The Wisdom of Pericles

Pericles was a Greek general, orator, and statesman that led Athens through what many consider to be its golden age (approx. 450 BC). Through reading Thucydides' "History of the Peloppenesian Wars", I came across Pericles 'Funeral Oration', what was and is one of the most amazing pieces of rhetoric I've ever read. (You can read it on the page on Pericles on his wikipedia.com page.) More thought provoking and touching than his 'Funeral Oration' is Pericles' speech in defense of his position to go to war against Sparta and the Peloppenese, which though democratically and popularly arrived at, soon became unpopular due to military setbacks, as well as a thoroughly devastating plague that swept through Athens, killing large swathes of the population in the process. As a result of these events, the people of Athens developed an intense anger towards Pericles. His response to it was quite extraordinary. Here are some excerpts:

"I expected this outbreak of anger on your part against me, since I understand the reason for it and I have called an assembly with this object in view, to remind you of your previous resolutions and to put forward my own case against you, if we find that there is anything unreasonable in your anger against me and in your giving way to your misfortunes. My own opinion is that when the whole state is on the right course it is a better thing for each separate individual than when private interests are satisfied but the state as a whole is going downhill. However well of a man may be in his private life, he will still be involved in the general ruin if his country is destroyed; whereas, so long as the state itself is secure, individuals have a much greater chance of recovering from their private misfortunes. Therefore, since the state can support individuals in their suffering, but no one person by himself can bear the load that rests upon the state, is it not right for us all to rally to her defense? It is not wrong to act as you are doing now? For you been so dismayed by disaster in your homes that you are losing your grip on the common safety; you are attacking me for having spoken in favor of war and yourselves for having voted for it.

'So far as I am concerned, if you are angry wth me you are angry with one who has, I think, at least as much ability as anyone else to see what ought to be done and to explain what he sees, one who loves his city and one who is above being influenced by money. A man who has the knowledge but lacks the power clearly to express it is no better off than if he never had any ideas at all. [Bush?] A man who has both these qualities, but lacks patriotism, could scarcely speak for his own people as he should.[Kerry? Pelosi? Murtha?] And even if he is patriotic as well, but not able to resist a bribe, then this one fault will expose everything took the risk of being bought and sold. [Both Bill and Hilllary Clinton?] So that if at the time when you took my advice and went to war you considered that my record with regards to these qualities was even slightly better than that of others, then now surely it is quite unreasonable for me to be accused of having done wrong."

"Confidence, out of a mixture of ignorance and good luck, can be felt even by cowards; but this sense of superiority comes only to those who, like us, have real reasons for knowing that they are better placed than their opponents. And when the chances on both sides are equal, it is intelligence that confirms courage-the intelligence that makes one able to look down on one's opponent, and which proceeds not by hoping for the best (a method only valuable in the depserate situations), but by estimating what the facts are, and thus obtaining a clearer vision of what to expect.

'Then it is right and proper for you too to support the imperial dignity of Athens. This is something in which you all take pride, and you cannot continue to enjoy the privileges unless you also shoulder the burdens of empire. And do not imagine that what we are fighting for is simply the question of freedom or slavery; there is also involved the loss of our empire and the dangers arising from the hatred which we have incurred in administering it. Nor is it any longer possible for you to give up this empire, though there may be some people who in a mood of sudden panic and in a spirit of political apathy actually think that this would be a fine and noble thing to do. Your empire is now like a tyranny; it may have been wrong to take it, it is certainly danngerous to let it go. And the kind of people who talk of doing so and persuade others to adopt their point of view would very soon bring the state to ruin, and would still do so even if they lived by themselves in isolation. For those who are politically apathetic can only survive if they are supported by people who are capable of taking action. They are quite valueless in a city which controls an empire, though they would be safe slaves in a city that was controlled by others."

Relevent to today's situation here in America? You be the judge. But I happen to think these words, spoken almost 2500 years ago, succinctly describe what is going on today in this country.