27. Pericles. Athenian Statesman.
[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.]
28. Pisistratus. “Tyrant” of Athens.[30]
[Born about B.C. 612. Died at Athens, B.C. 527.]
A prince who made his way to power by questionable means, but who made of power a noble and an exemplary use. When Solon established his constitution, and quitted Athens, Pisistratus headed one of the rival factions that instantly rose up. He seized the citadel of Athens (B.C. 560), but was subsequently driven from the city by the united efforts of his foes. After six years’ absence he regained Athens by a stratagem, but, again expelled, suffered another exile for the space of ten years. He returned for a second time, and vanquished those who opposed him, assumed power, and maintained his position until his death. His rule was moderate, just, and productive of great benefit to the Athenian people. He encouraged literature and the drama, protected religion, and regarded the interests of the poor. To him we owe the first written text of the whole of the poems of Homer. He is also said to have been the first in Greece to collect a library for public use. He gave Athens repose, during which she nourished the elements of her future strength and power.
[From the marble, which has hitherto been called a Pericles, in the Rospigliosi Palace at Rome.]
[30] The title “Tyrant” in the old republics, meant only “absolute monarch.”
29. Periander. “Tyrant” of Corinth.