Perfect Weather to talk about Death

HISTORY

              From his speech it was very obvious how important death is to Greek civilization. By analyzing the way people react to death and sorrow we can often discover what they believe about life. For example, the Greeks respect their dead based on how they died; an honorable life was one that was given in military service. Notice that, in mentioning the soldiers who died at Marathon, Pericles reveals that even some military deaths are more honorable than others. What I glean from these facts is that the Greeks were a collectivist society because they saw the community as a whole, not as a collection of individuals. They honored the dead who honored the community by giving of their lives.

RHETORIC

              The order in which Pericles addressed the different groups in his speech stood out to me. First, he talked to the parents, the ones who had sacrificed their lives raising the men who had just died. He reminds them that their sacrifice was not in vain because their sons died honorable deaths and contributed to society. Then he addressed the brothers and sons and the point I made above is emphasized. He doesn’t comfort the living men about the deaths, but rather comforts them that one day they may also be able to die for their country. Lastly, he talks to the widows of the group, the people that in modern times would be addressed and comforted first, and, as touched on by Macey, he mentions them only long enough to say that he isn’t going to talk about them.

PHILOSOPHY

              I don’t know if I can make a definitive statement on which of the three philosophical categories Pericles should be put in, but I definitely can see how he exemplifies the philosophy of a Sophist. At first I was going to sort him as a Socratic because he tries to find the truth of what is happening. However, I realized, with a little help from Hailee, that he was very biased to Athens. Socrates would never have made such blanket statements about Athens being superior.