Analyzing Pericles Rhetoric Of Thucydides

One of the greatest known phenomenons ever produced by greek literature, was the incorporation of the two particles men and de. These were created with the intention to indirectly designate opposites in writing, allowing the two contrasting ideas to achieve an equilibrium, uncovering the truth somewhere in the middle. At the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles delivers an oration speech in which he explains what he believes the nature of Athens to be. In the following years, Thucydides gives a report of the Plague of 430, regarding the state of Athens. With a significant comprehension of both accounts, we can generate a accurate depiction of the condition of Athens. In order to produce this understanding, I will first delve into the rhetoric of Pericles speech, then turn my attention to Thucydides account of of the plague that ravished Attica.

As the first year of the war
Pericles, being the man of approved “wisdom and eminent reputation,” was chosen by the state to administer an appropriate eulogy. He begins his Oration by commending all those who contributed their lives to defending the Athenian Empire. Quickly after his appraisal, Pericles transitions into glorifying the democratic institutions in which Athens was founded upon. “And if our more remote ancestors deserve praise, much more do our own fathers, who added to their inheritance the empire which we now possess, and spared no to be able to leave their acquisitions to us of the present generation.” (2.36, PG. 112) Pericles continues by describing how democracy not only exhibits freedom in government, but also in ordinary life, which in turn allowed the public to pursue means of