"If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differencesif a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition. Achilles came to fight at Troy not for any national, ethnic, or communal cause but for his own purposes: to obtain booty seized from captured cities and to display the heroic excellence that Homer called arete. [21] He regards the soldiers who gave their lives as truly worth of merit. 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. Only someone of Pericles intelligence and integrity, Thucydides wrote, could respect the liberty of the people and at the same time hold them in check. His death left Athenian democracy in the hands of self-serving scoundrels such as Alcibiades, who later promoted an oligarchic coup, and bellicose demagogues such as Cleon, whom Thucydides scorned as remarkable among the Athenians for the violence of his character.. Thucydides' funeral speech about democracy delivered by Pericles. Pericles and Funeral Oration for Kids and Teachers - Ancient Greece for ThoughtCo. Silence and Democracy: Athenian Politics in Thucydides' History. By And they especially need leaders with the talents to persuade their impatient citizens that these political institutions are the necessary first foundation for a decent regime and a good life for all. Athenian Democracy Primary Source Doc.docx - Document A: All rights reserved. I dont wonder that where such a load of dishonor burdens the coward death seems preferable instead of a dishonored and shameful life (Constitution of the Spartans 9.4-6). Pericles Quotes - BrainyQuote He was one of those rare individuals who do not merely accept the conditions of the world they find but try to shape it to an image in their own minds.
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