The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [273]
3. In the Athens of Pericles flourished the philosophy and poetry that makes it the capital of the civilisation it founded,
4. And along with them the very fabric of buildings that to this day are emulated in every notable city of the world,
5. Thereby expressing admiration for the Greek genius over which he presided.
6. Pericles was of the noblest birth both on his father’s and on his mother’s side.
7. His father Xanthippus defeated the King of Persia’s generals at the battle of Mycale.
8. His mother Agariste was the granddaughter of Clisthenes, the man who drove out the tyrannical sons of the despot Pisistratus, and nobly put an end to their usurpation;
9. And moreover made a body of laws, settling a model of government admirably suited for the harmony and safety of the Athenian people.
10. When Pericles was born he was perfectly formed, except that his head was somewhat long and out of proportion.
11. Consequently most images and statues of him show him wearing a helmet. The poets of Athens called him ‘Schinocephalos’, or squill-head, from ‘schinos’, a squill or sea-onion.
12. One of the comic poets, Teleclides, describes him when contending with political difficulties as ‘fainting underneath the load of his own head:
13. ‘And abroad from his huge gallery of a pate sending forth trouble to the state’.
14. And another comic writer, Eupolis, in the play called The Demi, has Pericles appear at the end of a line of demagogues to the words,
15. ‘And here by way of summary, now we’ve done, behold, in brief, the heads of all in one.’
16. The master who taught him music was Damon, who, being a sophist, sheltered himself under the profession of music teacher to conceal from people his skill in politics and oratory, and under this pretence taught Pericles.
17. Damon’s lyre, however, did not prove altogether successful as a disguise; he was banished from the country by ostracism for ten years, as a dangerous intermeddler and a favourer of arbitrary power,
18. And by this means gave the comedians occasion to satirise him. As, for instance, one comic poet introduces a character who questions him: ‘Tell me, if you please, since you’re the man who taught Pericles.’
19. Pericles, also, was a student of Zeno, the Eleatic, who treated of natural philosophy in the same manner as Parmenides,
20. But had also perfected himself in an art of his own for refuting and silencing opponents in argument;
21. As Timon of Phlius describes it: ‘Also the two-edged tongue of mighty Zeno, who, say what one would, could argue it untrue.’
Chapter 29
1. But Pericles’ main teacher in his youth, the man who furnished him most especially with a weight and grandeur of sense, superior to all arts of popularity,
2. And in general gave him his elevation and sublimity of purpose and of character, was Anaxagoras of Clazomenae.
3. This philosopher was called by the men of those times ‘Nous’, that is, mind, or intelligence,
4. In admiration of the great and extraordinary gift he had displayed for the science of nature.
5. Pericles entertained a great esteem for Anaxagoras, and filling himself with his lofty thought,
6. Derived from it not merely elevation of purpose and dignity of language, raised far above the base and dishonest buffooneries of mob eloquence,
7. But a composure of countenance, and a serenity and calmness in all his movements, which no occurrence while he was speaking could disturb;
8. With a sustained and even tone of voice, and various other advantages of a similar kind, which produced a profound effect on his hearers.
9. Once, after being abused all day long by some vile and abandoned fellow in the marketplace,
10. While he was engaged in the dispatch of some urgent affair, he continued his business in perfect silence,
11. And in the evening returned home composedly, the man still dogging him at the heels, and showering him all the way with abuse and foul language;
12. And when Pericles stepped into his house, it being by this time