In the history of ancient Greece the half century included between the
years 480 and 430 B. C. is called the Age of Pericles. During forty
years of this period Pericles was the political leader of Athens. Under
his guidance the city reached the height of her power as the capital of
an empire composed of tributary states. Nor was political power the
chief glory of Athens at this time. She was the centre of arts and
science for the whole world. This was the age of great Greek literature,
when [AE]schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides wrote their immortal dramas. It
was also the age of great oratory, when the Athenians constantly heard
"the purest lessons of patriotism put forth in the loftiest forms of
eloquence." Finally, it was the age of great art, when architecture and
sculpture attained perfection and when Phidias, the foremost Greek
sculptor, produced his masterpieces.
Pericles was the dominating spirit in all this brilliant company. It was
his able statesmanship which made and executed the ambitious plans for
the aggrandizement of the city. It was, moreover, his generalship which
carried out successfully so many military expeditions. His eloquence
gave him great influence over the people. He had the art of controlling
men and moving their passions as a musician plays on the strings of his
instrument. Upon his return from the Samian war he delivered a
remarkable funeral oration on those who had fallen in battle. Still
again, his oration in honor of the heroes of the Peloponnesian war was a
noble eulogy of Athens and the Athenians.
The part of Pericles' career which interests us most in our study of
Greek art is his zeal in beautifying Athens with works of architecture
and sculpture. He covered the Acropolis, as the great hill in Athens was
called, with beautiful buildings richly adorned with sculpture. He
appointed Phidias superintendent of all the public edifices, and
employed the most skilled workmen. Besides many temples, a theatre for
music, called an _odeum_, was built, and Pericles introduced into the
Panathenaic festival a contest in music held in this place. In addition
to the public buildings erected, Pericles caused a long wall to be built
to surround the city with fortifications.
It may be supposed that all these improvements cost a great deal of
money, and there were not lacking men who criticised Pericles for
extravagance in the use of public funds. In an assembly of the people,
the great statesman called upon them to say if they thought he had spent
too much. "Yes," came the answer. "Then," said he, "be it charged to my
account, not yours, only let the edifices be inscribed with my name, not
that of the people of Athens." At this they cried out that he might
spend all he pleased of the public funds, and the criticism was
silenced. The story shows the quick wit of the orator, as well as his
knowledge of human nature. He knew he was safe in appealing to the pride
of the people in their city.
At the close of his long career Pericles was seized with the plague, and
lay sick unto death. As his friends gathered about his death-bed they
recounted his great deeds and many victories. Suddenly he interrupted
them by exclaiming that they were praising only those qualities in which
he was no greater than other men. In his own estimate, the most
honorable trait of his character was that "no Athenian through his means
had ever put on mourning."
Pericles was in fact a true patriot and a benefactor of his people. In
the administration of public affairs he showed an upright and honorable
character. Though all his life handling the public funds and increasing
the wealth of the state, it is said that he added not one drachma to his
own estate. He managed his private fortune with great prudence and
dispensed many charities to the needy. His manners were calm and
moderate, and he never gave way to envy or anger. His biographer,
Plutarch, has written of him that "where severity was required, no man
was ever more moderate, or if mildness was necessary, no man better kept
up his dignity than Pericles."
Pericles was a man of fine and striking presence, with a countenance
cast in the mould we have come to know as the typical Greek. His head
was somewhat abnormally long, and the nickname "onion head" was given
him on this account. Plutarch says that this peculiarity accounts for
the fact that he was always represented in portraits as wearing a
helmet.
We have reason to believe that the bust reproduced in our frontispiece
was made soon after his successful war against Samos. It represents him
then in the fullness of his manhood and at the height of his success and
popularity. The handsome face is full of refinement and shows the calm,
equable temperament which made him a leader. His qualities of
statesmanship strike us most forcibly in the portrait. We should hardly
suspect that this was a great military commander. Yet that here is a
master of men, we can easily believe. One can imagine him standing
before a great multitude, moving them with the power of his eloquence.