pericles speech on democracy

Society was ravaged, and the military, which was in the early stages of a brutal twenty-seven-year war against Sparta, was debilitated for many years. Donald Kagan is Bass Professor of History and Classics and Western Civilization at Yale University. 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. Beyond those advantages, its early champions tried to show that the polis was necessary for civilized life, and therefore deserved the highest sacrifice. 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. His life has neither law nor order; and this distracted existence he terms joy and bliss and freedom; and so he goes on (Republic 56lC). Please select which sections you would like to print: Professor of Ancient History, University of Oxford, 198594. But Thucydides chronicle of what happened just after Pericles funeral oration is unsparingand should be as enduring as the speech itself. Ad Choices. For their food, the Spartans relied on the helots slaves of the Spartan state who out-numbered the Spartans by at least seven to one, bitterly hated their masters, and, in the words of the fourth-century writer Xenophon would gladly eat them raw (Hellenica 3.3.6). Most poleis had aristocratic or oligarchic governments, but they were ruled by laws arrived at in discussions in the sovereign assemblies, and they were executed by councils and magistrates selected by the citizens from among themselves. When a plague broke out, an estimated 20,000 people diedincluding Pericles and his two legitimate sons. Please be respectful of copyright. But these benefits, important as they were, did not appeal to the most basic spiritual need of all, the need for kleos and immortality. For trade and the manufacture of whatever they needed, the Spartans relied on the perioikoipeople who lived in free communities, gave control of foreign policy to the Spartans, and served under Spartan command in the army. Details about the nature and name of this disease are unknown, but a recent best guess is Typhoid Fever. 86 Copy quote. In 461 B.C., he joined the reformer Ephialtes in organizing a vote in the popular assembly that stripped all remaining powers from the Areopagus, the old noble council. Photograph by James P. Blair, Nat Geo Image Collection. He perceives Athens as a city with virtue, modesty, and modernization. When his twolegitimatesons died, their son Pericles had to belegitimated. The Athenians gave him a public burial on the spot where he fell [only the men who died at Marathon received the same extraordinary honor] (1.30). The audience is then dismissed. Here Pericles has identified a critical element of his vision for Athens: its commitment to reason and intelligence. More than 20,000 tons of marble were used, producing the iconic Parthenon and the imposing colonnade of the Propylaea, the entrance gateway. He had made the strategic judgment that the empire as it stood was large enough to meet all the citys needs. The Athenians prized thought, deliberation, and discussion. . . Nobody knows what the plague was, although classically minded epidemiologists still debate its cause. [14] This amounts to a focus on present-day Athens; Thucydides' Pericles thus decides to praise the war dead by glorifying the city for which they died. "Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now." - Pericles. "Pericles' Funeral Oration - Thucydides' Version." Although limited to adult males of native parentage, Athenian citizenship granted full and active participation in every decision of the state without regard to wealth or class. For them, nothing could interfere with the claims of the polis to their loyalty and devotion, so they rejected privacy, imposed a rigid economic equality on the members of the Spartiate class, attenuated the independence of the family and its control of its offspring, and made individual goals entirely subordinate to those of the state. The theory of democracy Democratic ideas from Pericles to Rawls Pericles. The play lacks moral ambiguity within many of the central characters. Freedom of speech, extended to each and every citizen, was its hallmark and this freedom was the target of ridicule, not only by aristocrats who thought only those bred in political tradition or formally educated should speak, but also by the admirers of Sparta where decisions were made by acclamation without debate. An even greater substitution for the glories of war could be found in the exercise by each Athenian of his political duties. was the sight of people dying like sheep through having caught the disease as a result of nursing others. Neither medicine nor quackery helped. He used his speeches to articulate a compelling vision for Athens and its citizens, inspiring them to come together around common goals. The characteristics of Athenian democracy as presented by Pericles in his funeral oration are that it is an ideal democracy, that it is animated by a shared sense of civic virtue, and that in it . 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, a great supporter of democracy, was a Greek leader and statesman during the Peloponnesian War. For Pericles, Athens itself was a competitor for these prizes in the agon among poleis, past and present. Highlights from the week in culture, every Saturday. In fact, Pericles sees Athens as having the ultimate possible government; the one best conducive to freedom, liberty, courage, honor, and justice - the values most honored by the Athenians. They must see that democracy alone of all regimes respects the dignity and autonomy of every individual, and understand that its survival requires that each individual see his own well-being as inextricably connected to that of the whole community. This famous speech was given by the Athenian leader Pericles after the first battles of the Peloponnesian war. In the Athens of Pericles, however, the general prosperity and payment for public service gave the average man a degree of leisure unknown in other states. To cope with this threat the Spartans turned their polis into a military academy and an armed camp, giving up the normal pleasures of life and devoting themselves entirely to the state. Author of. The polis was a political community and a sovereign entity competing in a world of similar communities. Monoson, Sara (2002). By John G. Zumbrunnen. ), who said he was quoting Pericles himself. 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. Some time in the eighth century the polis emerged, and its needs at once came into conflict with the old heroic ethos. In war and in peace, the Athenian people showed themselves eager to accept the responsibilities that allowed them to share in their citys glory. Funerals after such battles were public rituals and Pericles used the occasion to make a classic statement of the value of democracy. The most famous of these, Pericles' Funeral Speech, as recorded by Thucydides, is also the most instructive; its peculiarities of diction and its general tone, which is in conflict with Thucydides' own outlook, suggest that it is a fairly faithful reproduction of what Pericles . By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. In the following speech Pericles made these points about democracy: Democracy allows men to advance because of merit rather than wealth or inherited class. The basic ideologies of democracy were described by Pericles in his funeral oration. "For the love of honor alone is ever young, and not riches, as some say, but honor is the delight of men when they are old and useless." - Pericles, 'Pericles' Funeral Oration'. This past spring, Richard Bernstein investigated the questions hed been asking his whole careerabout right, wrong, and what we owe one anotherone last time. 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]. When it reappeared in the Western world more than two millennia later, it was broader but shallower. Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. Pericles' funeral oration is considered to be a valuable speech on the importance of democracy and a sneak peek into the way the people of Athens lived. Pericles' funeral oration has exercised a permanent fascination on the political imagination of the West. From time to time the helots would break out in revolt, threatening the very existence of Sparta. The image and example of the prosperous, free nations of the world, conveyed to their people by modern technology, has meanwhile raised material expectations to unrealistic levels. [12] Pericles argues that the speaker of the oration has the impossible task of satisfying the associates of the dead, who would wish that their deeds be magnified, while everyone else might feel jealous and suspect exaggeration.[13]. In the speech, Pericles, the first great statesman of the ancient world, says that he wished 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" in addition to praising the dead. Only in ancient Athens and in the United States so far has democracy lasted for as much as two hundred years. In 451 or 450 Pericles carried a law confining Athenian citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides. It is clear that Pericles views democracy as the best form of government and having adopted it, he views Athens as superior to their fellow city-states. Most died after about a week. Pericles delivered the oration not only to bury the dead but to praise democracy. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. According to Thucydides, Pericles' funeral oration said that democracy makes it so people can better themselves through merit rather than class or money. In his speech, he talked about Athenian democracy. Athenians were already packed into the city as a wartime measure, and frightened people fleeing the countryside crowded it even further, creating conditions we now know are ripe for contagion. .he must support his unmarried sisters at home and explain to them why they are still spinsters, he must live without a wife at his fireside. Nor did consulting the oracles or praying in the temples, futile pieties which Thucydides dismissively noted were soon discarded. Pericles delivered a rousing speech lauding democracy on the occasion of funerals, shortly after the start of the war. Attempts to expand it would not only be unnecessary but endanger what already existed. 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. THUCYDIDES gives Pericles very little to say in his Funeral Oration about the political institutions of Athenian democracy. America was a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Victory would mean a new birth of freedom, and would ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. The fallen soldiers purpose was to preserve a Constitution and a way of life that was unique and worthy of sacrifice. [11] The speech glorifies Athens' achievements, designed to stir the spirits of a state still at war. 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. [28][29][30] Lincoln's speech, like Pericles': It is uncertain to what degree, if any, Lincoln was directly influenced by Pericles's funeral oration. Both of them heavily promote a sense of nationalism in the surviving listeners, both commend the brave sacrifices of soldiers living and dead, and both invoke a deep sense of sorrow while simultaneously setting up feelings of national pride and faith in the societies . . But the reward of these virtues was kleos, the fame and glory that alone held out the hope of victory over death. Pericles was a famous Greek general. The catastrophe contributed to Athenss shattering defeat, in 404 B.C.E., by the loutish Spartans, who tore down the citys walls and imposed a short-lived but murderous oligarchy. Many of the qualities and characteristics envisioned by Pericles are related to military excellence, as is natural in a speech delivered in wartime to encourage the struggle for victory. References. Unlike some Athenian dramatists, he saw neither metaphorical significance nor divine retribution in the epidemic. [5] We can be reasonably sure that Pericles delivered a speech at the end of the first year of the war, but there is no consensus as to what degree Thucydides's record resembles Pericles's actual speech. They respected the warrior class and placed them among the top member of the society. But modern democracies are also more remote and indirect, less political in the ancient understanding of the term. The crisis had only just begun. As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it: the real shame is in not taking practical measures to escape from it. Nor does Pericles concede that the strict discipline of Spartan training and the secrecy of its closed society produce better soldiers than the Athenian democracy: There is a difference between us and our opponents in how we prepare for our military responsibilities in the following ways: we open our city for everyone and do not exclude anyone for fear that he might learn or see something that would be useful to an enemy if it were not concealed. [10] David Cartwright describes it as "a eulogy of Athens itself". Therefore, they were willing to run risks in its defense, make sacrifices on its behalf, and restrain their passions and desires to preserve it. Pericles begins by praising the dead, as the other Athenian funeral orations do, by regard the ancestors of present-day Athenians (2.36.12.36.3), touching briefly on the acquisition of the empire. The ancient Greek statesman Pericles (ca 495429 B.C.) . 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. 3.38.4. That Pericles skull was of unusual shape seems well attested, but one can hardly speculate about the possible psychological consequences. It was translated into English in 1628 by Thomas Hobbes, and has since been cited by heads of state from Woodrow Wilson to Xi Jinping. [2] The speech was supposed to have been delivered by Pericles, an eminent Athenian politician, at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War (431404BCE) as a part of the annual public funeral for the war dead. He would not be surprised to find his book being read today, during the coronavirus lockdown. This message has been remembered: during the First World War, London buses carried posters with passages from the speech; in 2012, a memorial in central London to the R.A.F. In his speech, Pericles states that he had been emphasising the greatness of Athens in order to convey that the citizens of Athens must continue to support the war, to show them that what they were fighting for was of the utmost importance. Repeated failures had taught the Persians they could not challenge Athenian naval power, while adherence to the right strategya refusal to fight a large land battledeprived Sparta and its allies of any hope for victory.

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