Farewell speech

Napoleon saying farewell to the Old Guard at the Palace of Fontainebleau, after his first abdication (1814)

A farewell speech or farewell address is a speech given by an individual leaving a position or place. They are often used by public figures such as politicians as a capstone to the preceding career, or as statements delivered by persons relating to reasons for their leaving. The term is often used as a euphemism for "retirement speech," though it is broader in that it may include geographical or even biological conclusion.

In the Classics, a term for a dignified and poetic farewell speech is apobaterion (ἀποβατήριον), standing opposed to the epibaterion, the corresponding speech made upon arrival.[1]

  1. ^ Public Domain One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Apobatedion". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al. p. 115.

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