pericles speech on democracy
Cleon's rhetoric resembles that of Herodotus' Sosicles, the Corinthian delegate to the Peloponnesian assembly after the Peisistratids' fall, who uses images of Now it is for you to emulate them; knowing that happiness requires freedom and freedom requires courage, do not shrink from the dangers of war (2.43.2-4). We say he has no business being here at all. A woman's greatest glory is to be little talked about by men, whether for good or ill. The Athenian statesman Pericles defined democracy as a system which protects the interests of all the people, not just a minority. The liberality of which Pericles spoke also extended to Athens' foreign policy: "We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality"[16] Yet Athens' values of equality and openness do not, according to Pericles, hinder Athens' greatness, indeed, they enhance it, "advancement in public life falls to reputations for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with meritour ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public mattersat Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger."[17]. He advanced the foundations. Politically he is credited with some kind of rapprochement with Cimon, who is said to have been recalled and allowed to resume the war with Persia, much preferred to fighting other Greeks, but the date of Cimons recall is uncertain, and the rumours are hard to disentangle. "Pericles' Funeral Oration from the Peloponnesian War (Book 2.34-46)." Internet He gave a speech in Athens, a public speech, honoring the many warriors who were killed in battle after the first year of the Peloponnesian War. In Athenians society, one of the important custom is their funeral. Unlike some Athenian dramatists, he saw neither metaphorical significance nor divine retribution in the epidemic. Here, front-line workers grapple with their anxieties about how the coronavirus has affected their city. How to see the Lyrid meteor shower at its peak, 6 unforgettable Italy hotels, from Lake Como to Rome, A taste of Rioja, from crispy croquettas to piquillo peppers, Trek through this stunning European wilderness, Land of the lemurs: the race to save Madagascar's sacred forests, See how life evolved at Australias new national park. For Pericles, Athens itself was a competitor for these prizes in the agon among poleis, past and present. Its chief purpose, even more important than praising the dead, was to explain why they had been right to risk their lives and why the living should be willing to do likewise. If, therefore, we are prepared to meet danger after leading a relaxed life instead of one filled with burdensome training, with our courage emerging naturally from our way of life instead of imposed by law, the advantage is ours. The answer was to be found in the power of Athens, although less in its extent than its character. In 430429 B.C.E., a mysterious epidemic ravaged Athens, plunging the city into chaos. Under the hands of Pericles, Thucydides thought democracy could be controlled, but without him, it could be dangerous. . With brilliant brevity Lincoln answered some questions by pointing to the greatness of the cause at issue. Instead, we put our trust not in secret weapons, but in our own courage when we are called upon to act. A dynasty or tyranny or clique may be deposed, but it is invariably replaced by another or by a chaotic anarchy that ends in the establishment of some kind of command society. This newfound behavior may offer a clue to how these reptiles will respond to a warming planet. Omissions? Pericles' Funeral Oration can be compared to several more modern speeches, most notably Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. That is why Pericles could make this extraordinary demand on them when the great war came: You must every day look upon the power of your city and become her lovers [erastai] and when you have understood her greatness consider that the men who achieved it were brave and honorable and knew what was necessary when the time came for action. These were evidence of his freedom and importance, and so a source of pride. [21], Pericles then turns to the audience and exhorts them to live up to the standards set by the deceased, "So died these men as becomes Athenians. Athens was one of the most important and powerful cities in the ancient world. If they ever failed in some attempt, they were determined that, at least, their city should not be deprived of their courage [arete] and gave her the most beautiful of all offerings. left his mark on the world in far more ways than the iconic Acropolis that still defines the skyline of Athens. According to Lincoln, democracy means " Government of the people, by the people and for the people," (Nicolay, 209). Here is that speech: Axolotls and capybaras are TikTok famousis that a problem? Why Was Athens Defeated? Book 2, chapter 63: Pericles' third speech. [6] He enabled civic participation by subsidizing service on juries and also for other civil roles. The new and emerging democracies of our time are very fragile, and they all face serious challenges. No one, moreover, if he has it in him to do some good for the city, is barred because of poverty or humble origins (Thucydides 2.37.1). The new democracies will, therefore, need leaders in the Periclean mold, leaders who know that the aim and character of true democracy should be to elevate their citizens to the highest attainable level, and that cutting down the greatest to assuage the envy of the least is the way of tyranny. Spartas great reputation depended on its extraordinary military achievements, and these were attributed in turn to its religious piety, single-minded severe system of training, the tight discipline imposed on all aspects of life, and the ascetic Spartan mores. Pericles therefore asserts that we conduct our public life as free men [eleuthero.i] (2.37.2). Xenophon gives a good example of the absence of any privacy in Sparta: In other cities whenever a man shows himself to be a coward his only punishment is that he is called a coward. The Spartan way of life inspired admiration in many other Greeks, though none went so far as to adopt the Spartan system. Approaching 50, he began a relationship withAspasiaofMiletus. The history of book bansand their changing targetsin the U.S. The Athenians, on the other hand, respected a broader and fairer concept of the law, with no less reverence: While we are tolerant in our private lives, in public affairs we do not break the law chiefly because of our respect for it. Cimon died after 451, during his last campaign against Persia. N.S. Heres how paradise fought back. But we have these speeches because Thucydides reported them, and his subject was war. Many historians consider that event to have marked the birth of Athenian democracy. In a democracy . ", "Louis Warren, "Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: An Evaluation" (Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co. 1946), p. 18", "The New York Review of Books: The Art of Abraham Lincoln", An English translation of Pericles's Funeral Oration, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pericles%27_Funeral_Oration&oldid=1145831230, Begins with an acknowledgement of revered predecessors: "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent", Praises the uniqueness of the State's commitment to, Addresses the difficulties faced by a speaker on such an occasion, "we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground", Exhorts the survivors to emulate the deeds of the dead, "It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the great task remaining before us", Contrasts the efficacy of words and deeds, "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detractThe world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. In early Athens, as in most of the Greek cities, political participation came to represent a crucial distinction between a free man and gentleman on the one hand, and a slave or churl on the other. It was a vision that exalted the individual within the political community not by what it gave him but by what it expected of him. Because as they are described by Pericles, Athenian citizens were distinct from the citizens of other nations they were open minded, tolerant, and ready to understand and follow orders. To succeed, they need a vision of the future that is powerful enough to sustain them through bad times as well as good and to inspire the many difficult sacrifices that will be required of them. Pericles long tenure as a political leader, more than thirty years, permitted him to aim at goals that went far beyond the immediate concerns that fully occupy most politicians and statesmen. to turn the rocky hill known as the Acropolis into a breathtaking temple complex. Here Pericles has identified a critical element of his vision for Athens: its commitment to reason and intelligence. Pericles attitude towards life and death as an Athenian citizen was to preserve the freedoms that they have developed through the formation of a democracy. "Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now." - Pericles. No fear of god or law of man had a restraining influence.. The Athenian historian Thucydides included the speech in his book the History of the Peloponnesian War. It contained a clear, if often implicit, contrast with the Spartan way of life, which so many Greeks admired but which Pericles regarded as inferior to the Athens he portrayed. . But modern democracies are also more remote and indirect, less political in the ancient understanding of the term. For the whole world is the burial place for famous men; not only does the epitaph inscribed on monuments in their native country commemorate them, but in lands not their own the unwritten memory, more of their spirit even than of what they have done, lives on within each person. Pericles was a famous Greek general. The newer image, provided by Sparta, took shape no earlier than the seventh century but immediately captured the imagination of many and continued to fascinate Greek thinkers for centuries. The citizen of a free society has the right to ask, Why should I risk my life for my city? It was still open to each man to seek satisfaction in the pursuit of his own interests and those of his family, if necessary at the expense of the polis. Read the following excerpt from Pericles's speech: Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Pericles also elevated Athenss role within the Delian League, a naval alliance of Greek city-states unified to fight the Persians. Welcome as this prospect was, it nonetheless presented a problem. Thucydides, Pericles' Funeral Oration. It might have been smallpox, a fungal poisoning called ergotism, or something worse. But the peace of Athens was not to last. And with the spectre of mortality looming at all times, they lived only for the pleasure of the moment and everything that might conceivably contribute to that pleasure. Pericles' funeral oration was a speech written by Thucydides and delivered by Pericles for his history of the Peloponnesian War. In the realm of private disputes everyone is equal before the law, but when it is a matter of public honors each man is preferred not on the basis of his class but of his good reputation and his merit [arete]. These solemn commemorations, apparently unique to the Athenian democracy, had a political dimension, for the speaker was someone chosen by the polis as the man who seemed wisest in judgment and foremost in reputation (Thucydides 2.34.6). Gill, N.S. "[14] Instead, Pericles proposes to focus on "the road by which we reached our position, the form of government under which our greatness grew, and the national habits out of which it sprang". It was written by the Greek philosopher Thucydides (460-395 B.C.E. "Pericles' Funeral Oration - Thucydides' Version." In moderate material comfort, good health, long life, virtuous offspring, and an opportunity for kleosthe last two representing mans hopes for immortality preserved in the memory of his family and his polis. Tens of thousands of people died, perhaps as many as one-third of Athenians. Therefore, he proceeds to point out that the greatest honour and act of valour in Athens is to live and die for freedom of the state Pericles believed was different and more special than any other neighbouring city. In 1985, a New England Journal of Medicine article argued that it was a combination of influenza and staphylococcus, dubbed the Thucydides syndrome. A 1994 article in the American Journal of Epidemiology rejected that diagnosis, proposing, instead, typhus, anthrax, or perhaps a potentially explosive respiratory agent.. Leading up to this oration, the people of Athens, including those from the countryside whose land was being pillaged by their enemies, were kept in crowded conditions within the walls of Athens. Democracy of today can be traced back to the Funeral Oration speech of Pericles'. To speak of this legislation as a move toward creating a master race is thus partly misleading, but the demagogic nature of the law seems clear. Pericles gave the speech at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian war (431 B.C.E.). In a democracy, citizens behave lawfully while doing what they like without fear of prying eyes. And after a life spent in what among our people passes for comfort, he died most gloriously. Through such a display he hoped to win the kind of fame that would gain him immortality as the memory of his great deeds passed on through the generations, sung and embellished by bards like Homer. That if anyone should ask, they should look at their final moments when they gave their lives to their country and that should leave no doubt in the mind of the doubtful. In the few of his speeches we have, Pericles spoke chiefly of the empire and military glory, and these were certainly important values to him and the Athenians. Pericles took a different view: We believe, he said,that words are no barrier to deeds, but rather that harm comes from not taking instruction from discussion before the time has come for action. "[22], Pericles addresses the widows of the dead only here, telling them that "the greatest glory for a woman is not to be spoken of at all, either for good or ill."[23] This passage is often cited as characteristic of Athenian attitudes to women's role in public life,[24] but is also connected to the standard behaviour of women as mourners at private funerals.[25]. Many are now confronting long-suppressed ethnic divisions that threaten to destroy the needed unity and harmony. . Democracy allows men to advance because of merit rather than wealth or inherited class. He met both challenges by adapting the first to his own purposes and by rejecting the latter as inferior to the new society he had introduced in Athens. The arrival of the Sophist philosophers in Athens occurred during his middle life, and he seems to have taken full advantage of the society of Zeno and particularly Anaxagoras, from whom he is said to have learned impassivity in the face of trouble and insult and skepticism about alleged divine phenomena. 399 BCE): Pericles's Funeral Oration from the Peloponnesian War (Book 2.3446)", "What new music are you singing these days? Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility. In a democracy, there is equal justice for all in private disputes. They followed a written code that was exclusively in the interest of the ruling class. To me, at least, they still seem to indicate some of the important ways in which democracy is likely to go astray. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Far from eulogizing Pericles in the Funeral Oration, Pericles is subtly depicted as a tyrant, a demagogue, a despot who became a despot by his exploitation of the erotic character of humansan erotic character which the Athenians unleashed in the Persian Wars and then unleashed over the Mediterranean in a vain and tyrannical bid for an empire. What we can learn from Chernobyl's strays. Pericles. The Athenians depicted in his Funeral Oration are idealized images, and events would soon show the darker, less admirable side of Athenian society. The poorest Athenian serving on a jury, voting in the assembly, or allotted to an office was thereby called upon to use his intelligence and experience on behalf of his polis. Pericles ends with a short epilogue, reminding the audience of the difficulty of the task of speaking over the dead. The play lacks moral ambiguity within many of the central characters. The Athenian democracy would encourage merit in its traditional form and reward it with victory, glory, and immortality. The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide. He believed that mans capacities and desires could be fulfilled at the highest level only through participation in the life of a community governed by reasoned discussion and guided by intelligence. By rewarding merit, it avoided the unnatural leveling that is the hallmark of tyranny and encouraged the individual achievement and excellence that makes life sweet and raises the quality of life for everyone. In the following speech, Pericles made these points about democracy: Baird, Forrest E., editor. ", This page was last edited on 21 March 2023, at 06:49. left his mark on the world in far more ways than the iconic Acropolis that still defines the skyline of Athens. By recognizing only individuals, not separate groups, its laws preserved the unity needed by all healthy societies and avoided the shattering rivalries that destroy them. They need leaders who understand that individual freedom, self-government, and equality before the law are of the highest value in themselves. [20] He praised Athens for its attributes that stood out amongst their neighbours such as its democracy when he elaborates that trust is justly placed on the citizens rather than relying only on the system and the policy of the city.
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