“We apply a political system that does not imitate the institutions of the neighboring peoples. We are an example rather than imitate others. The name? Because power does not rest with a few, but with more, the system is called popular power (dèmokratia).' Thus the Athenian leader Pericles spoke in the winter of 431-430 BC. He gave this speech in honor of the fallen in the battle with Sparta, the Peloponnesian War (431-404). The speech is considered the most famous eulogy of democracy. How much of it was true?
Pericles begins his speech - at least as the historian Thucydides renders it with the freedom that the ancient historian has - with mock reluctance:what can words add to the deeds of the slain? Anyway, he will comply with what the forefathers have set.
First he wishes to remember those ancestors. They have always managed to protect the Attic country against invaders. The fathers, that is, the previous generation, deserved even more praise, for they have increased that inherited power. “But even more than that we ourselves have added here, the present generation, especially in the present generation.” It was superfluous to stir up the well-known facts, “but by what kind of institution and with what political system we have come so far? , and by what behavior the greatness has arisen, I will first make clear and only then will I come to the praise of these men.'
And then Pericles begins his hymn, as he calls it. “We apply a system that does not imitate the institutions of neighboring peoples.” He rightly highlights the uniqueness of the Athenian system. In this many more people had a share in power than in any other system. Modern critics have reproached ancient democracy for excluding women, slaves, and sojourners (metoikoi).
Such criticism, however, is completely anachronistic. It is true that only a minority "participated in the polis" as the Greek puts it:about 30,000 out of a total population estimated at 250,000. But it was not until the 19th century that some pre-Western European states achieved a 15% share. of fully entitled citizens.
Then Pericles lists the achievements of popular power. First of all, there is equality before the law:“According to the laws, everyone has a share in equality in personal disputes.” Ever since Solon (594 BC), even the lowest bourgeois class had the right to sit in the people's courts.
But in order to actually enable the less wealthy citizens to exercise that right, Pericles had introduced monetary compensation. "When assessing what everyone is representing, people are judged not so much by their group as by their personal quality for public functions."
Equality therefore also applied to the appointment to public positions, an equality that Article 3 of the Dutch Constitution also establishes as a fundamental right (which, curiously enough, only the head of state does not comply with). ‘…and not even in the case of poverty, one is excluded due to lack of prestige, as long as one can do something for the policy.’ So everyone was equal as a citizen. In order to prevent bribery and demagogic deception, offices were preferably allotted by lot. Furthermore, the shard court, ostrakismos, could sideline or banish overly dominant politicians for ten years.
Dissenting opinions
Continuing his speech, Pericles praises the open climate that has resulted from democracy:'We do not become angry with a fellow citizen if he does something out of self-indulgence, and we do not burden him with disapproving glances that do no harm, but be painful.” So Athenians could see the sun shining in the water, very different from the Spartans.
There was also room for dissenting opinions. An opponent of democracy such as Plato could quietly have school there. Demosthenes rightly remarked that in Sparta you did not have to venture to question the ruling system (Rede v. Leptines). The frank criticism that Aristophanes' comedies exercised on democratic leaders and institutions was also rewarded with tasty laughter and prizes.
Pericles:“Although we go our own way without offense, we don't break the law in communal matters out of awe.” Respect for the law is apparent from the preserved pleas before the Athenian people's court. Incidentally, the violence was not too bad. Athens was not a medieval city where people walked around with stabbing weapons to settle family feuds.
The 'weapons' used were usually stones and pottery shards, Athens was simply a center of pottery industry. Even the countryside, notorious for banditry in later times, was safe. It was not until the 4th century that the farmsteads were fortified.
Violence was also avoided in public spaces. Athena took no pleasure in cruel public executions. Civilians were put to death in the confines of the prison by having them swallow poison, chervil. There were no beast games, as later in the amphitheatres of Rome.
Busy Bosses
It is self-evident to Pericles that in a democracy the citizens behave with restraint. They are not intimidated by a tyrant, but are "obedient to those in office at that time, and to the laws, and especially to all the laws that exist to help the oppressed, as well as to the unwritten laws that are disgraceful in the public mind." bring them to him who transgresses them'.
The addition 'at that time' to the office holders refers to the fact that political functions generally lasted no longer than a year. So there was rapid turnover in the approximately 1,200 posts to be filled annually among the estimated 20,000 citizens over the age of 30. And then about 2000 people's judges were needed on the 'working days'.
So every year one in six Athenians held a position. In addition, there were forty meetings of the people's assembly per year where each of the approximately 30,000 citizens could participate in decisions and, according to the isègoria, the equal right to speak, could take the floor. No wonder the Athenians were known as busy people in ancient times.
But it wasn't just civic duty that struck the clock. In the remainder of his speech, Pericles contrasts the bleakness of the Spartan system with the fullness of Athenian life. Democracy also meant year-round celebrations. At least a third of the year there were festivals meant for everyone.
The democratic polis took over its organization to prevent wealthy individuals from making a good impression. As a service, leitourgia, the staging of a theatrical performance or the equipping of war galleys were dedicated to the rich. The performances were part of religious festivals, especially for Dionysus.
To ensure that the entire community participated, the policy paid attendance fees from the theater fund set up for that purpose. This cultural subsidy therefore went much further than what the modern 'welfare state' is doing or used to do until recently.
Beauty and size
The whole world comes together in Athens, explains Pericles. Products from near and far were brought in. Athens was also open militarily:"We also differ from the adversaries in the war effort, and that in this respect:we open the polis to everyone and we prevent no one, by expelling strangers from time to time, to know everything. to come and see what, by disclosure, might be of use to the enemies. We rely not so much on military preparations and stratagems as on our own impetus to act.”
Democracy relied on the strength of its citizens who knew what they stood for. The contrast with the Spartans was complete:with them the boys were encouraged by a strict education system, 'but we, with our relaxed lifestyle, face the same dangers no less. (…) But there's more. For we love beauty, but keep size; we love wisdom, but we are not weaklings. (…) We make our own judgment or consider the issues carefully, because we do not think that discussions are harmful to actions. No, it is harmful through discussion not to be well informed before taking the necessary action.'
Discussions are therefore part of democracy. They are not unnecessary delays, but lead to better decisions. The Athenians combine courage and deliberation, but with others (the Spartans) "ignorance leads to rashness, deliberation to hesitation."
In short, I declare that the polis as a whole is a teaching for Greece; with us, in my opinion, every individual can develop pleasantly into an independent person in most directions. And that these are no more fine words for this occasion than factual truth, is precisely proved by the power of this policy.”
Here the modern democrat frowns:power as proof of the superiority of democracy? But there is undeniably a link between democracy and imperialism:the French Revolution brought the people under arms in the Grande Armée.
And isn't the 19th century the period in which colonizing states democratized their system? During the First World War, buses drove around London with patriotic slogans from Pericles' speech to the death.
Down and up
Until about 1800, Athenian democracy was only spoken of with disdain:the literate elite relied on Plato's negative judgment. As late as 1794, the English poet Wordsworth wrote apologetically to a friend:"I belong to that detestable class of people called democrats." In the 19th and 20th centuries, classical Athens became an example not only culturally, but also politically.
The ancient democracy was even used against Nazism. D. Loenen, member of the Committee of Vigilance of Anti-National Socialist Intellectuals, wrote the brochure The Greek Foundations of Freedom.
In the critical 1960s and 1970s, however, it became scientific fashion to expose Athenian democracy as a verbal facade of a system that excluded women, took slavery for granted and brutally oppressed allies. And had not this "tolerant" Athens in 399 executed the critic Socrates as a pagan Jesus? It ignores the fact that Socrates had been the tutor of the political monsters Alcibiades and Critias, leader of the Tyranny of the Thirty, who liquidated 1500 citizens
With The Socrates Trial, I. F. Stone has provided a more sober picture of the case. And the Israeli historian Gabriel Herman showed in 2006 that ancient democracy instilled higher morals and more civilized behavior. Athenian democracy was more than a word.