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. Perseverance in what men called honor was popular with none, it was so uncertain whether they would be spared to attain the object; but it was settled that present enjoyment, and all that contributed to it, was both honorable and useful…Fear of gods or law of man there was none to restrain them.”[14], So much for the Athenian society of Pericles in which “fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws…whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.”[15]. Pericles says “public life falls to reputation for capacity class considerations…” this line contains a repetition of the letter c. Because the letter c is repeated, it forms a piece of a repetition. nelson_o. 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. 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. odalis18. Such metaphors occur principally in two sections of the History: the Funeral Oration in book 2 and the account of the Sicilian Expedition in book 6. Oration About Environment ... in funeral speech) – Spartans are better fighters * So many people behind the walls, ... metaphors, imagery and anaphora. The classics scholar Loren Samons points out in The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Pericles that “few authorities have emphasized the primary thrust of the speech, which is thoroughly militaristic, collectivist, and unstintingly nationalistic…even Pericles’ famous proclamation that Athens was a school for Greece rests on a military foundation.” Samons even goes so far as to speculate that Pericles’ introduction of democratic values into his speech was “a significant innovation, asking the Athenians to conceptualize themselves in a new or unusual way.”[10] While the funeral oration clearly does include many themes and concepts other than mere celebration of Athenian democracy, I take issue with the amount of nuance that Samons ascribes to Pericles himself, especially knowing that Thucydides probably did not record the oration word-for-word. Pericles (around 495-429 B.C.E.) And like the President, Pericles used the occasion to extol the virtues of democracy – his nation’s virtuous and celebrated form of government.[2]. in the Periclean Funeral Oration S. SARA MONOSON Northwestern University AT A KEY POINT IN THE FUNERAL oration Thucydides has Pericles urge his fellow citizens "to gaze, day after day, upon the power of the city and become her lovers (erastai)" (II.43.1).1 This article investigates the implications and resonances of Pericles' use of this metaphor. 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. Pericles's funeral oration was recorded by the Athenian historian Thucydides (c. 460–c. The first evocation of eros occurs precisely in the epitaphios logos which Pericles delivered for the men who had fallen in the first year of the war with Sparta. Thucydides (c.460-400BC) and Sophocles (490-406BC) would have known one another in Athens, although it is hard to say much more than that for a lack of evidence. However, it started as an ancient Greek art form. And where the rewards for merit are greatest, there are found the best citizens. Instructors: CLICK HERE to request a free trial account (only available to college instructors) Primary Source Readers. Upon analyzing the specifics of Athens’ moral and social breakdown that Thucydides describes, the ironic parallels with Pericles’ Funeral Oration become clear. Sinking of the SS Montebello by George H. Cooper. used in both BY and IHAD? In the Funeral Oration Pericles’ contrasts between Athens and Sparta challenge Sparta’s prestige in every 18 95507_01_Superpower:Layout 1 29/5/18 11:06 Page 19 Sparta in Pericles’ funeral oration aspect of life on the grounds that the Athenians can do everything the Spartans can, but can do … A great amount of lives of Athenians were lost, and the city of Athens held a public funeral to keep up with the traditions. Pericles delivered this speech in the year 431 BC. 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. Despite the words of Pericles, Athens would suffer greatly in the coming years. "Funeral Oration" supposedly delivered in winter, 430 (from Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, book 2) Retold in English by Stan Rummel Section 01: Thucydides' Introduction In the same winter the Athenians gave a funeral at the public cost to those who had first fallen in this war. 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. Pericles begins his oration by setting out the difficulty of his task: to please those in the audience who were close to the dead with tales of glory and honor without dismissing the citizens of Athens, who Pericles claims only want to hear praise of the dead so long as they can feel satisfied that they are equally great, (II.35). A while after Sparta made peace treaties to stop the war, Athens accepted, as the had new leaders. Careful not to step on anyone's toes... good line! (Casey Griffin) 2. A funeral oration is a lengthy speech given at a funeral. Great Questions on the Funeral Oration of Pericles 1. 31 - 40 of 500 . torts, “Like Pericles, I lost them ‘for what was necessary.’”5 Aristotle in his Rhetoriccites Pericles for his use of two striking similes and two arresting metaphors. Pericles’ metaphor in the funeral oration, that the Athenians should become erastai of the city, would have been original and striking to his audience, as the connotations of eros in politics had normally been divisive and pejorative. Homer’s Iliad, (around 700BC), commen… “[Our] administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy,” Thucydides’ Pericles declares. Among these is carried one empty bier decked for the missing, that is, for those whose bodies could not be recovered. Pericles’ Funeral Oration Analysis: Athenian… This piece is a funeral oratory, a speech written to honor fallen Athenian heroes at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War. “Comfort, therefore, not condolence, is what I have to offer to the parents of the dead who may be here. It follows the English translation of the full text transcript of Pericles' Funeral Oration, according to the Greek historian Thucydides. The Funeral Oration was recorded by Thucydides in book two of his History of the Peloponnesian War Although Thucydides records the speech in the first person as if it were a word for word record of what Pericles said, there can be little doubt that Thucydides has edited the speech at … In the same winter the Athenians gave a funeral at the public cost to those who had first fallen in this war. OTHER SETS BY THIS CREATOR. 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. These take as your model and, judging happiness to be the fruit of freedom and freedom of valour, never decline the dangers of war. statement of the value of democracy. 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. ( Log Out /  “My task is now finished. The seven submarines of 1st Submarine Squadron were given a new task, and were to bring the war in… MOST POPULAR ESSAYS AND PAPERS at #1 ESSAYS COLLECTION ONLINE. Rather than give in to a tendency to portray the Athenians or Pericles as legendary figures or moral heroes, he crafts his writing in a way that reminds the reader of the Athenians’ humanity and their susceptibility to normal human weaknesses and impulses. Almost immediately following Pericles’ Funeral Oration, delivered in the winter of 431, the plague breaks out. Pericles' Funeral Oration Having lent Mr Howell my copy of "A War Like No Other", and in the week of Memorial Day in the US, Thucydides has been lurking in the back of my mind. Rhetorical Analysis of Pericles’ Funeral Oration Pericles’ Funeral Oration has been considered the most important speech because after the Peloponnesian war between Sparta and Athens, Pericles’ eulogy was strongly comforting for the Athenian polis. It uses repetition to make Athens sound like a different and unique place. Pericles’ funeral oration is long and complex. After his failure there, he was exiled from his country for twenty years. At these funerals, a citizen was chosen to give a speech at this event. ― Pericles, The Funeral Oration of Pericles. 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. c.490 BCE from Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. 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. In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours. famous passage in this respect: Pericles’ exhortation in the funeral oration to become erastai of Athens. His funeral oration was perhaps the first great speech to be written and prepared for the public, and set the standard for all orations to come. Ideas are always more [important] than battles.”[1] In Book Two of his History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides writes of an Athenian speech – delivered in 431 B.C.E. I have performed it to the best of my ability, and in word, at least, the requirements of the law are now satisfied. One of the most famous of these speeches is Pericles' Funeral Oration.In this speech, Pericles mourned the deaths of soldiers in the beginning battles of the Peloponnesian War. The reader who would interpret the Funeral Oration as a resounding war cry for the excellence of democracy need only read Thucydides’ next few chapters to realize the futility of such an attempt. probably in the country house of his father in the plain near Athens. It also used a hyperbole which was "We throw open our city to the world". 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. In the funeral speech he gave probably in 439 over the dead in the Samian War, Pericles said that “the youth who had perished in the war had vanished If you’re in high school or college and you’re writing about Pericles’ Funeral Oration, do not use this for your research! Post was not sent - check your email addresses! funeral oration in isolation from Pericles. He was especially fond of Pericles’ Funeral Oration… Bosworth, ‘The historical context of Thucydides’ Funeral Oration’, Journal of Hellenic Studies 120 (2000) Nicole Loraux, The Invention of Athens: the funeral oration in the classical city (Cambridge MA, 1986) Jennifer Talbot Roberts, ‘Mourning and democracy’, in Katherine Harloe & Neville Morley (eds. Download Citation | On Nov 1, 2000, AB Bosworth published The Historical Context of Thucydides' Funeral Oration | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate Totally Free Essays, Research Papers, Term Papers, Courseworks Building on the claim that Thucydides associates each of these approaches to mourning with a specific Pericles, the essay traces the genealogical connection between Pericles' Funeral Oration and Lincoln's Address before asking which Pericles was present—and thus, which kind of mourning was displayed—at Gettysburg and at Ground Zero. In the same winter the Athenians gave a funeral at the public cost to those who had first fallen in this war. He begins the oration by discussing the difficulty of honouring the dead, for to speak too little will offend those who knew them best and to speak too highly will cause envy among those … Thucydides’ description of the events is harrowing: “…people in good health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and redness and inflammation in the eyes, the inward parts, such as a throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and fetid breath…the nature of the distemper was such as to baffle all description, and its attacks almost to grievous for human nature to endure… the birds and beasts that prey upon human bodies either abstained from touching them, or died after tasting them.”[11], Despite the vividness of his physical depictions (based in large part on his own experience suffering from the disease), Thucydides is not seeking to provide a simple scientific retelling of the Plague. It is a subject that admits not the flights of fancy, nor the charms of eloquence. …he spoke as follows: But what is more inspiring is the way Pericles delivered the speech in the Greek famous War. While a remarkably objective and credible historian for his time, Thucydides, by his own admission, uses certain occasions – namely speeches (including Pericles’ Funeral Oration) – to advance his opinion on events. Additionally, throughout the “Gettysburg Address” and “Funeral Oration” several types of rhetorical devices are found. 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. Thucydides views Pericles’ style of leadership as critical to the success of Athens’ war effort, and attributes Athens’ eventual defeat to their failure to heed Pericles’ advice after his untimely death. THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION – FRANCE. “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. , ‘ The general purport of Pericles' Funeral Oration and last speech ’, Hermes 123 (1995) 404 –25,Google Scholar viewing the speech as a general answer by Pericles to critics of the war, who might deride the nugatory gains of the first year of the war. by the leader of Athens. Barbarossa to ‘Berlog’ – Soviet Air Force, Rome Military mid-fourth century to the mid-third century BC, Rommel Recaptures Cyrenaica, January 1942, Russian Weapons, that are currently in service…, A Lesson of History: The Luftwaffe and Barbarossa. 3 examples of metaphors/fig. 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. ( Log Out /  Log in to see the full document and commentary. 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. 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. Excerpt from Assessment : Pericles' Funeral Oration Pericles, the most revolutionary figure ever found in the history of Ancient Greece was born of a distinguished family about 494 B.C. And happen so, Pericles was chosen to give at this funeral oration, not knowing that it would become one of the most famous speech of all time. 1. What kinds of Rhetorical Devices were used in this speech? Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. In the “Gettysburg Address” Lincoln employs many rhetorical devices such as repetition, alliteration and metaphors. Did this speech inspire others? 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. Funeral oration of Pericles. 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. In the Funeral Oration Pericles’ contrasts between Athens and Sparta challenge Sparta’s prestige in every 18 95507_01_Superpower:Layout 1 29/5/18 11:06 Page 19 Sparta in Pericles’ funeral oration aspect of life on the grounds that the Athenians can do everything the Spartans can, but can do it even better. 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. I hope it motivates you to read Thucydides for yourself and/or look up the books I cited in the endnotes. “It’s a superinteresting area,” he said, beginning a discussion of Pericles’ funeral oration and the importance of honoring the legacies of those fallen in battle. He hardly assumed it would be remembered or studied after he finished speaking, but as Senator Charles Sumner pointed out at Lincoln’s own funeral less than two years later, the president was mistaken. At the end of the first year of the 27-year Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, the Athenian General Pericles gave a panegyric for the dead soldiers of Athens. 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. Change ). The epainesis in Pericles’ oration continues with a remark on arete, that is, the excellence of the dead in battle: But the valor of these men and their peers gave the city her beauty…The death of these, in my judgment, revealed the courage of some at their first encounter, or conformed the others’ established record (Pericles, 21). 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. lang. He celebrates how the Athenians “cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy,” in an attempt to convey how Athenians can possess power and wealth without losing their basically good moral character. Today, I read The Funeral Oration of Pericles. This famous speech was given by the Athenian leader Pericles Social Movements Exam 2: Quotes Only 46 Terms. Far from eulogizing Pericles in the Funeral Oration, Pericles is subtly depicted as a tyrant, a demagogue, a despot who became a despot by his exploitation of the erotic character of humans—an erotic character which the Athenians unleashed in the Persian Wars and then unleashed over the Mediterranean in a vain and tyrannical bid for an empire. Pericles' Funeral Oration, pertains to the overwhelming opposition of distinguished historians and philologists in the authentic substance of this incomparable funeral speech. This is just a random paper I wrote for an undergraduate history class, is not peer-reviewed, and should not be cited as a credible academic source. Pericles’ stirring description of the valiant and patriotic war dead, whom he calls upon the survivors to emulate, lies in stark contrast with Thucydides’ portrait of “the most terrible feature in the malady,” which was “the dejection which ensued when anyone felt himself sickening, for the despair into which they instantly fell took away their power of resistance, and left them a much easier prey to the disorder.”[13] The validity of Pericles’ celebration of freedom in government and private relations which “does not make us lawless as citizens” and allows the Athenians to “cultivate refinement without extravagance” diminishes significantly in light of Thucydides’ stories of “lawless extravagance which owed its origin to the plague.” He summarizes the moral decline: “Men now did just what they pleased, coolly venturing on what they had formerly done only in a corner…they resolved to spend quickly and enjoy themselves, regarding their lives and riches as alike things of a day. Unlike Lincoln’s address, however, which was documented verbatim immediately and reported in newspapers across the country within twenty-four hours, Pericles’ oration is brought to us by Thucydides’ pen, writing decades after the speech. “So died these men as became Athenians. The battle itself was less important than the speech. “And now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your relatives, you may depart.”. Such is the manner of the burying; and throughout the whole of the war, whenever the occasion arose, the established custom was observed. Nevertheless, certain biases are evident upon study of his work. 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. His famous “Gettysburg Address” has been analyzed and memorized by schoolchildren for generations. Funerals after such battles were public rituals and Pericles used the occasion to make a classic statement of the value of democracy. What the Greeks called the “plague” ( loimos) features in some memorable passages in Greek literature. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 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. After his account of Pericles’ final speech, he provides a glowing account of Pericles’ character: “Pericles…by his known integrity, was enabled to…lead them instead of being led by them; for as he never sought power by improper means, he was never compelled to flatter them, but, on the contrary, enjoyed so high an estimation that he could afford to anger them by contradiction. The language of Pericles’ Funeral Oration, and its placement adjacent in his history to a description of the plague that killed one-third of Athens’ population, shows that Thucydides intended to use this part of his narrative … Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. 404 BCE) in his History of the Peloponnesian War. Like “A man who has the knowledge but lacks the power to express it is no better off than if he never had any ideas at all.” ― Pericles 3 likes. A deadly disease spread in Athens, that led the leader Pericles to his death, as well as a quarter of the people in the country, yet they continued fighting vigilantly against the Spartans. He included the name and words of Pericles in many of his speeches on art, culture, and education in America. 4 likes. If we look to the laws, 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; 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. ( Log Out /  I feel like the metaphors and similes give the speech that sort of feel. Quotes Pericles Funeral Oration. "Pericles Funeral Oration" Essays and Research Papers . 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. 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. Latin America Final Exam 74 Terms. One such description sits at the very beginning of Western literature. The words epidemic and pandemic are Greek in origin, and they point to the fact that the Greeks of antiquity thought a lot about disease, both in its purely medical sense, and as a metaphor for the broader conduct of human affairs. As a funeral oration, Pericles's speech is a specific form of panegyric called an epitaphion. 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. Analysis of Thucydides’ accounts of Pericles’ Funeral Oration and The Plague, so vividly juxtaposed with one another, leads to the conclusion that Thucydides did indeed have an agenda beyond merely providing a description of historical events. “Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself from business. Its administration favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. 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. Pericles’ funeral oration. Pericles says “public life falls to reputation for capacity class considerations…” this line contains a repetition of the letter c. Because the letter c is repeated, it forms a piece of a repetition. 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.