Ancient
History Sourcebook:
Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE):
Pericles' Funeral Oration
from the Peloponnesian War (Book 2.34-46)
This famous speech was given by the Athenian
leader Pericles after the first battles of the Peloponnesian war.
Funerals after such battles were public rituals and Pericles used the
occasion to make a classic statement of the value of democracy.
Thucydides’ Introduction:
In
the same winter the Athenians gave a funeral at the public cost to those
who had first fallen in this war. It was a custom of their ancestors,
and the manner of it is as follows. Three days before the ceremony, the
bones of the dead are laid out in a tent which has been erected; and
their friends bring to their relatives such offerings as they please. In
the funeral procession cypress coffins are borne in cars, one for each
tribe; the bones of the deceased being placed in the coffin of their
tribe. Among these is carried one empty bier decked for the missing,
that is, for those whose bodies could not be recovered. Any citizen or
stranger who pleases, joins in the procession: and the female relatives
are there to wail at the burial. The dead are laid in the public
sepulchre in the Beautiful suburb of the city[JS1],
in which those who fall in war are always buried; with the exception of
those slain at Marathon[JS2],
who for their singular and extraordinary valour were interred on the
spot where they fell. After the bodies have been laid in the earth, a
man chosen by the state, of approved wisdom and eminent reputation,
pronounces over them an appropriate panegyric; after which all retire.
Such is the manner of the burying; and throughout the whole of the war,
whenever the occasion arose, the established custom was observed.
Meanwhile these were the first that had fallen, and Pericles, son of
Xanthippus, was chosen to pronounce their eulogium. When the proper time
arrived, he advanced from the sepulchre to an elevated platform in order
to be heard by as many of the crowd as possible, and spoke as follows:
"Most
of my predecessors in this place have commended him who made this speech
part of the law, telling us that it is well that it should be delivered
at the burial of those who fall in battle. For myself, I should have
thought that the worth which had
displayed itself in deeds would be sufficiently rewarded by honours also
shown by deeds[JS3];
such as you now see in this funeral prepared at the people's cost. And I
could have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be
imperilled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall
according as he spoke well or ill. For it is hard to speak properly upon
a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers that you
are speaking the truth[JS4].
On the one hand, the friend who is familiar with every fact of the story
may think that some point has not been set forth with that fullness
which he wishes and knows it to deserve; on the other, he who is a
stranger to the matter may be led by envy to suspect exaggeration if he
hears anything above his own nature. 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. However, since our ancestors have
stamped this custom with their approval, it becomes my duty to obey the
law and to try to satisfy your several wishes and opinions as best I
may.
"I
shall begin with our ancestors[JS5]:
it is both just and proper that they should have the honour of the first
mention on an occasion like the present. They dwelt in the country
without break in the succession from generation to generation, and
handed it down free to the present time by their valour. And if our more
remote ancestors deserve praise, much more do our own fathers, who added
to their inheritance the empire which we now possess, and spared no
pains to be able to leave their acquisitions to us of the present
generation. Lastly, there are few parts of our dominions that have not
been augmented by those of us here, who are still more or less in the
vigour of life; while the mother country has been furnished by us with
everything that can enable her to depend on her own resources whether
for war or for peace. That part of our history which tells of the
military achievements which gave us our several possessions, or of the
ready valour with which either we or our fathers stemmed the tide of
Hellenic or foreign aggression, is a theme too familiar to my hearers
for me to dilate on, and I shall therefore pass it by. But
what was the road by which we reached our position, what the form of
government under which our greatness grew, what the national habits out
of which it sprang; these are questions which I may try to solve before
I proceed to my panegyric upon these men[JS6];
since I think this to be a subject upon which on the present occasion a
speaker may properly dwell, and to which the whole assemblage, whether
citizens or foreigners, may listen with advantage.
"Our
constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are
rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration
favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy[JS7].
If we look to the laws[JS8],
they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no
social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for
capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit[JS9];
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. The freedom [JS10]which
we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far
from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel
called upon to be angry with our neighbour for doing what he likes, or
even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to be
offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty. But all this ease
in our private relations does not make us lawless as citizens. Against
this fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates
and the
laws, particularly such as regard the protection of the injured,
whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code
which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged
disgrace.
"Further,
we provide plenty of means for
the mind to refresh itself [JS11]from
business. We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year round, and the
elegance of our private establishments forms a daily source of pleasure
and helps to banish the spleen; while the magnitude of our city draws
the produce of the world into our harbour, so that to the Athenian the
fruits of other countries are as familiar a luxury as those of his own.
"If
we turn to our military policy[JS12],
there also we differ from our antagonists. 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; trusting
less in system and policy than to the native spirit of our citizens;
while in education, where our rivals from their very cradles by a
painful discipline seek after manliness, at Athens we live exactly as we
please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger. [JS13]In
proof of this it may be noticed that the Lacedaemonians do not invade
our country alone, but bring with them all their confederates; while we
Athenians advance unsupported into the territory of a neighbour, and
fighting upon a foreign soil usually vanquish with ease men who are
defending their homes. Our united
force was never yet encountered by any enemy[JS14],
because we have at once to attend to our marine and to dispatch our
citizens by land upon a hundred different services; so that, wherever
they engage with some such fraction of our strength, a success against a
detachment is magnified into a victory over the nation, and a defeat
into a reverse suffered at the hands of our entire people. And yet if
with habits not of labour but of ease, and courage not of art but of
nature, we are still willing to encounter danger, we have the double
advantage of escaping the experience of hardships in anticipation and of
facing them in the hour of need as fearlessly as those who are never
free from them.
"Nor
are these the only points in which our city is worthy of admiration.[JS15]
We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without
effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the
real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the
struggle against it. Our public men have, besides politics, their
private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied
with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters;
for, unlike any other nation,
regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but
as useless[JS16],
we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate,
and, instead of looking on
discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an
indispensable preliminary to any wise action [JS17]at
all. Again, in our enterprises we present the
singular spectacle of daring and deliberation[JS18],
each carried to its highest point, and both united in the same persons;
although usually decision is the fruit of ignorance, hesitation of
reflection. But the palm of courage will surely be adjudged most justly
to those, who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and
yet are never tempted to shrink from danger. In generosity we are
equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving,
favours. Yet, of course, the doer of the favour is the firmer friend of
the two, in order by continued kindness to keep the recipient in his
debt; while the debtor feels less keenly from the very consciousness
that the return he makes will be a payment, not a free gift. And it is
only the Athenians, who, fearless of consequences, confer their benefits
not from calculations of expediency, but in the confidence of
liberality.
"In
short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas, while I
doubt if the world can produce a man who, where he has only himself to
depend upon, is equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a
versatility, as the Athenian. [JS19]And
that this is no mere boast thrown out for the occasion, but plain matter
of fact, the power of the state acquired by these habits proves. For
Athens alone of her contemporaries is found when tested to be greater
than her reputation, and alone gives no occasion to her assailants to
blush at the antagonist by whom they have been worsted, or to her
subjects to question her title by merit to rule. 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[JS20];
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. Such is the Athens for which these men, in the
assertion of their resolve not to lose her, nobly fought and died; and
well may every one of their survivors be ready to suffer in her cause.
"Indeed
if I have dwelt at some length upon the character of our country, it has
been to show that our stake in the struggle is not the same as theirs
who have no such blessings to lose, and also that the
panegyric of the men over whom I am now speaking might be by definite
proofs established[JS21].
That panegyric is now in a great measure complete; for the Athens that I
have celebrated is only what the heroism of these and their like have
made her, men whose fame, unlike that of most Hellenes, will be found to
be only commensurate with their deserts. And if a test of worth be
wanted, it is to be found in their closing scene, and this not only in
cases in which it set the final seal upon their merit, but also in those
in which it gave the first intimation of their having any. For there is
justice in the claim that steadfastness in his country's battles should
be as a cloak to cover a man's other imperfections; since the good
action has blotted out the bad, and his merit as a citizen more than
outweighed his demerits as an individual. But none of these allowed
either wealth with its prospect of future enjoyment to unnerve his
spirit, or poverty with its hope of a day of freedom and riches to tempt
him to shrink from danger. No,
holding that vengeance upon their enemies was more to be desired than
any personal blessings, and reckoning this to be the most glorious of
hazards, they joyfully determined to accept the risk, to make sure of
their vengeance, and to let their wishes wait; and while committing to
hope the uncertainty of final success, in the business before them they
thought fit to act boldly and trust in themselves. Thus choosing to die
resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonour,
but met danger face to face, and after one brief moment, while at the
summit of their fortune, escaped, not from their fear, but from their
glory.[JS22]
"So died
these men as became Athenians. You, their survivors, must determine to
have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray that
it may have a happier issue. And not contented with ideas derived only
from words of the advantages which are bound up with the defence of your
country, though these would furnish a valuable text to a speaker even
before an audience so alive to them as the present, you
must yourselves realize the power of Athens, and feed your eyes upon her
from day to day, till love of her fills your hearts; and then, when all
her greatness shall break upon you, you must reflect that it was by
courage, sense of duty, and a keen feeling of honour in action that men
were enabled to win all this, and that no personal failure in an
enterprise could make them consent to deprive their country of their
valour, but they laid it at her feet as the most glorious contribution
that they could offer[JS23].
[JS24]For
this offering of their lives made in common by them all they each of
them individually received that renown which never grows old, and for a
sepulchre, not so much that in which their bones have been deposited,
but that noblest of shrines wherein their glory is laid up to be
eternally remembered upon every occasion on which deed or story shall
call for its commemoration. 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. These take as your model and, judging happiness to be the fruit of
freedom and freedom of valour, never decline the dangers of war. [JS25]For
it is not the miserable that would most justly be unsparing of their
lives; these have nothing to hope for: it is rather they to whom
continued life may bring reverses as yet unknown, and to whom a fall, if
it came, would be most tremendous in its consequences. And surely, to a
man of spirit, the degradation of cowardice must be immeasurably more
grievous than the unfelt death which strikes him in the midst of his
strength and patriotism!
"Comfort,
therefore, not condolence, is what I have to offer to the parents of the
dead who may be here. [JS26]Numberless
are the chances to which, as they know, the life of man is subject; but
fortunate indeed are they who draw for their lot a death so glorious as
that which has caused your mourning, and to whom life has been so
exactly measured as to terminate in the happiness in which it has been
passed. Still I know that this is a hard saying, especially when those
are in question of whom you will constantly be reminded by seeing in the
homes of others blessings of which once you also boasted: for grief is
felt not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for the
loss of that to which we have been long accustomed. Yet you who are
still of an age to beget children must bear up in the hope of having
others in their stead; not only will they help you to forget those whom
you have lost, but will be to the state at once a reinforcement and a
security; for never can a fair or just policy be expected of the citizen who does
not, like his fellows, bring to the decision the interests and
apprehensions of a father[JS27].
While those of you who have passed your prime must congratulate
yourselves with the thought that the best part of your life was
fortunate, and that the brief span that remains will be cheered by the
fame of the departed. For it is only the love of honour that never grows
old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices
the heart of age and helplessness.
"Turning
to the sons or brothers of the dead, I see an arduous struggle before
you. When a man is gone, all are wont to praise him, and should your
merit be ever so transcendent, you will still find it difficult not
merely to overtake, but even to approach their renown. The living have
envy to contend with, while those who are no longer in our path are
honoured with a goodwill into which rivalry does not enter. On the other
hand, if I must say anything on the subject of female excellence to
those of you who will now be in widowhood, it will be all comprised in
this brief exhortation. Great will be your glory in not falling short of
your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least talked of
among the men, whether for good or for bad.
"My
task is now finished. I have performed it to the best of my ability, and
in word, at least, the requirements of the law are now satisfied. If
deeds be in question, those who are here interred have received part of
their honours already, and for the rest, their children will be brought
up till manhood at the public expense: the state thus offers a valuable
prize, as the garland of victory in this race of valour, for the reward
both of those who have fallen and their survivors. And where the rewards
for merit are greatest, there are found the best citizens.
"And
now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your
relatives, you may depart."
Source:
Thucydides
(c.460/455-c.399 BCE): Peloponnesian War, Book 2.34-46
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