The oration by Pericles at the symbolic funeral for all the Athenian warriors killed in battle has stood for thousands of years as a model of oratory, and the immense power of rhetoric. In a very real sense, a large part of the impact of the address comes from the speaker’s standing. Pericles was a huge figure of his time, a highly respected statesman of Athens and a military leader in his own right; throughout history, orations tend to become landmarks because the orator is a truly commanding presence.

This factor aside, the funeral speech is interesting in several ways. Unfortunately, none of them actually go to swaying an audience not fiercely Athenian. The most obvious element of the speech, for instance, is that its purpose is to honor those who have given their lives for the state. Pericles begins, in fact, by stating this overtly. He also, however, quickly and cleverly relieves himself of the responsibility. He says, not without reason, that tributes of this kind are inherently suspect because they either fall short to those who know the real glory of the dead men, or seem like excessive and untrue praise. Strangely, Pericles opens his funeral tribute by stating that he will not be doing much of anything of the kind.

What he does choose to do is honor the dead in an unrelenting and uniformly lavish tribute to Athens itself, and this presents serious difficulties to an audience not, again, Athenian. The slain warriors, Pericles asserts, must be great because they died defending the most evolved and perfect state ever known. In terms of its democratic principles, opportunities for all citizens, uniform exercise of justice, and even of military training and practice, Athens has no rival on the planet. Running through this extreme praise for the nation is a continuing thread of jealousy as felt by those outside of Athens. The implication is that envy triggers attacks, as other states wish to bring down so perfect a state.

Ultimately, while the speech is composed with elegance and craft, it fails to convince because it never goes beyond sounding that one note of perfection. Everything Pericles refers to, from the ways in which a poor citizen can rise to greatness, to a state policy so confident and proud that it welcomes all foreign interest, paints Athens in too glorious a light to be believable. This is not to say that the state was lacking in achievement, or even that a great deal of what Pericles says is untrue. Rather, he defeats his own purpose by not tempering the oration with acknowledging the human failing no nation is without. The oration is not believable simply because no civilization can ever attain the perfection he attributes to Athens.

It is certainly possible, this major flaw notwithstanding, that Pericles knew very well what he was doing. He was, after all, an experienced and skilled politician. He may have decided that his audience would be unwilling to hear anything but undiluted praise. The ceremony was to honor the fallen dead, and there was a sweeping emotion to address. Pericles may have concluded that speaking of any realistic, even understandable, weakness of Athenian society would be heard as an insult to the dead by his Athenian listeners. He was obligated to take his audience’s needs into account and, in that respect, the oration both works and is excusable in its extreme and consistent tribute.

This same factor, however, is what lessens its power for posterity. Ages later can appreciate the majesty of the writing and the skill of the rhetoric, as well as the motivating force to present as glowing a tribute to the nation as could be devised. All of this, unfortunately, gives the oration of Pericles a stature boxed in by circumstance. If an oration is to be seen as brilliant by ages to come, it must live apart from the specific needs and circumstances of its delivery. Otherwise, it is merely a striking example of effective politics, as the speech of Pericles remains.