Pericles of Athens (7 page)

The fate of Damon certainly reflects how tricky it was to cope with culture in a democratic
context. While a solid grasp of rhetoric and music was indispensable in order to shine
in the Assembly, if there was the slightest hint of it being used for anti-democratic
ends, it was liable to arouse mistrust among the people. Herein, perhaps, lies the
explanation for the diametrically opposed choice that some members of the elite made
where
paideia
was concerned. According to Stesimbrotus of Thasos, Cimon “acquired no literary education,
nor any other liberal and distinctively Hellenic accomplishment; he lacked entirely
the Attic cleverness and fluency of speech; in his outward bearing there was much
nobility and truthfulness; the fashion of the man’s spirit was, rather, Peloponnesian.”
³⁸

For Cimon, this was a way not only of getting closer to the Spartans but also of reducing
the cultural distance that separated him from the Athenian people. And this strategy
of inverted distinction did, in effect, clearly contribute to the great popularity
that this
stratēgos
enjoyed among his fellow citizens.

Although birth, wealth, and education constituted undeniable trump cards, they were
certainly no guarantee of political success to those who held them. Those who enjoyed
such genealogical, economic, and cultural assets needed to make use of them without
upsetting the
dēmos
. As he gradually made his way into political life, Pericles was acutely aware of
this need.

A G
radual
E
NTRY INTO
P
OLITICAL
L
IFE

The
Khorēgia
of Aeschylus’s Persians: Victory through Singing

Pericles tested out those various assets for the first time in 472 B.C., when he was
just twenty-one or twentytwo years old. Thanks to an inscription engraved in the fourth
century (
IG
II
²
2318), which lists the victors in the
Great Dionysia, we know that in that year he was designated a
khorēgos
and that he, in association with Aeschylus, was declared the victor. We thus know
that Pericles was responsible for financing the tetralogy composed by the poet (three
tragedies and one satyr play), which included
The Persians
, the most ancient tragedy to be preserved
in toto
and which set on stage Themistocles’ victory at Salamis.

What was the exact nature of this civic gesture? A
khorēgos
’s task was to recruit the best candidates for a chorus, which comprised between twelve
and fifteen people; he also had to employ a professional to train the chorus-members,
and provide a venue (a
khorēgeion
) sufficiently spacious for the chorus to rehearse its complex moves in comfort. Finally,
his mission included providing material support for the entire cast and meeting the
costs of the actual performance, in particular those of the masks and costumes. These
were by no means negligible expenses: as far as we know, they ran to between 3,000
and 5,000 drachmas in the case of a tragic
khorēgia
.
³⁹
The fact that Pericles served as a
khorēgos
certainly indicates that he had already inherited the family fortune; by this date,
Xanthippus must already have been dead.

We still need to understand exactly why Pericles felt obliged to take on this heavy
responsibility when he had barely come of age. Of course, he may not have had any
choice in the matter, for any wealthy Athenian could expect to have a
khorēgia
imposed upon him. All the same, it sometimes happened that citizens forestalled this
so as not to appear to be forced into the task and also because they hoped that political
advantages would accrue to them. The ambiguity of the system that obtained in Athens
lay in the fact that liturgies—which included the
khorēgia
—were at once obligations imposed by the city and, at the same time, a means of winning
popularity for the individuals who carried out those obligations with munificence.

If this duty, despite its costliness, carried a political advantage, it was because
in consequence the
khorēgos
won esteem among his fellow-citizens. In the first place, before the dramatic representations
took place, the
khorēgos
would occupy a prestigious position in the religious procession (
pompē
) that opened the Dionysia festival. He had the right to wear special clothing that
made him stand out in the crowd; both Alcibiades and Demosthenes took care to make
the most of this privilege. Furthermore, during the performance, the
khorēgos
did not necessarily remain silent. In the early fifth century, he himself might even
act as the chorus leader and perform in the
orchēstra
;
⁴⁰
according to this hypothesis, Pericles himself may have led the chorus in
The Persians
and delivered the speech praising Athens that Aeschylus assigned to the chorus-leader!
In that case, the young man would have been speaking in the name of the collectivity
for the very first time, thereby anticipating his
future role as orator. This may also help us to understand the importance that
mousikē
held in the education of this young man.

Finally, when the performance was over, the
khorēgos
would increase his prestige still further if he was victorious in the dramatic competition
that brought the Dionysia to a close. The names of the victors, who were selected
by a panel of ten judges, were announced before the whole community assembled in the
theater. The laureates, crowned with ivy, were presented with a prestigious prize:
a bronze tripod for the tragic choruses and possibly a ram for the winning poets.
Sometimes the
khorēgoi
would present offerings to the gods in order to keep the memory of their success
alive: Themistocles was said to have had a
pinax
(a wooden tablet) painted, to celebrate his victory in the tragedy competition, as
khorēgos
for the poet Phrynichus, in 477 B.C.

One further factor may have decided Pericles to volunteer as a
khorēgos
in 472. By preempting any summons addressed to him, the young man made a sensational
entrance on to the public stage, even before reaching the age when he could hope for
a magistracy. The fact was that Athenian citizens had to wait until they were thirty
years old before they could assume even a minor city post. Making sure of a
khorēgia
was a way of getting around that agelimit and seizing an early start in the race
to make a name for himself among the Athenians.
⁴¹

Basking in the prestige of this triumph in the Dionysia, young Pericles made his mark
in the post-Salamis Athens. All the same, though, his
khorēgia
should not be interpreted as a deliberately political gesture or a way of advertising
his support for Themistocles, who was then facing growing opposition that, one year
later, would lead to his ostracism. Although
The Persians
does praise the victor at Salamis indirectly, there is nothing to prove that Pericles
had any say in the content of the play, which was the concern solely of the poet.
Besides, it was the eponymous Archon that drew lots in order to assign a
khorēgos
to a dramatist.
⁴²
It was thus purely by chance that the young man found himself collaborating with
a well-established author—namely, Aeschylus, who, since 485/4 B.C.,
⁴³
had already won several victor’s crowns. That first action needs to be evaluated
correctly for, far from being a prefiguration of his political future, the 472
khorēgia
was an opportunity for Pericles to highlight his wealth and his culture and, at the
same time, show that he was using them for the greatest benefit of the community.

The Lawsuit against Cimon: Presenting Himself as an Opponent

After that first burst of glory, Pericles remained in the shadows for several years.
Was it for fear of being ostracized as his father, Xanthippus, had been? That is Plutarch’s
version of the matter (
Pericles
, 7.1), but it is not possible to
corroborate what he says. However, the young man did not remain inactive, for he proved
his attachment to the city on the battlefield: again according to Plutarch, “he was
courageous in warfare and willingly risked his life.”
⁴⁴
His real entry into political life was deferred for a while, but eventually it came
about following an extremely spectacular lawsuit. As the Pseudo-Aristotle notes in
his
Constitution of the Athenians
(27.1): “Having first distinguished himself when still a young man he challenged
the audits of Cimon, who was a general.”
⁴⁵

This came about in 463 B.C., when Pericles had just turned thirty. At this time, Cimon
held great influence in the city, particularly since Themistocles had been ostracized
in 471. Cimon, who was elected repeatedly as
stratēgos
, was at this time playing a prominent part in every military campaign. He led the
expedition that came to the aid of Sparta after the Helots, dependents of the Spartans,
taking advantage of the great earthquake that occurred in 464, had revolted against
their masters. By 465, he was already to be found heading the siege of Thasos, an
island in the northern Aegean that was trying to free itself from the Delian League.

In 463, while the campaign against Thasos dragged on, Cimon had to face a lawsuit
centering on his rendering of accounts, an obligation that affected all magistrates.
⁴⁶
The
stratēgos
was accused of accepting bribes from the king of Macedon, who was anxious to protect
his kingdom from Athenian attacks. The prosecution, which was led by Pericles, came
to nothing, for an obvious enough reason: up until the reforms of Ephialtes, passed
by vote in the following year, renderings of accounts were all judged by the Areopagus,
which was the principal supporter of Cimon’s policies!

Over and above the issue of this trial, which proved favorable to Cimon, this anecdote
testifies to the general role played by prosecutions in the construction of political
reputations: prosecutions were above all the business of young ambitious men. While
assuming the position of a prosecutor was a way to make one’s name swiftly, in the
long run it was a difficult position to maintain. To remain a prosecutor for too long
was to risk being regarded as a sycophant, a professional prosecutor.
⁴⁷
While such “sycophants” were necessary to the functioning of democracy, given the
absence of any public prosecution service in Athens, they were at the same time detested
because they acted for their own personal profit, in that they could receive a percentage
of the fines imposed if the verdict was guilty.
⁴⁸

The reasons why Pericles involved himself personally in this process remain to be
determined. Was he motivated by purely political aspirations, as an honest defender
of the interests of the people? That is by no means certain. Between Cimon’s lineage
and that of Pericles, there was a long tradition of rivalry or even animosity that
dated from the mid-sixth century, when their
respective ancestors had battled to win the hand in marriage of Agariste, the daughter
of the tyrant of Sicyon, a struggle in which the Alcmaeonid Megacles had emerged as
victor. Furthermore, in 493, the Alcmaeonids had accused Miltiades, Cimon’s father,
of exercising tyranny in the Chersonese.
⁴⁹
Finally, in 489, Xanthippus brought a second lawsuit against Miltiades, following
the disastrous expedition to Paros: Pericles’ father had identified himself with the
antipathies of his in-laws, to the point of himself being tarred by the Alcmaeonids’
sinister reputation.
⁵⁰
In the lawsuit brought against Cimon, it is therefore hard to determine the respective
parts played by private quarrels and political motivations.

However, the fact is that, after this unsuccessful political debut, Pericles seems
rapidly to have acquired influence by helping to establish “the reforms of Ephialtes”
in the very next year, which marked a decisive step forward in the process of the
city’s democratization. Nevertheless, despite the declarations to be found in the
fourth-century sources, the young man’s collaboration in this important institutional
change is far from certain.

The Reforms of Ephialtes: Overshadowed by Pericles

In 462, Cimon set off, with a large force of hoplites, to help the Spartans, who were
engaged in a struggle against the revolt of their Helots. Making the most of his absence,
the Athenians adopted sweeping political reforms at the instigation of the democratic
leader, Ephialtes. Most of the powers of the Areopagus, the old aristocratic council
of Athens, were redistributed among popular institutions—the Assembly, the Council,
and the law courts—thereby sparking off the effective democratization of the city.
On his return, Cimon was unable to reverse the situation and eventually was even ostracized.

Although the ancient authors do all mention the role played in this episode by Ephialtes,
they tend to treat him as a mere puppet who implemented the intentions of others.
According to the
Constitution of the Athenians
, Ephialtes was secretly manipulated by Themistocles; but that is chronologically
impossible, for Themistocles had been ostracized almost ten years previously! And
when Plutarch mentions the reform (
Pericles
, 9.4), he portrays Ephialtes as a handy screen for the illustrious Pericles, who
could already be glimpsed in Xanthippus’s young son. Relegated to the shadows cast
by two great men—Themistocles upstream and Pericles downstream—Ephialtes was soon
eclipsed in the political memory of Athens.
⁵¹