How are Athena's attempts to reconcile the Furies to the jury's decision similar to the actions of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee described in Desmond Tutu's "Nuremberg or National Amnesia: A Third Way" (p. 450). Are Tutu's motivations for pursuing reconciliation similar to Athena's? Why or why not?
Compare the symbolism in the vase painting of "The Oresteia" with that in "Liberty Leading the People" (p. 494). Are there similarities in the ways that the artists represent argument through images?
WRITING ABOUT THE TEXT
1. Compare the way that Athena treats her opponents with the way politicians treat their political opponents today. Are there elements of Athena's strategy that could improve contemporary political discourse?
Explain how The Eumenides reflects the concerns of people living in the world's first democracy. What elements of democratic government does the text comment upon? Discuss instances of modern democracies grappling with some of the same issues that Aeschylus commented on 2,500 years ago.
Examine Athena's speeches to the Furies as examples of Machiavellian realpolitik (p. 405). Does she combine incentives and disincentives in a way that Machiavelli would see as appropriate?
pericles
The Funeral Oration
[431 BCE]
IN 431 BCE, war broke out between the two most powerful military alliances in the region of Greece: the Delian League, an alliance of Greek city-states led by Athens, and the Peloponnesian League, a similar alliance led by Sparta. The contrast between the two principal city-states could not have been greater. Athens was the world's only democracy. It had an elected assembly, a profitable export (olive oil), a powerful military, and a thriving culture. Sparta, on the other hand, was a rigidly controlled dictatorship in which all citizens were trained exclusively for war. The Peloponnesian War between these two city-states and their allies lasted from 431 to 404 bce, ending with the total defeat of the Athenians and a profound reshaping of the Greek world.
The leader of Athens at the outbreak of the war was Pericles (495-429 bce), who was a skilled orator, a dedicated patron of the arts, and a passionate defender of Athenian democracy. His rule is often seen as both a political and cultural high point, a time in which the city produced such luminaries as the playwrights Aristophanes, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus and the philosopher Socrates. However, many historians also see Pericles as a primary instigator of the Pelo- ponnesian War and the subsequent collapse of the Athenian Empire. Pericles is, therefore, remembered for both creating and helping to destroy the golden age of Athenian civilization.
Much of what historians know about this period comes from History of the Peloponnesian War by the Athenian general Thucydides (circa 460-circa 395 bce). Thucydides was an eyewitness to the events that he chronicled, and most scholars believe that his account is essentially objective, though occasionally pro-Athenian. Along with his own narrative of the war and analysis of its causes, Thucydides included dozens of speeches by both Athenians and Spartans involved in the war. The most famous of these speeches is "The Funeral Oration of Pericles," which Pericles delivered at an annual ceremony to honor Athens's war dead. Here, Pericles departs from the traditional formula for such speeches—rather than simply praising the dead, as was expected of such orations, Pericles praises the city of Athens, condemns its enemies, and makes the case for continuing the war.
One of the most intriguing speculations about the funeral oration is that it was written not by Pericles but by a woman named Aspasia of Miletus. Aspasia's exact status is the subject of much debate. She has been alternately labeled a prostitute, a mistress, and a wife to Pericles. But her influence upon him and his speeches has been commented on by, among others, Plato, Xenophon, Plutarch, and Cicero. In his dialogue "Menexenus" (circa 380 bce), Plato includes a somewhat satirical version of the funeral oration that he attributes directly to Aspasia. The actual involvement of Aspasia in this speech, or in any of Pericles's speeches, is subject to much debate, but the philosophical tradition contains at least some reasonable speculation that the brains behind Athens's greatest statesman may have been a woman.
Pericles's speech provides a good example of the appeal to emotion. The primary emotion that he appeals to is patriotism, the love of one's country. Pericles introduces this topic early on and he uses the superiority of Athens as an organizing principle of the speech.
Most of those who have spoken before me on this occasion have praised the man who added this oration to our customs because it gives honor to those who have died in the wars; yet I would have thought it sufficient that those who have shown their mettle in action should also receive their honor in an action, as now you see they have, in this burial performed for them at public expense, so that the virtue of many does not depend on whether one person is believed to have spoken well or poorly.
It is a hard matter to speak in due measure when there is no firm consensus about the truth. A hearer who is favorable and knows what was done will perhaps think that a eulogy falls short of what he wants to hear and knows to be true; while an ignorant one will find some of the praise to be exaggerated, especially if he hears of anything beyond his own talent—because that would make him envious. Hearing another man praised is bearable only so long as the hearer thinks he could himself have done what he hears. But if a speaker goes beyond that, the hearer soon becomes envious and ceases to believe. Since our ancestors have thought it good, however, I too should follow the custom and endeavor to answer to the desires and opinions of every one of you, as far as I can.
I will begin with our ancestors, since it is both just and fitting that they be given the honor of remembrance at such a time. Because they have always lived in this land, they have so far always handed it down in liberty through their valor to successive generations up to now. They deserve praise; but our fathers deserve even more, for with great toil they acquired our present empire in addition to what they had received, and they delivered it in turn to the present generation. We ourselves who are here now in the prime of life have expanded most parts of the empire; and we have furnished the city with everything it needs to be self-sufficient both in peace and in war. The acts of war by which all this was attained, the valiant deeds of arms that we and our fathers performed against foreign or Greek invaders—these I will pass over, to avoid making a long speech on a subject with which you are well acquainted. But the customs that brought us to this point, the form of government and the way of life that have made our city great—these I shall disclose before I turn to praise the dead. I think these subjects are quite suitable for the occasion, and the whole gathering of citizens and guests will profit by hearing them discussed.
We have a form of government that does not try to imitate the laws of our neighboring states. We are more an example to others, than they to us. In name, it is called
a democracy, because it is managed not for a few people, but for the majority. Still, although we have equality at law for everyone here in private disputes, we do not let our system of rotating public offices undermine our judgment of a candidate's virtue; and no one is held back by poverty or because his reputation is not well known, as long as he can do good service to the city. We are free and generous not only in our public activities as citizens, but also in our daily lives: there is no suspicion in our dealings with one another, and we are not offended by our neighbor for following his own pleasure. We do not cast on anyone the censorious looks that—though they are no punishment—are nevertheless painful. We live together without taking offense on private matters; and as for public affairs, we respect the law greatly and fear to violate it, since we are obedient to those in office at any time, and also to the laws—especially to those laws that were made to help people who have suffered an injustice, and to the unwritten laws that bring shame on their transgressors by the agreement of all.