Read this quotation from Pericles’s Funeral Oration in ancient Athens. It is true that we are called a democracy, because power is in the hands of the many and not the few . . . everyone is equal before the law; when a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is chosen for public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as reward for his abilities. Neither is poverty an obstacle; a man may benefit his country whatever his social class. –Pericles’s Funeral Oration, 431 BCE This quotation supports the idea that the ability to govern should be a privilege. few citizens have the skills for public service. women and men should be equal under the law. both the rich and the poor have the ability to serve.
