Pericles was a pupil of Zeno the Eleatic, and perfected a species of refutative catch which was sure to bring an opponent to grief. But the man who most consorted with Pericles and did most to exalt the dignity of his character, was Anaxagoras the Clazomenian, whom men of that day used to call ‘Nous,’ either because they admired that comprehension of his; or because he was the first to enthrone in the universe, not Chance, nor Necessity, but Mind (Nous), as the source of its orderly arrangement.
His personal appearance was unimpeachable, except that his head was rather long and out of due proportion. For this reason the images of him, almost all of them, wear helmets, because the artists, as it would seem, were not willing to reproach him with deformity. The comic poets of Attica used to call him ‘Schinocephalus,’ or Squill-head.
Virtue and Dignity
The virtues of Pericles consists especially in his gentleness and rectitude, and by his ability to endure the follies of the people and his colleagues in office, he proved of the greatest service to his country.
A color is suited to the eye if its freshness, and its pleasantness as well, stimulates and nourishes the vision; and so our intellectual vision must be applied to such objects as, by their very charm, invite it onward to its own proper good. Such objects are to be found in virtuous deeds; these implant in those who search them out a great and zealous eagerness which leads to imitation.
Conversely, many times, while we delight in the work, we despise the workman, as, for instance, in the case of performances, we take a delight in them, but performers we regard as illiberal and vulgar folk. So Philip of Macedon once said to his son Alexander, who, as the wine went round, plucked the strings charmingly and skilfully, “Art not ashamed to pluck the strings so well?”
Pericles’ Vision for Athens
Pericles’ vision for Athens was the exact opposite of Lycurgus’ Sparta. Athens fell less than 30 years after Pericles’ death, whereas Sparta lasted almost 500 years after Lycurgus.
That which gave most pleasure and ornament to the city of Athens, and the greatest admiration and even astonishment to all strangers, and that which now is Greece’s only evidence that the power she boasts of and her ancient wealth are no romance or idle story, was his construction of the public and sacred buildings.
They converted the overplus of its wealth to such undertakings, as would hereafter give them eternal honor, and for the present freely supply all the inhabitants with plenty. With their variety of workmanship and of occasions for service, which summon all arts and trades and employ all hands, they do actually put the whole city, in a manner, into state-pay.
The works of Pericles were created in a short time for all time. Each one of them, in its beauty, was even then and at once antique; but in the freshness of its vigor it is, even to the present day, recent and newly wrought. Such is the bloom of perpetual newness, as it were, upon these works of his, which makes them ever to look untouched by time, as though the unfaltering breath of an ageless spirit had been infused into them.
On the Problem with Historiography
Some men devoted their whole lives to mockery. They were ever ready to sacrifice the reputation of their superiors to envy and spite, as to some evil genius.
So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of anything by history. On the one hand, those who afterwards write it find long periods of time intercepting their view; on the other hand, contemporary records, partly through envy and ill-will, partly through favor and flattery, pervert and distort truth.
Natural Causes and Signs
Both the natural philosopher and seer are in the right. The one correctly divined the cause, the other the object or purpose. It was the province of the one to observe how and why anything happens; of the other to declare for what purpose anything happens, and what it means.
And those who declare that the discovery of the cause, in any phenomenon, does away with the meaning, do not perceive that they are doing away not only with divine portents, but also with signs and signals of human art and concert. For instance, the clashings of quoits, fire-beacons, and the shadows on sun-dials. Each of these has its cause, and by that cause and contrivance is a sign of something else.
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References:
- Plutarch. Plutarch’s Lives Volume 1. Trans. John Dryden. Ed. Arthur Hugh Clough. New York: Modern Library, 2001.
- Plutarch. “Life of Pericles”. Perseus Digital Library. Accessed April 11, 2018. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0055.
- Plutarch. “Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans.” Ebooks @ Adelaide. March 06, 2014. Accessed April 11, 2018. https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/plutarch/lives.