From Pericles’
Funeral Oration
"For it is hard to speak properly upon a subject where
it is even difficult to convince your hearers that you are speaking the truth.
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. 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.
"Our
constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a
pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favors the many
instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. 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. The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends
also to our ordinary life.
"If
we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from our antagonists. 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment