35-37] FUNERAL SPEECH OF PERICLES 12J ' I will speak first of our ancestors, for it is right and 3^ seemly that now, when we are lament- , .„^ ing the dead, a tribute should be paid ^fe our predecessors, to their memory. There has never '^'■^ gave us freedom been a time when they did not inhabit '""' ^"'A'^- ^"'^ *^- this land, which by their valour they f 'IfrTL^J "^l^t have handed down from generation to Athens has won her generation, and we have received from ■S'^""^^^- them a free state. But if they were worthy of praise, still more were our fathers, who added to their inheritance, and after many a struggle transmitted to us their sons this great empire. And we ourselves assembled here to-day, who are still most of us in the vigour of life, have carried the work of improvement further, and have richly endowed our city with all things, so that she is sufficient for herself both in peace and war. Of the military exploits by which our various possessions were acquired, or of the energy with which we or our fathers drove back the tide of war, Hellenic or Barbarian, I will not speak ; for the tale would be long and is familiar to you. But before I praise the dead, I should like to point out by what principles of action we rose ^ to power, and under what institutions and through what manner of life our empire became great. For I conceive that such thoughts are not unsuited to the occasion, and that this numerous assembly of citizens and strangers may profitably listen to them. ' Our form of government does not enter into rivalry 37 with the institutions of others. We Our govemmmt is do not copy our neighbours, but are '^ democracy, lut ue 1 . ^1 Ti • , ji , honour Mtcn of tnerit, an example to them. It is true that , ,, • ; ^ ^ iLheiner rich or poor. we are called a democracy, for the Our public life is free , administration is in the hands of the f>om exdusizotess, our | J i. r 1.1. c T-> i. u*i private from suspicion ; manv and not of the few. But while ^ , ',-, .,' ^ vet we revere altke the the law secures equal justice to all injunctions of laiv and alike in their private disputes, the ('<stom. ', claim of excellence is also recognised ; and when a
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