Pericles was not the founder or inventor of democracy, but he came to its leadership only a half-century after its invention, when it was still fragile. He certainly played the chief role in transforming it from a limited democracy where the common people still deferred to their aristocratic betters to a fully confident popular government in which the mass of the people were fully sovereign in fact as well as theory. Aside from its value as a study in political greatness, therefore, Pericles’ career offers instruction in how a new and fragile democracy can be brought to maturity.
Pericles’ long tenure as a political leader, more than thirty years, permitted him to aim at goals that went far beyond the immediate concerns that fully occupy most politicians and statesmen. He was one of those rare individuals who do not merely accept the conditions of the world they find but try to shape it to an image in their own minds. He saw the opportunity to create the greatest political community the world had ever known, one that would fulfill man’s strongest and deepest passions–for glory and immortality. The satisfaction of these passions normally implies extraordinary inequality; yet Pericles believed it could be achieved by the citizens of a democracy based on legal and political equality. At the same time, he intended to create a quality of life never before known, one that would allow men to pursue their private interests but also enable them to seek the highest goals by placing their interests at the service of a city that fostered and relied upon reason for its greatness.
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