Interestingly enough, history itself tells as that factual details aren't what influence and help its readers. Perhaps it's the storyteller's application of kairos and other persuasive techniques that influence history's leaders.
150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln found himself in the exact position as Pericles. The United States had just lost over 50,000 men (between Union and Confederate troops) in its largest battle ever: The Battle of Gettysburg. Morale was low, and many began to question their involvement in the war.
"...But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."
Pericles evaluates his kairos as well: "For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial. It is not only the inscriptions on their graves in their own country that mark them out; no, in foreign lands also, not in any visible form but in people’s hearts, their memory abides and grows. It is for you to try to be like them. "
I believe that Lincoln not only knew of, but framed his discourse around Thucydides retelling of Pericles. Although Thucydides shaped his history around his personally beliefs, it influenced one of the greatest and most influential discourses of all time.
This is such an interesting connection. I didn't realize this until now, but it is so obviously true. Lincoln carefully crafted his rhetoric to console, yet motivate his audience in the same way that Pericles did.
ReplyDeleteI wrote my post about how Pericles denied pathos and told his men to move on from the past. Perhaps Pericles did not remove pathos from his appeal but simply applied in a way was more difficult for me to interpret. He tells the men that they must act for themselves and not rely on those who came before them. Perhaps by showing the men that those who have died have written their own history, he creates a connections based on pathos that inspires them to act. Truthfully, he probably is utilizing all three appeals making it difficult for me to separate each instance from another.
ReplyDeleteI totally thought of this as I was reading! Maybe if you had more space you would have been able to go more into the specific times that you saw this, because there are a lot of them. It's amazing to see the links between our modern culture and ancient Athenians. In my post, Land of the Free, Home of the Athenians, I went into a lot of thinking about how our heritage from Athens is highlighted in these speeches, and this is a great example of it.
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