[Born at Athens, B.C. 494. Died B.C. 429. Aged 65.]
For forty years at the head of the administration in Athens; twenty-five
years in conjunction with others, and fifteen years alone. He was the
pupil of Anaxagoras, from whom he derived philosophic equanimity and
lofty principle. The eloquence of Pericles was a grand characteristic of
the man, but not the grandest. When dying, he affirmed that his greatest
honour had been, “that no Athenian, through his means, had ever put on
mourning.” He promised the Athenians immortality; he secured it by means
of the memorials of beauty which he left on the Athenian soil, now
upwards of two thousand years ago. His oratory was rapid, penetrating,
condensed, energetic, persuasive, graceful, and fertile in resources.
His boundless influence was never degraded to unworthy purposes.
Architecture, sculpture, and literature, reached their highest point
under his protecting hand. Phidias was his director of public works;
Sophocles and Euripides were his favoured friends. He governed with
moderation and justice, and eschewing all aggression for the mere sake
of conquest, endeavoured by every means to consolidate the dominion and
to confirm the maritime power of Athens. His eloquence was the golden
sceptre of his rule. He died in the great plague of Athens.
[Pliny mentions a painted portrait of him by Aristolaus, and
Christodorus states that his statue in bronze existed at
Constantinople. Phidias, it is said, sculptured the portrait of his
illustrious patron on the shield of the great Minerva, and the busts
of him are taken from this figure. This bust is from the British
Museum. There is also a bust of Pericles in the Vatican, which has the
name on the breast. He wears the Corinthian helmet.]