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Pericles: Spartas
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Pericles began to fall out of favor in Athens while still being able to maintain power. The Spartans attacked and he ordered that Athens should prepare for a siege. Unfortunately, during the siege, a plague spread through Athens and its allies, but not to its enemies, killing many, including Pericles himself and most of his family. However, after Pericles lost his last Athenian son, the Athenians allowed a change in the law that made Pericles' non-Athenian son a citizen and legitimate heir.
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In Athenian politics Pericles sought to enable all citizens to take an active part in the government. Payment of citizens for their services to the state was introduced, and members of the council were chosen by lot from the entire body of Athenians. His foreign policy was expansionist. Under the DELIAN LEAGUE, (q.v.), established in defense against the Persians, the Athenians created a great naval empire and embraced, as equal or subject allies, nearly all the larger islands of the Aegean Sea and many cities to the north. When the aristocratic leader Cimon, who favored friendship with Sparta, was ostracized (banished) in 461
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Pericles became prominent first in the law courts, where he prosecuted the leading statesmen and finally Cimon, the leading conservative power. In the Assembly, Pericles advocated hostility toward Sparta and radical constitutional reform at home. He worked in close association with Ephialtes, an older and more established leader of democratic views. They were both elected generals for a year sometime before 462, and in 462-461, when Cimon was the most influential of the generals in office, they made a concerted attack upon him.
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While contemporary scholars, such as Sarah Ruden,[58] label Pericles as a populist, a demagogue and a hawk, most of them laud his inspired and charismatic leadership. It is true that during his youth, when he first confronted Cimon, he introduced policies, certain aspects of which could be deemed demagogic. Nonetheless, a few years later, he adopted moderation and recalled Cimon for the sake of Athens, a characteristic exhibition of public spirit. According to Plutarch, after assuming the leadership of Athens, "he was no longer the same man as before, nor alike submissive to the people and ready to yield and give in to the desires of the multitude as a steersman to the breezes".[59] It is told that, when his political opponent, Thucydides, was asked by Sparta's king, Archidamus, if he or Pericles was a better fighter, Thucydides answered without any hesitation that Pericles was a better fighter, because, even when he is defeated, he achieves to convince the audience that he won.[26] In matters of character, Pericles was above reproach in the eyes of the ancient historians, since "he kept himself untainted by corruption, although he was not altogether indifferent to money-making".[8]
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In Athenian politics Pericles sought to enable all citizens to participate in government. Payment of citizens for their services to the state was introduced, and members of the council were chosen by lot from the entire body of Athenians. He was instrumental in strengthening and extending the Athenian empire. Under the Delian League, established as a defence against renewed aggression from Persia, the Athenians became a great naval power and embraced, as equal or subject allies, nearly all the larger islands of the Aegean Sea and many cities to the north. When the aristocratic leader Cimon, who favoured friendship with Sparta, was ostracized (banished) in 461
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In 461 BC, Pericles achieved the political elimination of this formidable opponent using the weapon of ostracism. The ostensible accusation was that Cimon betrayed his city by acting as a friend of Sparta.[23]
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