Pericles Quotes
In private matters everyone is equal before the law. In public matters, when it is a question of putting power and responsibility into the hands of one man rather than another, what counts is not rank or money, but the ability to do the job well.
Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Translated by Rex Warner, Penguin Books, 1954, p. 145.
Pericles (/ˈpɛrɪkliːz/; Attic Greek: Περικλῆς, pronounced [pe.ri.klɛ̂ːs] in Classical Attic; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general of Athens during its golden age. Pericles was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Persian and the Peloponnesian Wars, and was acclaimed by Thucydides, a contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens". He turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles", but the period thus denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars or as late as the following century.
