Martyrdom in Linguistics

Lately  it has been my lot, to sit among scribes and dragomans, who strain and groan to set in print, and then to clothe in English,  thoughts (and threats) originally expressed in an alien tongue.  Often we are ignored by our masters, occasionally admonished, but never exposed to opprobrium or bodily outrage -- unlike our predecessors in Classical times.  Let Plutarch tell it (as transmitted by Dryden):

When the king of Persia 

sent messengers into Greece,  with an interpreter, 

to demand earth and water, 

as an acknowledgement of subjection,

Themistocles, by the consent of the people,

seized upon the interpreter,

and put him to death,

for presuming to publish

the barbarian orders and decrees

in the Greek language.

-- Plutarch’s Lives, s.v. Themistocles

For further notes on the pain and prowess  of philologers, try this:

https://worldofdrjustice.blogspot.com/2015/03/forensic-linguists-save-day.html