With
regard to the title, the word Archon, as used here, is not so much a
specific Athens-related historism as a general borrowing from the Greek, to
mean the first, or the ruler, thus being a very appropriate
parallel to the position of Pericles (to whom this entry belongs) at the top of
the Athenian hierarchy. Pericles was the democratic choice of the
Athenian citizenry, but, as his story illustrates, the power of one extraordinary
personality here incomparably surpasses the powers of democratic government.
His subsequent democratic dismissal, and then almost immediate democratic
restoration to full power, prove him indispensable to the survival of the
Athenian power as such, and his unfortunate natural death from plague
was to inaugurate a historical decline of Athens as the preeminent political
entity, which status it had previously enjoyed as the direct result of the
Greek victory under the Athenian leadership in the two Persian wars.
“…Agariste the daughter of
Cleisthenes, having been married to Xanthippos, the son of Ariphron, and being
with child, saw a vision in her sleep, and it seemed to her that she had
brought forth a lion; and then, after a few days, she bore to Xanthippos
Pericles.” (Herodotus, Histories,
I-131.)
This
was the sole mention of Pericles by
Herodotus, Pericles’ contemporary, who had even outlived him by a good fifteen
years. The fact that Herodotus was not a citizen of Athens could probably give
him a certain advantage of detachment from the contemporary Athenian scene,
but, even more probably, Herodotus may have been uncomfortable with writing a
history of his day, thus setting a good example for later historians to keep
away from the contemporary subject matter, which advice, alas, so many have
failed to follow!
The
supremacy of Athens, as opposed to the greatness of other Greek cities and
regions, has a remarkably short history, considering her chief role in the
so-called Golden Age of Greece, which seems to have lasted forever. It
begins with the end of the two Persian Wars, against the Persian king Darius
(490), and his son and successor Xerxes (480-479). Athenian leadership in these
victorious wars gave Athens more than just prestige. The city of Athens emerged
as the dominant force in a Greek alliance against the foreign invader (notably,
Sparta was not a part of it), and, in the absence of any strong competition, it
quickly succeeded in transforming the alliance into an Empire.
This
remarkable rise of Athens is largely attributed to the wise leadership of
Pericles, general and statesman who governed by the free choice of the citizens
for about thirty years, until his fall in 430 BC, followed by a brief
restoration to power, cut short by his death from plague in 429 BC. (Oh, the
dangers of democracy! The mob is fickle, easily susceptible to the agitation of
the loud demagogues with a well-concealed agenda. Yes, it does come to its
senses on realizing its folly, but frequently this realization comes too late...
But it is never too late to learn historical lessons from such misfortunes.
Unfortunately, though, today’s free society is far too afraid of longterm
“dictators,” and would rather settle on short-term nonentity “leaders.”)
Although
the “popular” choice, Pericles was essentially a refined aristocrat with a keen
aesthetic sensibility and an appreciation of art and science, but lacking none
of the practical qualities of a great political leader and military commander.
Similarly to Alexander the Great, later to be tutored by the great Aristotle,
Pericles was a pupil of Anaxagoras, which, in retrospect, sticks another
feather into his hat. He became a beloved father of his people, despite a
dogged opposition from the more utilitarian brand of the democrats, led by a
certain Thucydides (by no means to be confused with his great historian
namesake!), who resented the fact that the money of the Greek League, now
transferred from the neutral Delos to Athens, was being spent on luxuries, such
as the use of marble, gold, precious gems, and ivory, in the construction of
Athenian temples, statues, and public buildings.
“Greece appears to be the victim of monstrous violence and
manifest tyranny,” Thucydides
argued, “when it sees that with the money
contributed under compulsion for the war we are gilding our city like a wanton
woman, adorning her with extravagant stones, statues and thousand-talent
temples.”
Here
was a classic ‘utility’ argument that resonates today with an even louder
impact. Curiously, Stalin was following in the footsteps of Pericles, when he
ordered the creation of the magnificent Metropolitan subway system in
Moscow, turning each train station into a work of art, and sparing no expense
in doing that. Stalin was, of course, not so much an aesthete and elitist
himself, as a self-fashioned symbol of the Russian State, and an authentic
manifestation of the aestheticism, elitism, and mysticism of the Russian
Intelligentsia. Not in the same mold, but with a similar outcome, Pericles was
himself an unapologetic elitist and aesthete, and, fortunately for him, in his
refinement, he was not facing the Thucydides democrats alone, but ostensibly,
he found for himself a support system among his rich and powerful Athenian
constituents, who luckily shared his expensive tastes and a keen appreciation
of beauty.
As
to the question who are more in the right, the utilitarians and the
consumerists, or the aesthetes and the elitists, it is the latter kind that
creates the face of any nation. We judge the greatness of nations not by the
frugal wisdom of their spending habits, but by the glorious splendor of their
extravagant luxuries, be that the great Pyramids of Ancient Egypt, or the
sculptures of Phidias and Praxiteles in Ancient Greece, or the great works of
thinkers and writers of poetry and prose, or the bronze and marble masterpieces
of Moscow’s old subway system. Mind you, such splendid extravagance is by no
means “dollars and nonsense.” There
is an enormous element of public psychology in it, the uplifting of the
national spirit through its daily contact with immortal art and beauty, while
taking the people’s mind away-- upwards-- from the unavoidable drabness of
their everyday lives.
And
last, but not least, it is Pericles’ stubborn dedication to his Aspasia, the
scandalous Miletian foreigner of his, the association with whom came at
a huge political cost to Pericles. “Behind every great man there always is a
great woman,” they say, and it was, apparently, very true in the
historically famous case of the two Athenian lovers, Pericles and Aspasia.
Generally speaking, the Athenians of the Golden Age were not quite as
generous toward geniuses, as we would like to imagine them. Aside from Aspasia,
they persecuted Anaxagoras for alleged impiety, and Phidias for alleged
embezzlement of funds, both Pericles’ protégés. It may be added that the same
Athenians and their sons would, a generation later, persecute and condemn the
great Socrates. No wonder, then, that the Athenian shallow democracy was doomed
without the leadership of men like Pericles, even though the genius of Greek
art and thought could not be so easily extinguished in the darker ages to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment