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Pericles on his deathbed

set in 429 BCE, Athens. As Plutarch tells it, centuries later.

Where and when

set in 429 BCEAthens

2,454 years ago

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Pericles

, AthensAs Plutarch tells it, centuries later

In plain words, ours

Why praise what I owe as much to luck as to myself, and what other generals did too? My best claim is this: no Athenian alive ever had to mourn because of me.

He had been attending to it all, however, and speaking out among them said he was amazed at their praising and commemorating that in him which was due as much to fortune as to himself, and which had fallen to the lot of many generals besides, instead of mentioning his fairest and greatest title to their admiration; for, said he, no living Athenian ever put on mourning because of me.

Plutarch, Life of Pericles 38.4Translated by Bernadotte Perrin (1916)Read the full passage (Plutarch, Life of Pericles 38.4, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

As Plutarch tells it, centuries later, Pericles is dying in 429 BCE. The leading citizens and his surviving friends sit around his bed listing his achievements, including nine victory trophies, thinking he can no longer hear them.

Checked claim by claim against: Pericles dies, the passage around the quote.

Why it matters

About the event it belongs to: Pericles dies

The historian Donald Kagan argues that Pericles's war strategy depended on Pericles himself to carry it out, and so was bound to be abandoned after his death.

Based on Wikipedia: Pericles

Kagan criticises the Periclean strategy on four counts: first that by rejecting minor concessions it brought about war; second, that it was unforeseen by the enemy and hence lacked credibility; third, that it was too feeble to exploit any opportunities; and fourth, that it depended on Pericles for its execution and thus was bound to be abandoned after his death.

Wikipedia, Pericles (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-09-27. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. 431 BCE2 years earlier Thebans attack Plataea and the war begins Same years
  2. 431 BCE1.8999999999999773 years earlier Spartan army invades Attica Same years
  3. 430 BCE1 year earlier Plague breaks out in Athens Same years
  4. 431/430 BCE1 year earlier Athens holds a public funeral for its first war dead Same years
  5. set in 431/430 BCE1 year earlier Pericles on Athenian democracy More from Pericles
  6. set in 431/430 BCE1 year earlier Pericles on freedom in daily life More from Pericles
  7. set in 431/430 BCE1 year earlier Pericles on wealth and poverty More from Pericles
  8. 429 BCESame year Pericles dies The event behind it
  9. set in 429 BCEThis momentPericles on his deathbed
  10. c. 429 BCEAbout the same year Oedipus demands to learn his birth Also in Athens
  11. c. 429 BCEAbout the same year Iocasta on living at random Also in Athens
  12. c. 429 BCEAbout the same year Oedipus on his city's sickness Also in Athens

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

Certain it is that Theophrastus, in his Ethics, querying whether one’s character follows the bent of one’s fortunes and is forced by bodily sufferings to abandon its high excellence, records this fact, that Pericles, as he lay sick, showed one of his friends who was come to see him an amulet that the women had hung round his neck, as much as to say that he was very badly off to put up with such folly as that. Being now near his end, the best of the citizens and those of his friends who survived were sitting around him holding discourse of his excellence and power, how great they had been, and estimating all his achievements and the number of his trophies,—there were nine of these which he had set up as the city’s victorious general. This discourse they were holding with one another, supposing that he no longer understood them but had lost consciousness.

The quote: He had been attending to it all, however, and speaking out among them said he was amazed at their praising and commemorating that in him which was due as much to fortune as to himself, and which had fallen to the lot of many generals besides, instead of mentioning his fairest and greatest title to their admiration; for, said he, no living Athenian ever put on mourning because of me.

So, then, the man is to be admired not only for his reasonableness and the gentleness which he maintained in the midst of many responsibilities and great enmities, but also for his loftiness of spirit, seeing that he regarded it as the noblest of all his titles to honor that he had never gratified his envy or his passion in the exercise of his vast power, nor treated any one of his foes as a foe incurable.

Plutarch, Life of Pericles 38.2–39.1Translated by Bernadotte Perrin (1916)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
set in 429 BCE. Set at Pericles' death in 429 BCE; Plutarch wrote over five centuries later.
Whose words
As Plutarch tells it, centuries later. Who was Pericles?
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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