Friday, June 15, 2007

Pericles Funeral Oration from the Peloponnesian War


We are a democracy. Our government is unique. It does not borrow from others, it is itself unique. It is government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is a democracy, power of the people, in fact as well as in name. It is a government in which every citizen is equal before the law. But it goes beyond that – it believes in equality of opportunity. That every citizen should have a chance to go as far as his abilities will carry him. We don’t think it a shame to be poor. The only thing we think is a shame is trying not to get rich. We obey the laws, ours is a law-abiding society. We obey the laws that are written, and the laws that have been handed down. We are also a tolerant society. We think that you should be free to live as you choose. And if we don’t like your lifestyle, not only do we not charge you, remove you from the citizenship list the way the way that would happen at Sparta, instead, we don’t even give you sour looks that might just hurt your feelings.

You are free to live as you choose here, and what is more you have the great advantages of our society. Because ours is a society open to the world. The goods of the whole world pour in here. People come from all over the world to Athens, because it is a superior place to make their lives. You have great advantages; festivals, the means to earn money, and things worth spending it upon. And, you know, we love beautiful things. We are lovers of wisdom and beauty. We like to surround ourselves with great beautiful works of art. We do not thin that it is wrong to develop your mind. And yet with beauty, and a love of what is fine and luxurious, we are patriotic. The Spartans must instill and drill patriotism in their young by an unrelenting military education. They must cut themselves off from all luxury and commerce. We don’t believe that. We believe that the whole individual should be developed.

And yet, I’m going to tell you something, when we go into battle we have time and time again proven that we are as brave as they are. Did we not fight alone at Marathon? I say to you, that our way of life influences every aspect of our politics. We make decisions based on reason, after a full and elaborate discussion. We do not think it necessary to cut off discussion and debate. Let us see every possible reason discussed. And then we make our decision, based on prudence. In our foreign policy, we do not take favors from others: We give favors. We are kind and generous, and we believe in our duty to help the weak, and to stand up for what is right. Our foreign policy is one based on morality, and our desire that our way of life spread through the whole world.

I say this to you: The ordinary Athenian citizen is absolute master of himself, and does it with a unique degree of beauty and excellence. In fact, I’m going to tell you something: We are a model to the world. The whole world should look at us and pattern itself upon us. Later ages will remember that. We will not need a Homer to sing our praises. The great buildings we have erected, the great achievements of our democracy, will cause every highway and sea to bear testimony to our grandeur. The world will stand in awe of what we have done.[1]


[1] Thucydides. Pericles' Funeral Oration from the Peloponnesian War (Book 2.34-46) translation by J. Rufus Fears, Ph.D., David Ross Boyd Professor of Classics, and G. T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty at the University of Oklahoma.

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Commentary on “the Western Mythos”

Unlike some terms that are easily definable, a truly satisfactory definition of myth or mythos does not actually exist. A myth (mythos) “is a sacred story concerning the origins of the world or how the world and the creatures in it came to have their present form. The active beings in myths are generally gods and heroes. Myths often are said to take place before recorded history begins. In saying that a myth is a sacred narrative, what is meant is that a myth is believed to be true by people who attach religious or spiritual significance to it. Use of the term by scholars does not imply that the narrative is either true or false.”[1] Myths are sometimes “stories shared by a group that are a part of their cultural identity”,[2] or “legendary narrative[s], usually of gods and heroes, or a theme that expresses the ideology of a culture”.[3] A myth may be a “narrative in which some characters are superhuman beings who do things that ‘happen only in stories’; hence, a conventionalized or stylized narrative not fully adapted to plausibility or ’realism’."[4] Myths may be “stories that explain the origins of current phenomena. They may be believed literally or figuratively, or as metaphorically moral truths about the workings of the world.”[5] For the purposes of this examination, the best definition may be "stories drawn from a society's history that have acquired through persistent usage the power of symbolizing that society's ideology and of dramatizing its moral consciousness--with all the complexities and contradictions that consciousness may contain."[6]

The western myth in America has a number of cultural characteristics; “Manifest destiny; rugged individualism; a pre-modern Eden of moral simplicity; a future built on the harmonious union of man and nature -- all four cornerstones of the American psyche, each with their locus on that single moment of expansion and creation. No other period in American history has so frequently been called upon to define and solidify national identity. For this reason alone, the migration West is the single most important event in American history -- an event that is replayed over and over in an affirmation of all that is American, all that is good, bad, and ugly.”[7]

Manifest Destiny was originally a Jacksonian Democratic slogan in the decade between 1845 and 1855 to describe the idea that western expansion was not only good, but inevitable. The phrase was rejected by the Whigs and the Republicans, who preferred to advocate a more mercantilist expansion of the infrastructure of the existing territory already held by the United States, rather than the Jeffersonian-farmer based expansion into the Oregon Territory, the push to allow the voluntary annexation of the Republic of Texas which had achieved its independence from Mexico in 1837, and the Mexican Cession of the territory comprising California, Nevada, Utah, and portions of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, “in exchange for ending the Mexican-American war and payment of $15 million dollars.”[8]

Most objectionable to those today who refer to the western as not mythic but “merely a myth” in the sense of an incorrect or spurious belief, are the values of rugged individualism, moral simplicity (especially when it comes to the idea of solving a moral issue with a gun, an object which the intellectual elite currently regards as evil and wishes to characterize as capable of initiating evil action on its own,) and a harmonious union of man and nature (especially as this conflicts with the currently dominant theme that man in an alien intruder in nature, intent on perverting and killing all that is good.) An quality of the mythic Western as seen through thoroughly modern eyes is the honor-based culture that it portrays, which is at odds with today’s culture which seems at risk of losing the concept altogether.[9] The western portrayed the "independent man ... who owed allegiance to a universal and ethical standard."[10] He was a "chivalrous man who assuredly stood up for his principles. In this man the West had found it's most developed "honor code."…[11]

James Bowman, author of Honor: A History believes that over the last 30 years, this old notion of honor has even become "shameful." The influence of the "media and celebrity culture" has reversed that notion to almost the "complete opposite" of what it once meant. Displays of "weakness," such as "admittance of doubt and outpourings of emotion" have now become far more honorable, especially in the public arena.[12] Ultimately, Bowman argues, “Western honor was always different from that found in other parts of the world. Its idiosyncratic qualities derive partly from the Classical tradition but mainly from the Judeo-Christian heritage whose emphasis on individual morality and, more recently, sincerity and authenticity in private and personal life, has acted as a continual challenge to the traditional concept of honor as it is still understood in other parts of the world.”[13] The discarding of our concept of honor, which stood in historic contrast to the much different Eastern concept of “avoidance of losing face” is making it difficult, if not impossible, to understand, or to counter, the rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism that thrives on violently reacting to the tiniest imagined slight.


[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth

[2] http://ancienthistory.about.com/b/a/027495.htm

[3] http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/oal/gloss.htm

[4] http:// www.sil.org/~radneyr/humanities/litcrit/gloss.htm

[5] www.lpb.org/programs/swappingstories/glossary.html

[6] web.nwe.ufl.edu/~gulmer/s03/zwhalen2/definitions.html

[7] http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue06/infocus/silentwesterns.htm

[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Cession

[9] http://www.nysun.com/article/34278

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/bowman200604190610.asp (book exerpt)

[13] http://www.eppc.org/publications/bookID.60/book_detail.asp

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Front Sight Firearms Training Institute Links

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Why I’m a Libertarian (part 1)

The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. -Thomas Jefferson [1]

The concept of government is somewhat like the concept of God – most people believe it to be a thing which by its very nature ought not to be doubted, but very few people rationally examine its conceptual foundations. Yet, by its nature, government is far more dangerous than God – for while God steadfastly refuses to be seen and insists (we are told) that his or her existence be revealed by “faith,” government is omnipresent, generally more than willing to demonstrate its power, and tends to deal harshly with those who doubt its authority or legitimacy.

Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato tells us, Socrates wandered about Athens asking annoying questions, inventing the Socratic Method, and generally demonstrating that very few people possess and actual knowledge of why they believe the things that they believe: That they have no idea of the principles on which their beliefs are based. Plato’s general objective was to demonstrate that he was the smartest man in Athens because he alone realized how little he knew. However, in the process he asked a number of brilliantly revealing questions, such as, “Are things good because the Gods approve of them, or do the Gods approve of them because they are good?” He artfully demonstrated that in order to fully understand one’s positions about various issues in life, one must understand the principles and precepts upon which they are based. If one does not, one might be convinced to believe almost anything.

One cannot, of course, disbelieve in the existence of government as one can of gods. However, in parallel fashion, one can question its moral authority over one’s life.

Frederick Bastiat pointed out that “The nature of law is to maintain justice. This is so much the case that, in the minds of the people, law and justice are one and the same thing. There is in all of us a strong disposition to believe that anything lawful is also legitimate. This belief is so widespread that many persons have erroneously held that things are ‘just’ because law makes them so.”[2] Yet, as Socrates pointed out on the subject of gods, different governments approve and disapprove of different things – therefore things cannot be just merely because government approves of them.

In many ways, governments are an enchanted creation like “the great and terrible wizard” in the uniquely American fairly tale of The Wizard of Oz.[3] In the land of Oz, a “yellow-brick” road of gold leads to the resplendent capital Emerald City, where “The streets were lined with beautiful houses all built of green marble and studded everywhere with sparkling emeralds”[4] – much like the river of money that flows to our own capital, where the denizens therein use it in part to create and maintain monuments to the concept of the wonderfulness of government.


[1] letter to Roger C. Weightman, June 24, 1826

[2] Frederick Bastiat. The Law httphttp://www.lexrex.com/informed/otherdocuments/thelaw/law04.htm

[3] http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext93/wizoz10h.htm

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