_Pericles_.--In what I have heard of your character and your fortune,
illustrious Cosmo, I find a most remarkable resemblance with mine. We
both lived in republics where the sovereign power was in the people; and
by mere civil arts, but more especially by our eloquence, attained,
without any force, to such a degree of authority that we ruled those
tumultuous and stormy democracies with an absolute sway, turned the
tempests which agitated them upon the heads of our enemies, and after
having long and prosperously conducted the greatest affairs in war and
peace, died revered and lamented by all our fellow-citizens.
_Cosmo_.--We have indeed an equal right to value ourselves on that
noblest of empires, the empire we gained over the minds of our
countrymen. Force or caprice may give power, but nothing can give a
lasting authority except wisdom and virtue. By these we obtained, by
these we preserved, in our respective countries, a dominion unstained by
usurpation or blood--a dominion conferred on us by the public esteem and
the public affection. We were in reality sovereigns, while we lived with
the simplicity of private men; and Athens and Florence believed
themselves to be free, though they obeyed all our dictates. This is more
than was done by Philip of Macedon, or Sylla, or Caesar. It is the
perfection of policy to tame the fierce spirit of popular liberty, not by
blows or by chains, but by soothing it into a voluntary obedience, and
bringing it to lick the hand that restrains it.
_Pericles_.--The task can never be easy, but the difficulty was still
greater to me than to you. For I had a lion to tame, from whose
intractable fury the greatest men of my country, and of the whole world,
with all their wisdom and virtue, could not save themselves. Themistocles
and Aristides were examples of terror that might well have deterred me
from the administration of public affairs at Athens. Another impediment
in my way was the power of Cimon, who for his goodness, his liberality,
and the lustre of his victories over the Persians was much beloved by the
people, and at the same time, by being thought to favour aristocracy, had
all the noble and rich citizens devoted to his party. It seemed
impossible to shake so well established a greatness. Yet by the charms
and force of my eloquence, which exceeded that of all orators
contemporary with me; by the integrity of my life, my moderation, and my
prudence; but, above all, by my artful management of the people, whose
power I increased that I might render it the basis and support of my own,
I gained such an ascendant over all my opponents that, having first
procured the banishment of Cimon by ostracism, and then of Thucydides,
another formidable antagonist set up by the nobles against my authority,
I became the unrivalled chief, or rather the monarch, of the Athenian
Republic, without ever putting to death, in above forty years that my
administration continued, one of my fellow-citizens; a circumstance which
I declared, when I lay on my death-bed, to be, in my own judgment, more
honourable to me than all my prosperity in the government of the State,
or the nine trophies erected for so many victories obtained by my
conduct.
_Cosmo_.--I had also the same happiness to boast of at my death. And
some additions were made to the territories of Florence under my
government; but I myself was no soldier, and the Commonwealth I directed
was never either so warlike or so powerful as Athens. I must, therefore,
not pretend to vie with you in the lustre of military glory; and I will
moreover acknowledge that, to govern a people whose spirit and pride were
exalted by the wonderful victories of Marathon, Mycale, Salamis, and
Plataea, was much more difficult than to rule the Florentines and the
Tuscans. The liberty of the Athenians was in your time more imperious,
more haughty, more insolent, than the despotism of the King of Persia.
How great, then, must have been your ability and address that could so
absolutely reduce it under your power! Yet the temper of my countrymen
was not easy to govern, for it was exceedingly factious. The history of
Florence is little else, for several ages, than an account of
conspiracies against the State. In my youth I myself suffered much by
the dissensions which then embroiled the Republic. I was imprisoned and
banished, but after the course of some years my enemies, in their turn,
were driven into exile. I was brought back in triumph, and from that
time till my death, which was above thirty years, I governed the
Florentines, not by arms or evil arts of tyrannical power, but with a
legal authority, which I exercised so discreetly as to gain the esteem of
all the neighbouring potentates, and such a constant affection of all my
fellow-citizens that an inscription, which gave me the title of Father of
my Country, was engraved on my monument by an unanimous decree of the
whole Commonwealth.
_Pericles_.--Your end was incomparably more happy than mine. For you
died rather of age than any violent illness, and left the Florentines in
a state of peace and prosperity procured for them by your counsels. But
I died of the plague, after having seen it almost depopulate Athens, and
left my country engaged in a most dangerous war, to which my advice and
the power of my eloquence had excited the people. The misfortune of the
pestilence, with the inconveniences they suffered on account of the war,
so irritated their minds, that not long before my death they condemned me
to a fine.
_Cosmo_.--It is wonderful that, when once their anger was raised, it went
no further against you! A favourite of the people, when disgraced, is in
still greater danger than a favourite of a king.
_Pericles_.--Your surprise will increase at hearing that very soon
afterwards they chose me their general, and conferred on me again the
principal direction of all their affairs. Had I lived I should have so
conducted the war as to have ended it with advantage and honour to my
country. For, having secured to her the sovereignty of the sea by the
defeat of the Samians, before I let her engage with the power of Sparta,
I knew that our enemies would be at length wearied out and compelled to
sue for a peace, because the city, from the strength of its
fortifications and the great army within it, being on the land side
impregnable to the Spartans, and drawing continual supplies from the sea,
suffered not much by their ravages of the country about it, from whence I
had before removed all the inhabitants; whereas their allies were undone
by the descents we made on their coasts.
_Cosmo_.--You seem to have understood beyond all other men what
advantages are to be drawn from a maritime power, and how to make it the
surest foundation of empire.
_Pennies_.--I followed the plan, traced out by Themistocles, the ablest
politician that Greece had ever produced. Nor did I begin the
Peloponnesian War (as some have supposed) only to make myself necessary,
and stop an inquiry into my public accounts. I really thought that the
Republic of Athens could no longer defer a contest with Sparta, without
giving up to that State the precedence in the direction of Greece and her
own independence. To keep off for some time even a necessary war, with a
probable hope of making it more advantageously at a favourable
opportunity, is an act of true wisdom; but not to make it, when you see
that your enemy will be strengthened, and your own advantages lost or
considerably lessened, by the delay, is a most pernicious imprudence.
With relation to my accounts, I had nothing to fear. I had not embezzled
one drachma of public money, nor added one to my own paternal estate; and
the people had placed so entire a confidence in me that they had allowed
me, against the usual forms of their government, to dispose of large sums
for secret service, without account. When, therefore, I advised the
Peloponnesian War, I neither acted from private views, nor with the
inconsiderate temerity of a restless ambition, but as became a wise
statesman, who, having weighed all the dangers that may attend a great
enterprise, and seeing a reasonable hope of good success, makes it his
option to fight for dominion and glory, rather than sacrifice both to the
uncertain possession of an insecure peace.
_Cosmo_.--How were you sure of inducing so volatile a people to persevere
in so steady a system of conduct as that which you had laid down--a
system attended with much inconvenience and loss to particulars, while it
presented but little to strike or inflame the imagination of the public?
Bold and arduous enterprises, great battles, much bloodshed, and a speedy
decision, are what the multitude desire in every war; but your plan of
operation was the reverse of all this, and the execution of it required
the temper of the Thebans rather than of the Athenians.
_Pericles_.--I found, indeed, many symptoms of their impatience, but I
was able to restrain it by the authority I had gained; for during my
whole Ministry I never had stooped to court their favour by any unworthy
means, never flattered them in their follies, nor complied with their
passions against their true interests and my own better judgment; but
used the power of my eloquence to keep them in the bounds of a wise
moderation, to raise their spirits when too low, and show them their
danger when they grew too presumptuous, the good effects of which conduct
they had happily experienced in all their affairs. Whereas those who
succeeded to me in the government, by their incapacity, their corruption,
and their servile complaisance to the humour of the people, presently
lost all the fruits of my virtue and prudence. Xerxes himself, I am
convinced, did not suffer more by the flattery of his courtiers than the
Athenians, after my decease, by that of their orators and Ministers of
State.
_Cosmo_.--Those orators could not gain the favour of the people by any
other methods. Your arts were more noble--they were the arts of a
statesman and of a prince. Your magnificent buildings (which in beauty
of architecture surpassed any the world had ever seen), the statues of
Phidias, the paintings of Zeuxis, the protection you gave to knowledge,
genius, and abilities of every kind, added as much to the glory of Athens
as to your popularity. And in this I may boast of an equal merit to
Florence. For I embellished that city and the whole country about it
with excellent buildings; I protected all arts; and, though I was not
myself so eloquent or so learned as you, I no less encouraged those who
were eminent in my time for their eloquence or their learning. Marcilius
Ficinus, the second father of the Platonic philosophy, lived in my house,
and conversed with me as intimately as Anaxagoras with you. Nor did I
ever forget and suffer him so to want the necessaries of life as you did
Anaxagoras, who had like to have perished by that unfriendly neglect; but
to secure him at all times from any distress in his circumstances, and
enable him to pursue his sublime speculations unmolested by low cares, I
gave him an estate adjacent to one of my favourite villas. I also drew
to Florence Argiropolo, the most learned Greek of those times, that,
under my patronage, he might teach the Florentine youth the language and
sciences of his country. But with regard to our buildings, there is this
remarkable difference--yours were all raised at the expense of the
public, mine at my own.
_Pericles_.--My estate would bear no profuseness, nor allow me to exert
the generosity of my nature. Your wealth exceeded that of any
particular, or indeed of any prince who lived in your days. The vast
commerce which, after the example of your ancestors, you continued to
carry on in all parts of the world, even while you presided at the helm
of the State, enabled you to do those splendid acts which rendered your
name so illustrious. But I was constrained to make the public treasure
the fund of my bounties; and I thought I could not possibly dispose of it
better in time of peace than in finding employment for that part of the
people which must else have been idle and useless to the community,
introducing into Greece all the elegant arts, and adorning my country
with works that are an honour to human nature; for, while I attended the
most to these civil and peaceful occupations, I did not neglect to
provide, with timely care, against war, nor suffer the nation to sink
into luxury and effeminate softness. I kept our fleets in continual
exercise, maintained a great number of seamen in constant pay, and
disciplined well our land forces. Nor did I ever cease to recommend to
all the Athenians, both by precepts and example, frugality, temperance,
magnanimity, fortitude, and whatever could most effectually contribute to
strengthen their bodies and minds.
_Cosmo_.--Yet I have heard you condemned for rendering the people less
sober and modest, by giving them a share of the conquered lands, and
paying them wages for their necessary attendance in the public assemblies
and other civil functions; but more especially for the vast and
superfluous expense you entailed on the State in the theatrical
spectacles with which you entertained them at the cost of the public.
_Pericles_.--Perhaps I may have been too lavish in some of those
bounties. Yet in a popular State it is necessary that the people should
be amused, and should so far partake of the opulence of the public as not
to suffer any want, which would render their minds too low and sordid for
their political duties. In my time the revenues of Athens were
sufficient to bear this charge; but afterwards, when we had lost the
greatest part of our empire, it became, I must confess, too heavy a
burden, and the continuance of it proved one cause of our ruin.
_Cosmo_.--It is a most dangerous thing to load the State with largesses
of that nature, or indeed with any unnecessary but popular charges,
because to reduce them is almost impossible, though the circumstances of
the public should necessarily demand a reduction. But did not you
likewise, in order to advance your own greatness, throw into the hands of
the people of Athens more power than the institutions of Solon had
entrusted them with, and more than was consistent with the good of the
State?
_Pericles_.--We are now in the regions where Truth presides, and I dare
not offend her by playing the orator in defence of my conduct. I must
therefore acknowledge that, by weakening the power of the court of
Areopagus, I tore up that anchor which Solon had wisely fixed to keep his
Republic firm against the storms and fluctuations of popular factions.
This alteration, which fundamentally injured the whole State, I made with
a view to serve my own ambition, the only passion in my nature which I
could not contain within the limits of virtue. For I knew that my
eloquence would subject the people to me, and make them the willing
instruments of all my desires; whereas the Areopagus had in it an
authority and a dignity which I could not control. Thus by diminishing
the counterpoise our Constitution had settled to moderate the excess of
popular power, I augmented my own. But since my death I have been often
reproached by the Shades of some of the most virtuous and wisest
Athenians, who have fallen victims to the caprice or fury of the people,
with having been the first cause of the injustice they suffered, and of
all the mischiefs perpetually brought on my country by rash undertakings,
bad conduct, and fluctuating councils. They say, I delivered up the
State to the government of indiscreet or venal orators, and to the
passions of a misguided, infatuated multitude, who thought their freedom
consisted in encouraging calumnies against the best servants of the
Commonwealth, and conferring power upon those who had no other merit than
falling in with and soothing a popular folly. It is useless for me to
plead that, during my life, none of these mischiefs were felt; that I
employed my rhetoric to promote none but good and wise measures; that I
was as free from any taint of avarice or corruption as Aristides himself.
They reply that I am answerable for all the great evils occasioned
afterwards by the want of that salutary restraint on the natural levity
and extravagance of a democracy, which I had taken away. Socrates calls
me the patron of Anytus, and Solon himself frowns upon me whenever we
meet.
_Cosmo_.--Solon has reason to do so; for tell me, Pericles, what opinion
would you have of the architect you employed in your buildings if he had
made them to last no longer than during the term of your life?
_Pericles_.--The answer to your question will turn to your own
condemnation. Your excessive liberalities to the indigent citizens, and
the great sums you lent to all the noble families, did in reality buy the
Republic of Florence, and gave your family such a power as enabled them
to convert it from a popular State into an absolute monarchy.
_Cosmo_.--The Florentines were so infested with discord and faction, and
their commonwealth was so void of military virtue, that they could not
have long been exempt from a more ignominious subjection to some foreign
Power if those internal dissensions, with the confusion and anarchy they
produced, had continued. But the Athenians had performed very glorious
exploits, had obtained a great empire, and were become one of the noblest
States in the world, before you altered the balance of their government.
And after that alteration they declined very fast, till they lost all
their greatness.
_Pericles_.--Their constitution had originally a foul blemish in it--I
mean, the ban of ostracism, which alone would have been sufficient to
undo any State. For there is nothing of such important use to a nation
as that men who most excel in wisdom and virtue should be encouraged to
undertake the business of government. But this detestable custom
deterred such men from serving the public, or, if they ventured to do so,
turned even their own wisdom and virtue against them; so that in Athens
it was safer to be infamous than renowned. We are told indeed, by the
advocates for this strange institution, that it was not a punishment, but
meant as a guard to the equality and liberty of the State; for which
reason they deem it an honour done to the persons against whom it was
used; as if words could change the real nature of things, and make a
banishment of ten years, inflicted on a good citizen by the suffrages of
his countrymen, no evil to him, or no offence against justice and the
natural right every freeman may claim--that he shall not be expelled from
any society of which he is a member without having first been proved
guilty of some criminal action.
_Cosmo_.--The ostracism was indeed a most unpardonable fault in the
Athenian constitution. It placed envy in the seat of justice, and gave
to private malice and public ingratitude a legal right to do wrong. Other
nations are blamed for tolerating vice, but the Athenians alone would not
tolerate virtue.
_Pericles_.--The friends to the ostracism say that too eminent virtue
destroys that equality which is the safeguard of freedom.
_Cosmo_.--No State is well modelled if it cannot preserve itself from the
danger of tyranny without a grievous violation of natural justice; nor
would a friend to true freedom, which consists in being governed not by
men but by laws, desire to live in a country where a Cleon bore rule, and
where an Aristides was not suffered to remain. But, instead of remedying
this evil, you made it worse. You rendered the people more intractable,
more adverse to virtue, less subject to the laws, and more to impressions
from mischievous demagogues, than they had been before your time.
_Pericles_.--In truth, I did so; and therefore my place in Elysium,
notwithstanding the integrity of my whole public conduct, and the great
virtues I excited, is much below the rank of those who have governed
commonwealths or limited monarchies, not merely with a concern for their
present advantage, but also with a prudent regard to that balance of
power on which their permanent happiness must necessarily depend.