breast of
energy they will awake emulation, and in those who must remain without
them an envious regret. Hatred and unpopularity at the moment have
fallen to the lot of all who have aspired to rule others; but where
odium must be incurred, true wisdom incurs it for the highest objects.
Hatred also is short-lived; but that which makes the splendour of the
present and the glory of the future remains for ever unforgotten. Make
your decision, therefore, for glory then and honour now, and attain
both objects by instant and zealous effort: do not send heralds to
Lacedaemon, and do not betray any sign of being oppressed by your
present sufferings, since they whose minds are least sensitive to
calamity, and whose hands are most quick to meet it, are the greatest
men and the greatest communities."

Such were the arguments by which Pericles tried to cure the Athenians
of their anger against him and to divert their thoughts from their
immediate afflictions. As a community he succeeded in convincing them;
they not only gave up all idea of sending to Lacedaemon, but applied
themselves with increased energy to the war; still as private
individuals they could not help smarting under their sufferings,
the common people having been deprived of the little that they were
possessed, while the higher orders had lost fine properties with costly
establishments and buildings in the country, and, worst of all, had
war instead of peace. In fact, the public feeling against him did not
subside until he had been fined. Not long afterwards, however, according
to the way of the multitude, they again elected him general and
committed all their affairs to his hands, having now become less
sensitive to their private and domestic afflictions, and understanding
that he was the best man of all for the public necessities. For as
long as he was at the head of the state during the peace, he pursued a
moderate and conservative policy; and in his time its greatness was at
its height. When the war broke out, here also he seems to have rightly
gauged the power of his country. He outlived its commencement two years
and six months, and the correctness of his previsions respecting it
became better known by his death. He told them to wait quietly, to pay
attention to their marine, to attempt no new conquests, and to expose
the city to no hazards during the war, and doing this, promised them a
favourable result. What they did was the very contrary, allowing private