The notable example of this is Pericles’ funeral oration (2.34 -46). Thucydides tried to justify the inclusion of the speech because the deceased were “the first to die in the war”, however this does not stand as a good enough reason; Funeral orations were not uncommon, and
This essay is about Pericles and the Funeral Oration that he gave to the people of Athens. I believe that he gave the speech to boost morale among the soldiers and the people of Athens. The problem with the speech is that he was not totally truthful, I will describe in this essay why I do not believe that he was not being honest, One of the statements that I do not believe is this, “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” (Halsall). “Pericles himself introduced a bill limiting citizenship to those who had two citizen parents” (Kagan, Ozment, Turner, and Frank 65).
Pericles skipped over the greater achievements of Athens’ past and indicated that it was a theme too well known by his listeners to dwell upon at that time of misfortune. Instead, he primarily aimed to focus on “the road by which we reached our position, the form of government under which our greatness grew, and the national habits out of which it sprang." The speech was not necessarily a glorification of Athens’ achievements; it was a ritualized formality to the Athenian soldiers that fell during the battle of the Peloponnesian War and used to enlighten the spirits of the state still at war. The Peloponnesian War was fought by the empire of Athens against the Peloponnesian area led by Sparta. The war has been conventionally separated into three
Ryan Taylor Professor James Withers Western Civilization I 13 April 2014 Pericles Funeral Oration As was customary in ancient Athens, a public speech was given as a form of eulogy for those who died in war. At the first of these occasions during the Peloponnesian War, the protagonist of this war, Pericles, was chosen for this task. This famous speech has become an important writing that has given historians a glimpse into the culture and customs of that time period. Although Pericles depicted those who died as examples of the perfect Athenian citizen, he was in fact attempting to glorify and justify their deaths and produce a feeling of patriotism in those to whom he spoke in order to continue support for the war and perpetuate his own power. Pericles had a way with the people and gained tremendous support.
The Roman Republic influenced democracy by showing that any other way of ruling is very unfair. I think that the Roman Republic was the most influential to the ideas of today’s democracies. Athens had many philosophers to increase the effectiveness of democracy and reform Athens feared a civil war between the aristocrats and the peasants. The peasants far outnumbered the aristocrats, so they needed to come up with a way to protect themselves from the peasants. Draco was appointed in 632 BCE, but failed to do much at all.
However after Karakazov attempts to assassinate the Tsar in 1866, he becomes much more autocratic, revealing that he had no intention of significantly developing politics, his use of the Zemstvas were in fact to help sustain autocracy, through making local administration more efficient. It can be suggested from this that Alexander II had put the Zemstva Act in place to appease the nobles angered by the Emancipation Act. Alexander III was much more of a successful autocrat. His reactionary attitude led to the reversal of many of his father’s liberal reforms, and was in some cases angered by them. Alexander III re-implements Tsarist form, through the use of repression and terror.
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and was passionate about the virtue ethics, as were a lot of the early philosophers in Greece. He was a student of Plato and wrote on a variety of topics. “Aristotle set the tone of the virtue ethics approach with his observation that in exploring the moral dimension of experience, he said we are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live. A sentiment that echoed Socrates’ commitment to moral action.” (Chaffee, 2013, p. 482). Aristotle believed virtue ethics was the cultivation of a virtuous person to be the goal of ethics.
Pericles Pericles, son of Xanthippus and Agariste, was an Athenian democratic who lived from 495 to 429 BCE, and died due to a plague that raged through Athens following the Peloponnesian War. He was one of the earliest believers in history of democratic government, and is known for his efforts in rebuilding Athens after the Persian Wars. He was the elected by the citizens of his state to be the military leader of Athens during the war against Sparta. Since Sparta was not a democratic government, Pericles really wanted to win the war to prove that democracy was the most successful type of government. He even spoke out at a funeral for Athenian soldiers who died in the battle, and explained that the survival of Athenian democracy depended on this war.
The rhetorical devices used in Brutus’s great speech offer tricks that we find in many great political speeches. For example, “believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour”. Brutus repeatedly refers to himself, wanting to persuade the crowd that because he is an honorable man, what he did was right. He also praises Caesar, which makes it okay in the eyes of the audience. We see this now when a politician will amend his opponent, even though he has devastated him just previously, this is ethos.
It would also not have been popular amongst the American people as the majority did not despise communism so much that war was a possibility and so the idea did not have the peoples backing. Another factor which meant that the cold war was not inevitable by 1945 was the fact that the current leaders Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill were holding peaceful negotiations including the naughty document a document that was drawn up in Greece between Stalin and Churchill before the end of the war to divide of the land they had won. This suggests that at this time cold war was completely avoidable. Not only were the countries willing to be peaceful but they even began negotiating the terms of their victory and were able to agree on the division of Europe temporarily. Though they began they agreed upon the divisions they had made after 1945 this became a large cause of tension the most famous being the berlin wall which was an attempt by the communists to starve supplies from western berlin.