The palm of courage will surely be adjudged most justly to those, who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger. — Pericles of Athens

Part nine can be found here.

Historians and political philosophers have wondered exactly how educated the Athenian citizens were during the time of Solon or Pericles. Plato himself saw democracy as the rule of the ignorant. While a democracy based on the rule of the uneducated, would clearly be a disaster, it is unclear that Athens fits this description. In his famous funeral oration, Pericles calls Athens the “school of Hellas”¹ (the school of all Greece). He states that education was offered to all foreigners even when it hurt Athenian national interests. He also explains that the average citizen was able to both pursue industry and be involved in the affairs of the state. The citizen was competent and educated enough to do both. Pericles tells us,

Our public men have, besides politics their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters; for unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless. ²

In Periclean Athens, the educated citizen was required to take part in the governance of the city and his education was such that allowed him to be a competent judge in state matters. Pericles goes on to say, “We Athenians are able to judge all events and … instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all.”3 An important part of Athenian education was dialectic in nature. Socrates with his students, would ask important questions, seek definitions, and rationally reflect on answers along with his students through a process of discussion. Athenian students would actively study the art of rhetoric (public speaking), memorize the works of Homer, and read poetry in public (as Herodotus did). This form of education not only prepared the student for public speaking and debate but also gave him a sense of his own history. Public speaking, debate, and discussion are essential elements of any democracy. Also, it is unlikely that many fools or incompetents played a significant role in public affairs, perhaps no more so than today.4 If a citizen attended no more than half the minimum number of yearly sessions, he would still hear twenty sets of debates by the ablest people in the state, chiefly elected officials or those formerly holding elective office, the leading politicians in all factions, and a considerable number of experts on a variety of subjects. Moreover, these were true debates in which it was impossible to hold prepared remarks.5 This would have led to an incredible education in itself. Many in the audience would have been previous officeholders and could draw from their experience, knowledge, and education to judge the debates.

The next post will explore the classical influence of the American founding.

1 Thucydides. The History of The Peloponnesian War, Great Books Of The Western World, Vol. 6, ed. Robert Maynard Hutchins, (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1952), 397.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 Kagan, Donald. Pericles of Athens And The Birth of Democracy, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), 59.

5 Ibid.