Pericles (also spelled Perikles) (ca. 495–429
BC, Greek: Περικλῆς, meaning "surrounded by
glory") was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age–specifically, the
time between the Persian and Peloponnesian
wars. He was descended, through his mother, from the powerful and historically influential Alcmaeonid family.
Pericles had such a profound influence on Athenian society that Thucydides, his
contemporary historian, declared him the first citizen of Athens . Pericles turned the Delian
League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period
during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is
sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles," though the period thus denoted can include
times as early as the Persian Wars, or as late as the next century.
Pericles promoted the arts and literature; this was a chief reason Athens holds the reputation of being the educational and
cultural centre of the ancient Greek world. He started an ambitious project that built
most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis (including the Parthenon). This project beautified the city, exhibited its glory, and gave work to the people.[1] Furthermore, Pericles fostered Athenian democracy to such an extent that critics call him a populist.[2][3]
Early years
Pericles was born around 495 BC, in the deme of Cholargos just
north of Athens.α[›] He was the son of the politic Xanthippus, who, although ostracized in 485–4 BC, returned to Athens to
command the Athenian contingent in the Greek victory at Mycale just five years later.
Pericles' mother, Agariste, was a scion of the powerful and controversial noble family of the
Alcmaeonidae, and her familial connections played a crucial role in starting Xanthippus' political career. Agariste was the
great-granddaughter of the tyrant of Sicyon, Cleisthenes, and the niece of the Supreme Athenian reformer Cleisthenes, another Alcmaeonid.β[›][4] According to Herodotus and Plutarch, Agariste dreamed, a few nights before Pericles' birth, that she had borne a lion.[5][6] One interpretation of the anecdote treats the lion as a traditional symbol of greatness, but the
story may also allude to the unusual size of Pericles' skull, which became a popular target of contemporary comedians.[6][7] (Although Plutarch claims that this deformity was the reason that Pericles was always depicted
wearing a helmet, this is not the case; the helmet was actually the symbol of his official rank as strategos (general)).[8]
| "Our polity does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than
imitators ourselves. It is called a democracy, because not the few but the many govern. If we look to the laws, they afford equal
justice to all in their private differences; if to social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity,
class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the
state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition." |
| Pericles' Funeral Oration as recorded by Thucydides, 2.37γ[›]; Thucydides disclaims verbal accuracy. |
Pericles belonged to the local tribe of Acamantis (Ἀκαμαντὶς
φυλὴ). His early years were quiet; the introverted, young Pericles avoided public appearances, preferring to devote
his time to his studies.[9]
His family's nobility and wealth allowed him to fully pursue his inclination toward education. He learned music from the
masters of the time (Damon or Pythocleides could have been his
teachers)[10][11] and he is considered to have been the first politician to attribute great
importance to philosophy.[9] He enjoyed the company of the philosophers Protagoras, Zeno of Elea and
Anaxagoras. Anaxagoras in particular became a close friend and influenced him
greatly.[10][12] Pericles' manner of thought and rhetorical charisma may have been in part
products of Anaxagoras’ emphasis on emotional calm in the face of trouble and scepticism about divine phenomena.[4] His proverbial calmness and self-control are also regarded
as products of Anaxagoras' influence.[13]
Political career until 431 BC
Entering politics
In the spring of 472 , Pericles presented the Persae of Aeschylus at the Greater Dionysia as a liturgy, demonstrating that he was then one of the wealthier men of Athens.[4] Simon Hornblower has argued that Pericles' selection of this play, which
presents a nostalgic picture of Themistocles' famous victory at Salamis, shows that the young politician was supporting Themistocles against his political opponent
Cimon, whose faction succeeded in having Themistocles ostracized shortly afterwards.[14]
Plutarch says that Pericles stood first among the Athenians for forty years.[15] If this was so, Pericles must have taken up a position of leadership by the early 460s BC.
Throughout these years he endeavored to protect his privacy and tried to present himself as a model for his fellow citizens. For
example, he would often avoid banquets, trying to be frugal.[16][17]
In 463 BC Pericles was the leading prosecutor of Cimon, the
leader of the conservative faction, who was accused of neglecting Athens' vital interests in Macedon.[18] Although Cimon was
acquitted, this confrontation proved that Pericles' major political opponent was vulnerable.[19]
Ostracizing Cimon
A modern statue of Pericles in modern
Cholargos (Pericles' avenue). The name of the suburb
dates to ancient Athens, but the ancient deme of Cholargos, which belonged to the tribe of Acamantis, was near modern
Kamatero or
Peristeri.
Around 462–461 BC the leadership of the democratic party
decided it was time to take aim at the Areopagus, a traditional council controlled by the
Athenian aristocracy, which had once been the most powerful body in the state.[20] The leader of the party and mentor of Pericles, Ephialtes,
proposed a sharp reduction of the Areopagus’ powers. The Ecclesia (the
Athenian Assembly) adopted Ephialtes' proposal without strong opposition.[21] This reform signalled the commencement of a new era of "radical democracy".[20] The democratic party gradually became dominant in Athenian politics and
Pericles seemed willing to follow a populist policy in order to cajole the public. According to Aristotle, Pericles' stance can be explained by the fact that his principal political opponent, Cimon, was
rich and generous, and was able to secure public favor by lavishly bestowing his sizable personal fortune.[18] The historian Loren J. Samons II argues, however, that
Pericles had enough resources to make a political mark by private means, had he so chosen.[22]
In 461 BC, Pericles achieved the political elimination of this formidable opponent using the weapon of ostracism. The ostensible accusation was that Cimon betrayed his city by acting as a friend of
Sparta.[23]
Even after Cimon's ostracism, Pericles continued to espouse and promote a populist social policy.[21] He first proposed a decree that permitted the poor to watch theatrical
plays without paying, with the state covering the cost of their admission. With other decrees he lowered the property requirement
for the archonship in 458–457 BC
and bestowed generous wages on all citizens who served as jurymen in the Heliaia (the supreme
court of Athens) some time just after 454 BC.[24] His most controversial measure, however, was a law of 451 BC limiting Athenian citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides.[25]
| "Rather, the admiration of the present and succeeding ages will be ours, since we have not left our
power without witness, but have shown it by mighty proofs; and far from needing a Homer for our panegyrist, or other of his craft
whose verses might charm for the moment only for the impression which they gave to melt at the touch of fact, we have forced
every sea and land to be the highway of our daring, and everywhere, whether for evil or for good, have left imperishable
monuments behind us." |
| Pericles' Funeral Oration as recorded by Thucydides (II, 41) γ[›] |
Such measures impelled Pericles' critics to regard him as responsible for the gradual degeneration of the Athenian democracy.
Constantine Paparrigopoulos, a major modern Greek historian, argues that
Pericles sought for the expansion and stabilization of all democratic institutions.[26] Hence, he enacted legislation granting the lower classes access to the
political system and the public offices, from which they had previously been barred on account of limited means or humble
birth.[27] According to Samons, Pericles believed
that it was necessary to raise the demos, in which he saw an untapped source of Athenian power and the crucial element of
Athenian military dominance.[28] (The
fleet, backbone of Athenian power since the days of Themistocles, was manned almost entirely by members of the lower
classes.[29])
Cimon, on the other hand, apparently believed that no further free space for democratic evolution existed. He was certain that
democracy had reached its peak and Pericles’ reforms were leading to the stalemate of populism. According to Paparrigopoulos,
history vindicated Cimon, because Athens, after Pericles' death, sank into the abyss of political turmoil and demagogy.
Paparrigopoulos maintains that an unprecedented regression descended upon the city, whose glory perished as a result of Pericles'
populist policies.[26] According to another
historian, Justin Daniel King, radical democracy benefited people individually, but harmed the state.[30] On the other hand, Donald Kagan
asserts that the democratic measures Pericles put into effect provided the basis for an unassailable political strength.[31] After all, Cimon finally accepted the new democracy
and did not oppose the citizenship law, after he returned from exile in 451 BC.[32]
Leading Athens
Ephialtes' murder in 461 BC paved the way for Pericles to consolidate his authority.δ[›] Lacking any robust opposition after the expulsion of Cimon, the unchallengeable leader
of the democratic party became the unchallengeable ruler of Athens. He remained in power almost uninterruptedly until his death
in 429 BC.
First Peloponnesian War
-
Pericles made his first military excursions during the First Peloponnesian War, which was caused in part by Athens' alliance
with Megara and Argos and the subsequent reaction of Sparta. In
454 BC he attacked Sicyon and Acarnania.[33] He then
unsuccessfully tried to take Oeniadea on the Corinthian gulf, before returning to Athens.[34] In 451 BC, Cimon is said to have returned from exile and negotiated a
five years' truce with Sparta after a proposal of Pericles, an event which indicates a shift in Pericles' political
strategy.[35] Pericles may have realized the
importance of Cimon's contribution during the ongoing conflicts against the Peloponnesians and the Persians. Anthony J. Podlecki argues, however, that Pericles' alleged change of position was invented by
ancient writers to support "a tendentious view of Pericles' shiftiness".[36]
Plutarch states that Cimon struck a power-sharing deal with his opponents, according to which Pericles would carry through the
interior affairs and Cimon would be the leader of the Athenian army, campaigning abroad.[37] If it was actually made, this bargain would constitute a concession on
Pericles' part that he was not a great strategist. Kagan believes that Cimon adapted himself to the new conditions and promoted a
political marriage between Periclean liberals and Cimonian conservatives.[32]
In the mid 450s the Athenians launched an unsuccessful attempt to aid an Egyptian revolt against Persia, which led to a
prolonged siege of a Persian fortress in the Nile Delta. The campaign culminated in a
disaster on a very large scale; the besieging force was defeated and destroyed.[38] In 451–450 BC the Athenians sent troops to Cyprus. Cimon defeated the Persians in the Battle of
Salamis, but died of disease in 449 BC. Pericles is said to have initiated both
expeditions in Egypt and Cyprus,[39] although
some researchers, such as Karl Julius Beloch, argue that the dispatch of such a great fleet conforms with the spirit of Cimon's
policy.[40]
Complicating the account of this complex period is the issue of the Peace of
Callias, which allegedly ended hostilities between the Greeks and the Persians. The very existence of the treaty is hotly
disputed, and its particulars and negotiation are equally ambiguous.[41] Ernst Badian believes that a peace between Athens and Persia was first ratified in 463 BC
(making the Athenian interventions in Egypt and Cyprus violations of the peace), and renegotiated at the conclusion of the
campaign in Cyprus, taking force again by 449–448 BC.[42] John Fine, on the other hand, suggests that the first peace between Athens and Persia was
concluded in 450–449 BC, as a result of Pericles' strategic calculation that ongoing conflict with Persia was undermining Athens'
ability to spread its influence in Greece and the Aegean.[41] Kagan believes that Pericles used Callias, a brother-in-law of Cimon, as a symbol of unity and employed him several times to negotiate
important agreements.[43]
In the spring of 449 BC, Pericles proposed the Congress Decree, which led to a meeting ("Congress") of all Greek states in
order to consider the question of rebuilding the temples destroyed by the Persians. The Congress failed because of Sparta's
stance, but Pericles' real intentions remain unclear.[44] Some historians think that he wanted to prompt some kind of confederation with the participation
of all the Greek cities, others think he wanted to assert Athenian pre-eminence.[45] According to the historian Terry Buckley the objective of the Congress
Decree was a new mandate for the Delian League and for the collection of "phoros"
(taxes).[46]
| "Remember, too, that if your country has the greatest name in all the world, it is because she
never bent before disaster; because she has expended more life and effort in war than any other city, and has won for herself a
power greater than any hitherto known, the memory of which will descend to the latest posterity." |
| Pericles' Third Oration according to Thucydides (II, 64) γ[›] |
During the Second Sacred War Pericles led the Athenian army against
Delphi and reinstated Phocis in its sovereign rights on the
oracle.[47]
In 447 BC Pericles engaged in his most admired excursion, the expulsion of barbarians from the
Thracian peninsula of Gallipoli, in order to establish Athenian colonists in the
region.[4][48] At this time, however, Athens was seriously challenged by a number of revolts
among its allies (or, to be more accurate, its subjects). In 447 BC the oligarchs of
Thebes conspired against the democratic faction. The Athenians demanded their immediate
surrender, but, after the Battle of Coronea, Pericles was forced to concede
the loss of Boeotia in order to recover the prisoners taken in that battle.[9] With Boeotia in hostile hands, Phocis and Locris became untenable and quickly fell under the
control of hostile oligarchs.[49] In
446 BC, a more dangerous uprising erupted. Euboea and
Megara revolted. Pericles crossed over to Euboea with his troops, but was forced to return when
the Spartan army invaded Attica. Through bribery and negotiations, Pericles defused the imminent
threat, and the Spartans returned home.[50] When
Pericles was later audited for the handling of public money, an expenditure of 10 talents was not sufficiently justified, since the official documents just referred that the money
was spent for a "very serious purpose".[citation needed] Nonetheless, the "serious purpose" (namely the bribery) was so obvious to
the auditors that they approved the expenditure without official meddling and without even investigating the mystery.[51] After the Spartan threat had been removed, Pericles
crossed back to Euboea to crush the revolt there. He then inflicted a stringent punishment on the landowners of Chalcis, who lost their properties. The residents of Istiaia, meanwhile, who
had butchered the crew of an Athenian trireme, were uprooted and replaced by 2,000 Athenian
settlers.[51] The crisis was brought to an official
end by the Thirty Years' Peace (winter of 446–445 BC), in which Athens relinquished most of the
possessions and interests on the Greek mainland which it had acquired since 460 BC, and both Athens and Sparta agreed not to
attempt to win over the other state's allies.[49]
Final battle with the conservatives
In 444 BC, the conservative and the democratic faction confronted each other in a fierce
struggle. The ambitious new leader of the conservatives, Thucydides (not to be
confused with the historian of the same name), accused Pericles of profligacy, criticizing the way he spent the money for the
ongoing building plan. Thucydides managed, initially, to incite the passions of the ecclesia in his favor, but, when Pericles,
the leader of the democrats, took the floor, he put the conservatives in the shade. Pericles responded resolutely, proposing to
reimburse the city for all the expenses from his private property, under the term that he would make the inscriptions of
dedication in his own name.[52] His stance was
greeted with applause, and Thucydides suffered an unexpected defeat. In 442 BC, the Athenian
public ostracized Thucydides for 10 years and Pericles was once again the unchallenged suzerain of the Athenian political arena.[52]
Athens' rule over its alliance
Pericles wanted to stabilize Athens' dominance over its alliance and to enforce its pre-eminence in Greece. The process by
which the Delian League transformed into an Athenian empire is generally considered to have begun well before Pericles'
time,[53] as various allies in the
league chose to pay tribute to Athens instead of manning ships for the league's fleet, but the transformation was speeded and
brought to its conclusion by measures implemented by Pericles.[54] The final steps in the shift to empire may have been triggered by Athens' defeat in Egypt,
which challenged the city's dominance in the Aegean and led to the revolt of several allies, such as Miletus and Erythrae.[55] Either because of a genuine fear for its safety after the defeat in Egypt and the revolts of the
allies, or as a pretext to gain control of the League's finances, Athens transferred the treasury of the alliance from
Delos to Athens in 454–453 BC.[56] By 450–449 BC the revolts in Miletus and Erythrae were quelled and Athens restored its rule
over its allies.[57] Around 447 BC
Clearchus proposed the Coinage Decree, which imposed Athenian silver coinage, weights and measures on all of the allies.[46] According to one of the decree's most stringent
provisions, surplus from a minting operation was to go into a special fund, and anyone proposing to use it otherwise was subject
to the death penalty.[58]
It was from the alliance's treasury that Pericles drew the funds necessary to enable his ambitious building plan, centered on
the "Periclean Acropolis", which included the Propylaea, the Parthenon and the golden statue
of Athena, sculpted by Pericles’ friend, Phidias.[59] In 449 BC Pericles proposed a decree allowing the use of 9,000 talents to
finance the major rebuilding program of Athenian temples.[46] Angelos Vlachos, a Greek Academician, points out that the
utilization of the alliance's treasury, initiated and executed by Pericles, is one of the largest embezzlements in human history;
this misappropriation financed, however, some of the most marvellous artistic creations of the ancient world.[60]
Samian War
-
The Samian War was the last significant military event before the Peloponnesian War. After Thucydides' ostracism, Pericles was
re-elected yearly to the generalship, the only office he ever officially occupied, although his influence was so great as to make
him the de facto ruler of the state. In 440 BC Samos
was at war with Miletus over control of Priene, an ancient city
of Ionia on the foot-hills of Mycale. Worsted in the war, the
Milesians came to Athens to plead their case against the Samians.[61] When the Athenians ordered the two sides to stop fighting and submit the case to arbitration at
Athens, the Samians refused.[62] In response,
Pericles passed a decree dispatching an expedition to Samos, "alleging against its people that, though they were ordered to break
off their war against the Milesians, they were not complying".ε[›] In a naval battle the Athenians led by Pericles and the other nine generals defeated the
forces of Samos and imposed on the island an administration pleasing to them.[62] When the Samians revolted against Athenian rule, Pericles compelled the rebels to capitulate
after a tough siege of eight months, which resulted in substantial discontent among the Athenian sailors.[63] Pericles then quelled a revolt in Byzantium and, when he returned to Athens, he gave a funeral oration to honor the soldiers who died in the
expedition.[64]
Between 438 BC-436 BC Pericles led Athens' fleet in
Pontus and established friendly relations with the Greek cities of the region.[65] Pericles focused also on internal projects, such
as the fortification of Athens (the building of the "middle wall" about 440 BC), and on the creation of new cleruchies, such as Andros, Naxos and
Thurii (444 BC) as well as Amphipolis (437 BC-436 BC).[66]
Personal attacks
Pericles and his friends were never immune from attack, as preeminence in democratic Athens was not equivalent to absolute
rule.[67] Just before the eruption of the
Peloponnesian war, Pericles and two of his closest associates, Phidias and his companion, Aspasia, faced a series of personal and judicial attacks.
Phidias, who had been in charge of all building projects, was first accused of embezzling gold intended for the statue of
Athena and then of impiety, because, when he wrought the battle of the Amazons on the shield of Athena, he carved out a figure that suggested himself as a bald old man, and also
inserted a very fine likeness of Pericles fighting with an Amazon.[68] Pericles' enemies also found a false witness against Phidias, named Menon.
Aspasia, who was noted for her ability as a conversationalist and adviser, was accused of corrupting the women of Athens in
order to satisfy Pericles' perversions.[69][70] Aspasia was
probably a hetaera and ran a brothel,[71][72] although these allegations are disputed by modern scholars.[73][74] The accusations against her were probably nothing more than unproven slanders, but the whole
experience was very bitter for Pericles. Although Aspasia was acquitted thanks to a rare emotional outburst of Pericles, his
friend, Phidias, died in prison and another friend of his, Anaxagoras, was attacked by the ecclesia for his religious beliefs.[68]
Beyond these initial prosecutions, the ecclesia attacked Pericles himself by asking him to justify his ostensible profligacy
with, and maladministration of, public money.[70]
According to Plutarch, Pericles was so afraid of the oncoming trial that he did not let the Athenians yield to the
Lacedaemonians.[70]
Beloch also believes that Pericles deliberately brought on the war to protect his political position at home.[75] Thus, at the start of the Peloponnesian
War, Athens found itself in the awkward position of entrusting its future to a leader whose preeminence had just been seriously
shaken for the first time in over a decade.[9]
Peloponnesian War
-
The causes of the Peloponnesian War have been much debated, but most ancient historians laid the blame on Pericles and Athens.
Plutarch seems to believe that Pericles and the Athenians incited the war, scrambling to implement their belligerent tactics
"with a sort of arrogance and a love of strife".στ[›] Thucydides hints at the
same thing; although he is generally regarded as an admirer of Pericles, Thucydides has, at this point, been criticised for bias
towards Sparta.ζ[›]
Prelude to the war
Anaxagoras and Pericles by Augustin-Louis Belle (1757–1841)
Pericles was convinced that the war against Sparta, which could not conceal its envy of Athens' pre-eminence, was inevitable
if not to be welcomed.[76] Therefore
he did not hesitate to send troops to Corcyra to reinforce the Corcyraean fleet, which was
fighting against Corinth.[77] In 433 BC the enemy fleets confronted each other at the
Battle of Sybota and a year later the Athenians fought Corinthian colonists at the
Battle of Potidaea; these two events contributed greatly to Corinth's lasting hatred
of Athens. During the same period, Pericles proposed the Megarian Decree, which
resembled a modern trade embargo. According to the provisions of the decree, Megarian merchants were excluded from the market of
Athens and the ports in its empire. This ban strangled the Megarian economy and strained the fragile peace between Athens and
Sparta, which was allied with Megara. According to George Cawkwell, a praelector in
ancient history, with this decree Pericles breached the Thirty Years Peace "but,
perhaps, not without the semblance of an excuse".[78] The Athenians' justification was that the Megarians had cultivated the sacred land
consecrated to Demeter and had given refuge to runaway slaves, a behavior which the Athenians
considered to be impious.[79]
After consultations with its allies, Sparta sent a deputation to Athens demanding certain concessions, such as the immediate
expulsion of the Alcmaeonidae family including Pericles and the retraction of the Megarian Decree, threatening war if the demands
were not met. The obvious purpose of these proposals was the instigation of a confrontation between Pericles and the people; this
event, indeed, would come about a few years later.[80] At that time, the Athenians unhesitatingly followed Pericles' instructions. In the first
legendary oration Thucydides puts in his mouth, Pericles advised the Athenians not to yield to their opponents' demands, since
they were militarily stronger.[81]
Pericles was not prepared to make unilateral concessions, believing that "if Athens conceded on that issue, then Sparta was sure
to come up with further demands".[82] Consequently, Pericles asked the Spartans to offer a quid pro quo. In exchange
for retracting the Megarian Decree, the Athenians demanded from Sparta to abandon their practice of periodic expulsion of
foreigners from their territory (xenelasia) and to recognize the autonomy of its allied
cities, a request implying that Sparta's hegemony was also ruthless.[83] The terms were rejected by the Spartans, and, with neither side willing to back down, the
two sides prepared for war. According to Athanasios G. Platias and Constantinos Koliopoulos, professors of strategic studies and
international politics, "rather than to submit to coercive demands, Pericles
chose war".[82] Another
consideration that may well have influenced Pericles' stance was the concern that revolts in the empire might spread if Athens
showed herself weak.[84]
First year of the war (431 BC)
The Parthenon, a masterpiece prompted by Pericles, from the south
In 431 BC, while peace already was precarious, Archidamus
II, Sparta's king, sent a new delegation to Athens, demanding that the Athenians submit to Sparta's demands. This
deputation was not allowed to enter Athens, as Pericles had already passed a resolution according to which no Spartan deputation
would be welcomed if the Spartans had previously initiated any hostile military actions. The Spartan army was at this time
gathered at Corinth, and, citing this as a hostile action, the Athenians refused to admit their emissaries.[85] With his last attempt at negotiation thus
declined, Archidamus invaded Attica, but found no Athenians there; Pericles, aware that Sparta's
strategy would be to invade and ravage Athenian territory, had previously arranged to evacuate the entire population of the
region to within the walls of Athens.[86]
No definite record exists of how exactly Pericles managed to convince the residents of Attica to agree to move into the
crowded urban areas. For most, the move meant abandoning their land and ancestral shrines and completely changing their
lifestyle.[87] Therefore, although they
agreed to leave, many rural residents were far from happy with Pericles' decision.[88] Pericles also gave his compatriots some advice on their present affairs and
reassured them that, if the enemy did not plunder his farms, he would offer his property to the city. This promise was prompted
by his concern that Archidamus, who was a friend of his, might pass by his estate without ravaging it, either as a gesture of
friendship or as a calculated political move aimed to alienate Pericles from his constituents.[89]
| "For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own, where the column
with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every breast a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of
the heart." |
| Pericles' Funeral Oration as recorded by Thucydides (2.43) γ[›] |
In any case, seeing the pillage of their farms, the Athenians were outraged, and they soon began to indirectly express their
discontent towards their leader, who many of them considered to have drawn them into the war. Even in the face of mounting
pressure, Pericles did not give in to the demands for immediate action against the enemy or revise his initial strategy. He also
avoided convening the ecclesia, fearing that the populace, outraged by the unopposed ravaging of their farms, might rashly decide
to challenge the vaunted Spartan army in the field.[90] As meetings of the assembly were called at the discretion of its rotating presidents, the
"prytanies", Pericles had no formal control over their scheduling; rather, the respect in which Pericles was held by the
prytanies was apparently sufficient to persuade them to do as he wished.[91] While the Spartan army remained in Attica, Pericles sent a fleet of 100 ships to loot the
coasts of the Peloponnese and charged the cavalry to guard the ravaged farms close to the
walls of the city.[92] When the enemy retired and
the pillaging came to an end, Pericles proposed a decree according to which the authorities of the city should put aside 1,000
talents and 100 ships, in case Athens was attacked by naval forces. According to the most stringent provision of the decree, even
proposing a different use of the money or ships would entail the penalty of death. During the autumn of 431 BC, Pericles led the
Athenian forces that invaded Megara and a few months later (winter of 431 BC-430 BC) he delivered his monumental and emotional Funeral
Oration, honoring the Athenians who died for their city.[93]
Last military operations and death
In 430 BC, the army of Sparta looted Attica for a second time, but Pericles was not daunted and refused to revise his initial
strategy.[94] Unwilling to engage the Spartan
army in battle, he again led a naval expedition to plunder the coasts of the Peloponnese, this time taking 100 Athenian ships
with him.[95] According to Plutarch, just
before the sailing of the ships an eclipse of the moon frightened
the crews, but Pericles used the astronomical knowledge he had acquired from Anaxagoras to calm them.[96] In the summer of the same year an epidemic broke out and devastated the
Athenians.[97] The exact identity of the
disease is uncertain, and has been the source of much debate.η[›] In any case, the city's plight, caused by the epidemic, triggered a new wave of public
uproar, and Pericles was forced to defend himself in an emotional final speech, a rendition of which is presented by
Thucydides.[98] This is considered to be a
monumental oration, revealing Pericles' virtues but also his bitterness towards his compatriots' ingratitude.[9] Temporarily, he managed to tame the people's
resentment and to ride out the storm, but his internal enemies' final bid to undermine him came off; they managed to deprive him
of the generalship and to fine him at an amount estimated between 15 and 50 talents.[99] Ancient sources mention Cleon, a rising and
dynamic protagonist of the Athenian political scene during the war, as the public prosecutor in Pericles' trial.[99]
Nevertheless, within just a year, in 429 BC, the Athenians not only forgave Pericles but also re-elected him as
strategos.θ[›] He was reinstated in command of the Athenian army and
led all its military operations during 429 BC, having once again under his control the levers of power.[9] In that year, however, Pericles witnessed the death of both his
legitimate sons from his first wife, Xanthippus and his beloved Paralus, in the epidemic. His morale undermined, he burst into tears and not even Aspasia's
companionship could console him. He himself died of the plague in the autumn of 429 BC.
Just before his death, Pericles' friends were concentrated around his bed, enumerating his virtues during peace and
underscoring his nine war trophies. Pericles, though moribund, heard them and interrupted them, pointing out that they forgot to
mention his fairest and greatest title to their admiration; "for", said he, "no living Athenian ever put on mourning because of
me".[100] Pericles lived during the first two and a
half years of the Peloponnesian War and, according to Thucydides, his death was a disaster for Athens, since his successors were
inferior to him; they preferred to incite all the bad habits of the rabble and followed an unstable policy, endeavoring to be
popular rather than useful.[101] With these
bitter comments, Thucydides not only laments the loss of a man he admired, but he also heralds the flickering of Athens' unique
glory and grandeur.
Personal life
Pericles, following Athenian custom, was first married to one of his closest relatives, with whom he had two sons, Xanthippus
and Paralus. This marriage, however, was not a happy one, and at some point near 445 BC, Pericles divorced his wife and offered
her to another husband, with the agreement of her male relatives.[102] The name of his first wife is not known; the only information about her is that she was the
wife of Hipponicus, before being married to Pericles, and the mother of Callias from this first marriage.[103]
| "For men can endure to hear others praised only so long as they can severally persuade themselves
of their own ability to equal the actions recounted: when this point is passed, envy comes in and with it incredulity." |
| Pericles' Funeral Oration as recorded by Thucydides (2.35) γ[›] |
The woman he really adored was Aspasia of Miletus. She became Pericles' mistress and they
began to live together as if they were married. This relationship aroused many reactions and even Pericles' own son, Xanthippus,
who had political ambitions, did not hesitate to slander his father.[104] Nonetheless, these persecutions did not undermine Pericles' morale, although he had to burst
into tears in order to protect his beloved Aspasia when she was accused of corrupting Athenian society. His greatest personal
tragedy was the death of his sister and of both his legitimate sons, Xanthippus and Paralus, all affected by the epidemic, a
calamity he never managed to overcome. Just before his death, the Athenians allowed a change in the law of 451 BC that made his
half-Athenian son with Aspasia, Pericles the younger, a citizen and legitimate heir,[105] a decision all the more striking in consideration that Pericles himself had
proposed the law confining citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides.[106]
Assessments
Pericles marked a whole era and inspired conflicting judgments about his significant decisions, which is something normal for
a political personality of his magnitude. The fact that he was at the same time a vigorous statesman, general and orator makes
more complex the objective assessment of his actions.
Political leadership
Some contemporary scholars, for example Sarah Ruden, call Pericles a populist, a demagogue and a hawk,[107] while other scholars admire his charismatic
leadership. According to Plutarch, after assuming the leadership of Athens, "he was no longer the same man as before, nor alike
submissive to the people and ready to yield and give in to the desires of the multitude as a steersman to the breezes".[108] It is told that when his political opponent,
Thucydides, was asked by Sparta's king, Archidamus, whether he or Pericles was the better fighter, Thucydides answered without
any hesitation that Pericles was better, because even when he was defeated, he managed to convince the audience that he had
won.[9] In matters of character, Pericles was
above reproach in the eyes of the ancient historians, since "he kept himself untainted by corruption, although he was not
altogether indifferent to money-making".[15]
Thucydides, an admirer of Pericles, maintains that Athens was "in name a democracy but, in fact, governed by its first
citizen".[101] Through this comment, the
historian illustrates what he perceives as Pericles' charisma to lead, convince and, sometimes, to manipulate. Although
Thucydides mentions the fining of Pericles, he does not mention the accusations against Pericles but instead focuses on Pericles'
integrity.ι[›][101] On the other hand, in one of his dialogues, Plato rejects the
glorification of Pericles and quotes Socrates as saying: "As far as I know, Pericles made the
Athenians slothful, garrulous and avaricious, by starting the system of public fees".[109] Plutarch mentions other criticism of Pericles' leadership: "many
others say that the people were first led on by him into allotments of public lands, festival-grants, and distributions of fees
for public services, thereby falling into bad habits, and becoming luxurious and wanton under the influence of his public
measures, instead of frugal and self-sufficing".[21]
Thucydides argues that Pericles "was not carried away by the people, but he was the one guiding the people".[101] His judgement is not unquestioned; some 20th
century critics, such as Malcolm F. McGregor and John S. Morrison, proposed that he may have been a charismatic public face
acting as an advocate on the proposals of advisors, or the people themselves.[110][111] According to King, by increasing the power of the people, the Athenians left themselves
with no authoritative leader. During the Peloponnesian War, Pericles' dependence on popular support to govern was
obvious.[30]
Military achievements
For more than 20 years Pericles led numerous expeditions, mainly naval ones. Being always cautious, he never undertook of his
own accord a battle involving much uncertainty and peril and he did not accede to the "vain impulses of the citizens".[112] He based his military policy on
