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Thucydides on Pericles

430 BCE, written later, Athens. His own words.

Where and when

430 BCE, written laterAthens

2,455 years ago

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Thucydides

, AthensHis own words
About Pericles, as Thucydides tells it, set in 430 BCEBesides, to recede is no longer possible, if indeed any of you in the alarm of the moment has become enamored of the honesty of such an unambitious part. …

How we know they are linked: Thucydides weighs Pericles' leadership right after giving his last speech (2.65 follows 2.60–64).

In plain words, ours

When the people got cocky, he could scare them with a word; when they panicked, he calmed them. It was called a democracy, but really one man led it.

Whenever he saw them unseasonably and insolently elated, he would with a word reduce them to alarm; on the other hand, if they fell victims to a panic, he could at once restore them to confidence. In short, what was nominally a democracy became in his hands government by the first citizen.

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.65.9Translated by Richard Crawley (1874)Read the full passage (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.65.9, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

Thucydides is comparing Pericles with the Athenian leaders who came after his death. He says the later leaders chased their own ambitions and handed state affairs to the whims of the crowd.

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 BCE1 year earlier Thebans attack Plataea and the war begins Same years
  2. 431 BCE0.8999999999999773 years earlier Spartan army invades Attica Same years
  3. 430 BCESame year Plague breaks out in Athens Same years
  4. 431/430 BCEDuring it Athens holds a public funeral for its first war dead Same years
  5. 430 BCE, written laterThis momentThucydides on Pericles
  6. set in 431/430 BCEDuring it Pericles on Athenian democracy Also in AthensAlso about democracy and government
  7. set in 430 BCESame year Pericles calls Athens' empire a tyranny About PericlesSame passage
  8. set in 431/430 BCEDuring it Pericles on freedom in daily life Also in Athens
  9. set in 431/430 BCEDuring it Pericles on wealth and poverty Also in Athens
  10. 430 BCE, written laterSame year Thucydides on the plague he caught More from Thucydides
  11. 430 BCE, written laterSame year Thucydides on the plague in Athens More from Thucydides
  12. 430 BCE, written laterSame year Thucydides on how the plague changed people More from Thucydides
  13. 429 BCE1 year later Pericles dies The event behind it
  14. 427 BCE3 years later Athens votes to kill Mytilene's men, then relents Also about democracy and government
  15. 423 BCE7 years later Strepsiades on the better and worse cause Also about speech and persuasion

Just before and after

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

Show the passageHide the passage

What they did was the very contrary, allowing private ambitions and private interests, in matters apparently quite foreign to the war, to lead them into projects unjust both to themselves and to their allies—projects whose success would only conduce to the honor and advantage of private persons, and whose failure entailed certain disaster on the country in the war. The causes of this are not far to seek. Pericles indeed, by his rank, ability, and known integrity, was enabled to exercise an independent control over the multitude—in short, to lead them instead of being led by them; for as he never sought power by improper means, he was never compelled to flatter them, but, on the contrary, enjoyed so high an estimation that he could afford to anger them by contradiction.

The quote: Whenever he saw them unseasonably and insolently elated, he would with a word reduce them to alarm; on the other hand, if they fell victims to a panic, he could at once restore them to confidence. In short, what was nominally a democracy became in his hands government by the first citizen.

With his successors it was different. More on a level with one another, and each grasping at supremacy, they ended by committing even the conduct of state affairs to the whims of the multitude.

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.65.7–10Translated by Richard Crawley (1874)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
430 BCE, written later. Placed right after Pericles' last speech (430 BCE); written after 404 BCE, since the passage looks back on the whole war.
Whose words
His own words. Who was Thucydides?
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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