PERICLES PERIHELION. 



465 



goras, his venerable instructer, on a charge of irre- 

 ligion; Aspasia on account of lier connexion with 

 Pericles, lie undertook to plead her cause himself, 

 and was so affected that he forgot his dignity, and 

 burst into tears. He procured her acquittal; but he 

 withdrew Anaxagoras from the attacks of his ene- 

 mies, by conducting him from Attica under his own 

 protection. 



When the Spartans, who had assumed the protec- 

 tion of the smaller states of Greece, sent to Athens, 

 demanding a compensation for the injuries which 

 had been done to these states, and threatening war 

 in case of refusal, Pericles persuaded the Athenians 

 to reject the proposal, and thus became the author 

 of the fatal Peloponnesian war. (See Peloponnesus.) 

 Some maintain that his object was to keep his 

 countrymen employed abroad, in order to avert 

 their attention from his government, particularly as 

 his enemies were daily increasing, and that Aspasia 

 entertained a violent hatred against Sparta. The 

 probability is, that Pericles, misled by his views of 

 the dignity and importance of the Athenian republic, 

 would consent to no concessions, particularly as such 

 a measure would be fatal to his own greatness. At 

 the commencement of the war, (B. C. 431,) Pericles 

 recommended to the Athenians to turn all their 

 attention to the defence of the city and to naval 

 armaments, rather than to the protection of their 

 territories. Accordingly, as he was made com- 

 mander-in-chief, notwithstanding the. murmurs of the 

 Athenians, he allowed the superior forces of the 

 Spartans and their allies to advance to Achamse, in 

 Attica, without resistance, and, at the same time, 

 sent a fleet to the shores of Peloponnesus, to Locris 

 and .<Egina, which took twofold vengeance for the 

 ravages in Attica. After the Peloponnesians had 

 retired, he invaded the territory of Megaris, which 

 had been the cause of the war. At the end of this 

 campaign, he delivered a eulogy over those who had 

 fallen in their country's service. 



The next year, a plague broke out at Athens, 

 which made such dreadful havoc, that Pericles was 

 obliged to summon all his fortitude to sustain his 

 countrymen and himself. To occupy their attention, 

 he fitted out a large fleet, and sailed to Epidaurus; 

 but the mortality among his troops prevented him 

 from effecting any thing important. He returned 

 with a small force ; but the Athenians no longer put 

 confidence in him. He was deprived of the com- 

 mand, and obliged to pay a heavy fine, though no 

 particular crime was charged against him. The 

 people, however, soon recalled him to the head of 

 the state, and gave him more power than he had 

 before enjoyed. But, amid his numerous civil cares, 

 he was afflicted by domestic calamities. His eldest 

 son, Xanthippus, who had lived at variance with 

 him, died of the plague. The same disease carried 

 off his sister, and many of his nearest relatives and 

 friends, and, among the rest, Paralus, his only re- 

 maining son by his first marriage. This affliction 

 moved him to tears. To console him for this loss, 

 the Athenians repealed the law which he had him- 

 self previously introduced, in regard to children 

 whose parents were not both citizens, and thus 

 placed his son by Aspasia among the citizens. But 

 his strength was gone; he sunk into a lingering 

 sickness, and died B. C. 429, in the third year of the 

 Peloponnesian war. When he lay upon his death- 

 bed, his friends, in their lamentations, spoke of his 

 great achievements ; but he suddenly started up 

 and exclaimed, " In these things I have many equals; 

 but this is my glory, that I have never caused an 

 Athenian to wear mourning." 



By the death of Pericles, Athens lost her most 

 distinguished citizen, to whom, although deficient 



in severe virtue, is not to be denied greatness of 

 soul. His education enlightened his mind, and 

 raised him above the prejudices of his age. His 

 ambition was to give his country supremacy overall 

 the states of Greece, and, while he ruled it, Athens 

 maintained this rank both in an intellectual and 

 political view. To Pericles the city was indebted 

 for its finest ornaments the Parthenon, the Odeon, 

 the Propylaenm, the Long Walls, numerous statues, 

 and other works of art. The golden age of Grecian 

 art, the age of Phidias, ceased with Pericles. His 

 name is therefore connected with the highest glory 

 of art, science and power in Athens ; and if he is 

 accused of having conducted the city to the edge of 

 that precipice from which she could not escape, yet 

 he must receive the praise of having contributed 

 greatly to make her the intellectual queen of all the 

 states of antiquity. 



PERIER, CASIMIR, formerly a banker, and mem- 

 ber of the French chamber of deputies, in which he 

 was one of the most distinguished liberal orators, 

 was born at Grenoble, in 1777, and, after finishing 

 his education at the college of the oratory in Lyons, 

 entered the military service at an early age. He 

 served with honour in the campaigns of Italy (1799 

 and 1800), but on the death of his father, a respect- 

 able merchant, he abandoned the profession of arms 

 for mercantile business. In 1802, he established a 

 banking house in company with his brother, in the 

 management of which he acquired an intimate ac- 

 quaintance with the most difficult and important ques- 

 tions of public credit and finance. Cotton manufac- 

 tories, machine manufactories, and several other 

 manufacturing establishments, were carried on by 

 the brothers, and Casimir introduced improvements 

 into the processes. In 1815 Casimir Perier publish- 

 ed a pamphlet against the system of foreign loans, 

 characterized by clearness and soundness of views, 

 and in 1817 he was elected to represent the depart- 

 ment of the Seine in the chamber of deputies. Here 

 he was no less distinguished as the firm and eloquent 

 advocate of constitutional principles, than as an en- 

 lightened and sagacious financier. In the revolution 

 of 1830, he took a decided part in favour of the na- 

 tional liberties ; was one of the deputation appointed 

 to wait on marshal Marmont during the three days ; 

 a member of the municipal commission of the pro. 

 visional government, July 28 ; but did not sign their 

 declaration of the dethronement of Charles X. When 

 Charles made his last effort to retain the throne, he 

 ordered the duke of Mortemart to form a ministry, 

 who made M. Pe'rier minister of finance, and general 

 Gerard that of war. August 5th, Perier was chosen 

 president of the chambers, and on the 12th formed 

 one of the first cabinet of the new king, without 

 holding the portfolio of any department. In March, 

 1831, he succeeded Laffitte as president of the coun- 

 cil, with the department of the interior ; Louis being 

 minister of finance, Sebastiani of foreign affairs, and 

 DeRigny of the marine. (See France.) The chief 

 endeavour of M. Perier's ministry, so far, appeared 

 to be to keep France at peace with Europe, and 

 thereby to make commerce and manufactures flourish, 

 to establish civil liberty and repress the military 

 spirit ; and, secondly, to render the government more 

 firm. The opposition reproached him with ignouiini- 

 ously courting the favour of the absolute monarchs, 

 with having deprived France of the honourable and 

 elevated position doe to her in the European system, 

 with being unwilling to follow up, frankly, the prin- 

 ciples of the " July revolution," and with having 

 sacrificed Italy to Austria, and Poland to Russia. 

 Pe'rier died in 1832. 



PERIGEE, OR PERIGEUM. See Apogee. 



PERIHELION, OR PERIHELIUM ; that point 



