Pericles' Funeral Oration

After the first year of the Peloponnesian War, Athens holds a public funeral for the fallen. Pericles delivers a eulogy that becomes the most famous statement of democratic ideals in antiquity. He praises Athens as "the school of Hellas" - a city open to all, where citizens participate in government, where poverty is no barrier to public service, where beauty and wisdom are cultivated, where law protects the weak. He argues that Athens is worth dying for because it offers a way of life superior to any other. The dead have earned immortal glory; the living should strive to match their courage.