PERI PERICLES. 



course, WP cannot mean by future perfection the pos- 

 sibility of attaining unlimited power, wisdom, and 

 goodness, because this would destroy all difference 

 between ourselves and God. The word perfectibility, 

 usc.l in reference to man, can, of course, mean no- 

 thing more than a capacity of unending improve- 

 ment, and reason does not rebuke the hope of such 

 a progress. It lias been asked, whether the happi- 

 ness to be expected from constant progress in a lu- 

 ture state would not be counterbalanced by a des- 

 pondency arising from the consciousness of imper- 

 fection, which would only increase with the increase 

 of knowledge. Such a question seems sufficiently 

 ans\v< red by the happiness which virtuous effort, and 

 a consciousness of improvement, gives on earth. 

 The beautiful illustration of Leibnitz, when he com- 

 pared the relation between blessed spirits and the 

 Deity to that existing between the asymptote (q. v.) 

 and the hyperbola, the former of which is mathe- 

 matically proved to approach the latter ad infinitum, 

 without ever reaching it, is well known; but, though 

 a beautiful comparison, it throws no light upon the 

 question. " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 

 neither have entered into the heart of man, the 

 things which God hath prepared for them that love 

 him." 



PERI. The Peris, in Persian mythology, are the 

 descendants of fallen spirits, excluded from paradise 

 until their penance is accomplished. 



PERICARDIUM, in anatomy, is a membranous 

 bag filled with water, which contains the heart in 

 man and many other animals. 



PERICARPIUM, among botanists; a covering or 

 case for the seeds of plants. 



PERIC LES,one of the most celebrated statesmen of 

 Greece, whose age (about B.C. 444) was the most flou- 

 rishing period of Grecian art and science, was born at 

 Athens. His father was Xanthippus, a general cele- 

 brated for his victory over the Persians at Mycale. 

 Dnmon, Anaxagoras, and Zeno of Elea, were his 

 instructers. Connected by family relations with the 

 aristocracy, he at first avoided taking part in the 

 concerns of state, both on account of the jealousy 

 with which the multitude viewed this party, and 

 because Cimon was already at its head. He, there- 

 fore, aimed, at first, only to gain the favour of the 

 popular party. Cimon was munificent and affable; 

 Pericles, on the contrary, shunned festivals and all 

 public amusements. He was never seen abroad but 

 in the Prytancum and the popular assembly, and his 

 manners were characterized by gravity and dignity. 

 As he was not a member of the Areopagus, he used 

 all his influence to diminish the consideration of that 

 body, and instigated his friend Ephialtes to make 

 that tribunal an object of jealousy in the eyes of the 

 people, and to procure the passage of a decree, 

 transferring the investigation and decision of most 

 cases to other courts. His eloquence was so ele- 

 vated and powerful, that it was said of him that he 

 thundered and lightened in his speeches, and his 

 countrymen called him the Olympian. He carefully 

 avoided all that could displease the people, and even 

 submitted to indignities with the greatest patience. 

 It is said that a common citizen followed him to 

 his house one evening from a popular assembly, 

 reviling him at every step. He ordered a servant 

 to light the man home with a torch. When the 

 popular party procured the accusation of Cimon, 

 Pericles was one of the judges. He conducted, how- 

 ever, with great moderation, and spoke of his dis- 

 tinguished fellow-citizen with due respect. The 

 banishment of his rival removed all obstructions to 

 the execution of his ambitious designs. As Cimon 

 had fed and clothed the people, Pericles also provided 

 for the wants of the needy from the public treasury. 



In the war which broke out between the Athenians 

 and Lacedaemonians, B. C. 458, Pericles exposed 

 himself to the greatest dangers in the unsuccessful 

 engagement at Tanagra, and soon after invaded the 

 Peloponnesus with a fleet and a small army. To 

 please the people, who desired the return of Cimon, 

 lie caused a decree to be passed for his recall. By 

 means of his sister, however, Pericles had made n 

 private agreement with Cimon, by which the com- 

 mand of the army was left to the latter, and the go- 

 vernment of the state was to be in the hands of Pe- 

 ricles. On the death of Cimon, lie became, as it 

 were, prince of Athens; for, although the aristocracy 

 set up against him Thucydides, the son of Melesias, 

 a relation of Cimon, he was too unequal to maintain 

 the opposition. " If I should throw him to the 

 ground," said he once of Pericles, " he would say 

 that he had never been prostrated, and would per- 

 suade the spectators to believe him." 



From this time, Pericles ruled the state, but with- 

 out assuming the title of prince, and endeavoured to 

 occupy the people with the establishment of new 

 colonies or warlike enterprises. By his great pub- 

 lic works, he flattered the vanity of the Athenians, 

 while he beautified the city, and employed many 

 labourers and artists. To pay the expenses of these 

 undertakings, he caused the public treasury of 

 Greece to be transported from Delos to Athens, and 

 justified this act of perfidy by saying thnt the money 

 had been raised to defend the nation from the inva- 

 sion of barbarians ; and, as this end had been at- 

 tained by the exertions of the Athenians, the allies 

 had no further right to inquire into the expenditure 

 of the funds. His personal integrity in pecuniary 

 matters was above suspicion. Of this we have a 

 remarkable example : During an expedition aga hist 

 Euboea, the Lacedaemonians invaded Attica, as the 

 allies of the Megarians. Pericles averted an attack 

 by bribing the tutor of the Spartan king. When he 

 submitted his accounts for examination, ten talents 

 were charged for secret services, and the Athenians 

 were satisfied without any further account. Pericles 

 finally made himself master of the important island 

 of Euboea, B. C. 447, and, soon after, concluded a 

 truce of thirty years with the Spartans. To set 

 bounds to the popular power, which he had hitherto 

 laboured to increase, he now procured the .revival of 

 an old law, declaring no person a citizen of Athens 

 whose father and mother were not both Athenian 

 citizens, and caused 5000 individuals, who had be- 

 fore been free, to be sold as slaves. This act is a 

 proof of the great influence of Pericles, and, doubt- 

 less, obtained the approbation of a majority of the 

 citizens, whose importance was increased by a dimi- 

 nution of their numbers. Pericles took advantage 

 of the armistice with Sparta to make war upon the 

 Samians, (B. C. 440), who opposed the pretensions 

 of Athens. He was partly persuaded to undertake 

 this war by Aspasio (q. v.). The expedition, in 

 which she attended Pericles, ended in the subjugation 

 of the island, and the restoration of the democratic 

 government. The Samians soon rose and expelled 

 the Athenian garrison ; but Pericles again reduced 

 them to subjection. On his return to Athens, he 

 delivered the celebrated funeral oration in memory 

 of those who had perished in the expedition, which 

 had such an effect upon his audience, that the women 

 crowded about him, and wreathed his temples with 

 flowers. Thucydides was banished in the struggles 

 of parties, and the importance of Pericles was 

 greatly increased, till the jealousy of the Athenians 

 awoke, when they found those hopes abortive which 

 had been excited by the events that preceded the 

 Peloponnesian war. Some of the friends of Pericles 

 became the objects of public prosecutions. Anaxa 



