Pericles Funeral Oration Essay

In the funeral oration speech, Pericles expresses a flawless vision of how he believes Athens should be. He persuades Athenians to believe that Athens is the origin of “education for Greece” (page 75)(p25). He also suggest that all neighbors of Greece should look up to Athens as a model (page 73) (p30). Pericles is a man who promises Athenian democracy to better every citizen. Socrates on the other hand is a philosophy genius. Some Greeks believed he was a crazy sophist trying to steal data from people's mind. Eventually, Socrates was charged for degrading the minds of the youth and believing in supernatural things instead of believing in Greek gods (24b). Throughout his trial to prove himself not guilty, he has many perspectives on Greek democracy …show more content…
According to Pericles this would secure the nation’s future standings and the well being for Athenian individuals (page 74)(p25). Socrates on the other hand believes that before improving a nation, we should improve its citizens (30). In the trial, Socrates mentions that individual should first better their own souls, their own moral condition before thinking about Athena as a whole. In Socrates perspective, the improvement for an individual would automatically guide to a better nation. He quotes in the trial “Wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence brings about wealth and all other public and private blessing for men" (30a). For Socrates the word excellence means a healthy and a true soul while for Pericles excellence means the best of Athena. Another difference among these men would be that Pericles argues for security, justice, and utility, believing that working together can lead a nation. While Socrates would argue that people should worry about themselves, instead of others (28b). In the trial Socrates uses a horse trainer as an example. The example was to show that just as a horse trainer could improve the horse it could also corrupt the horse. His point was to prove that, only certain minorities will better Athenian citizens while the majority will corrupt them

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