The National Interest
Spring 2002

Freedom and Duty: Pericles and Our Times

by Roger Kimball

 

. . . Pericles reminds us, however, that a passion for democracy need not entail the pursuit of mediocrity. Democracy is a high-maintenance form of government. Freedom requires the disciplines of restraint and circumspection if it is to flourish. Athenian democracy was animated by freedom—above all, the freedom to excel—and it inspired in citizens both a healthy competitive spirit and "shame", as Pericles said, at the prospect of "falling below a certain standard." In all this, Pericles noted, Athens was "an education to Greece", a model for its neighbors.

At the moment he spoke, near the beginning of a long and ultimately disastrous war, Pericles' words must have carried special resonance. In celebrating what the Athenians had achieved, he reminded them of all they stood to lose. His funeral oration was therefore not only an elegy but also a plea for resoluteness and a call to arms. Pericles was right: The open society depends upon the interdiction of forces calculated to destroy it. "We who remain behind", he said, "may hope to be spared the fate [of the fallen], but must resolve to keep the same daring spirit against the foe." . . .

Pericles' funeral oration has exercised a permanent fascination on the political imagination of the West. Modified by time and circumstance, his vision has proven peculiarly powerful. It was absorbed by Christendom in the 18th century and helped to inform the democratic principles that undergird British and American democracy. Although occasionally forgotten since, it has always returned to inspire apostles of freedom and tolerance. That is fortunate, for the view of society that Pericles described is not inevitable. It represents a choice that must constantly be renewed. It is one version of the good life for man. There are other, competing versions that we might find distinctly less attractive, but that, nevertheless, are capable of inspiring strong allegiance. This was true when Pericles spoke—his speech presupposes the contrast between the Athenian way of life and others inimical to it—and continues to be true. The spectacle of radical Islamists dancing joyfully in the street following news of the September 11 attacks should remind us of that fact. . . .