Kleon And Pericles Comparison

After Pericles’ death, Thucydides foreshadows the plight of all later leaders, noting they were unable to rule the people as Pericles had, instead they “managed all these affairs in the opposite way” and “resorted to handing over affairs to the people’s pleasure” (2.65), resulting in frequent missteps. Although this is presented to the reader, they still search for hope as the later leaders struggle to find the perfect balance of rationality and wisdom Pericles had achieved. There are frequent similarities between Pericles and his successors, but for Kleon, those similarities do not align him closer to the greatness of Pericles but rather highlight their differences. Before his first speech, Pericles is introduced as “the ablest in both speaking and acting” (1.139). Likewise, Kleon is introduced as “the most violent of the
In contrast, Kleon was opposed by Diodotus and eventually lost the debate (3.40), showing he was not as powerful an orator as his predecessor. Thucydides is also able to get across his view on the Athenian democracy, arguing that while Pericles was the leader, it was “in name a democracy [and] became in actuality rule by the first man” (2.65). However, after Pericles, it became more of a fight for a leadership position, each man trying to gain the confidence and support of the people by giving in a little to their wants (2.65). In this sense, it ventured even farther from a democracy to mob rule where all leaders either concede to the people or act in self-interest (2.65). Using Pericles and Kleon as counterparts, Thucydides presents two ends of the Athenian democracy, yet neither is a democracy in it’s truest form, implying Thucydides does not think that there is a true democracy in Athens, but rather a better version, that being Pericles, and a worse one, that of