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The barbarian chieftain, who defended his country against the Roman…

Quote byJohn Quincy Adams · 1767–1848

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Oration at Plymouth (1802), He here is translating a phrase of Calgacus in Vita Agricolae by Tacitus : Et majores et posteros cogitate..

English (original)

The barbarian chieftain, who defended his country against the Roman invasion, driven to the remotest extremity of Britain, and stimulating his followers to battle, by all that has power of persuasion upon the human heart, concludes his exhortation by an appeal to these irresistible feelings — "Think of your forefathers and of your posterity."

— John Quincy Adams

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