - there were rigid rules as to how to conduct a proper funeral. The eulogy given by a figure of some prominence and authority was an essential part …

…the rest of their lives. Widows will need not to do anything else besides that - everything else was provided by their husband's noble death. However, as any literary creation, the History of the Peloponnesian War, particularly the Funeral Oration, can be interpreted differently by different individuals, and while I find that to be the meaning of the Pericles' advice to the widows, most surely some one will present an opinion very different from mine.