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| | This is an excerpt from Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War translated
by Richard Crawley
The numbers in brackets refer to the book, chapter, and paragraph of
The Peloponnesian War. I have added the numbers at the beginning of each
paragraph.
Introduction by Thucydides
(1) [2.34.1] 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. [2.34.2] 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. [2.34.3] 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. [2.34.4] Any citizen or stranger who pleases, joins in the procession: and
the female relatives are there to wail at the burial.
[2.34.5] The dead are laid in the public sepulchre in the most beautiful
suburb of the city, in which those who fall in war are always buried; with the
exception of those slain at Marathon, who for their singular and extraordinary
valor were interred on the spot where they fell. [2.34.6] 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. [2.34.7] Such is the manner the burying; and throughout the whole of
the war, whenever the occasion arose, the established custom was observed. [2.34.8] 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:
The Speech of Pericles
(2) [2.35.1] `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 honors also shown by deeds; 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.
[2.35.2] 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. 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 fulness 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. [2.35.3] 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
(3) [2.36.1] I shall begin with our ancestors: it is both just and proper that
they should have the honor 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 valor. [2.36.2] 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. [2.36.3] 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 vigor 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. [2.36.4] That part of our history which tells of the military achievements
which gave us our several possessions, or of the ready valor 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; 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.
(4) [2.37.1] Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we
are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration
favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. 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. [2.37.2] The freedom 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 neighbor 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. [2.37.3] 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.
(5) [2.38.1] Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself
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; [2.38.2] while the magnitude of our city draws the produce of the world into
our harbor, so that to the Athenian the fruits of other countries are as
familiar a luxury as those of his own.
(6) [2.39.1] If we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from
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. [2.39.2] In proof of this it may be noticed that the Lacedemoninans
(Spartans) do not invade our country alone, but bring with them all their
confederates; while we Atthenians advance unsupported into the territory of a
neighbor, and fighting upon a foreign soil usually vanquish with ease men who
are defending their homes. [2.39.3] Our united force was never yet encountered by any enemy, because we
have at once to attend to our marine and to despatch 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. [2.39.4] And yet if with habits not of labor 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.
(7) [2.40.1] 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. [2.40.2] 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, 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 at all.
[2.40.3] Again, in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of
daring and deliberation, 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.
[2.40.4] In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by
conferring not by receiving favors. Yet, of course, the doer of the favor 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.
[2.40.5] And it is only the Athenians who, fearless of consequences,
confer their benefits not from calculations of expediency, but in the confidence
of liberality.
(8) [2.41.1] 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. [2.41.2] 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.
[2.41.3] 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. [2.41.4] 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. [2.41.5] 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 well every
one of their survivors be ready to suffer in her cause.
(9) [2.42.1] 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. [2.42.2] 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 at 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 the 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.
[2.42.3] 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.
[2.42.4] 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 dishonor, 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.
(10) [2.43.1] So died these men as became Athenians. You, their survivors, must
determine to have as unaltering 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 honor 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 valor, but they laid
it at her feet as the most glorious contribution that they could offer. [2.43.2] 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 fall for its commemoration. [2.43.3] 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.
[2.43.4] These take as your model, and judging happiness to be the fruit of
freedom and freedom of valor, never decline the dangers of war. [2.43.5] 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. [2.43.6] 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!
(11) [2.44.1] Comfort, therefore, not condolence, is what I have to offer to the
parents of the dead who may be here. 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. [2.44.2] 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. [2.44.3] 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. [2.44.4] 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 honor that never grows old; and honor it is, not
gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness.
(12) [2.45.1] 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 honored with a goodwill into
which rivalry does not enter. [2.45.2] 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.
(13) [2.46.1] My task is now finished. I have performed it to the best of my
ability, and in words, 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
honors already, and I 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 valor, 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. [2.46.2] And now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your
relatives, you may depart.'
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