On this occasion he sat at
table till the libations were poured, upon which he at once got up and
went away. For solemnity is wont to unbend at festive gatherings, and a
majestic demeanour is hard to keep up when one is in familiar
intercourse with others. True virtue, indeed, appears more glorious the
more it is seen, and a really good man's life is never so much admired
by the outside world as by his own intimate friends. But Perikles feared
to make himself too common even with the people, and only addressed
them after long intervals--not speaking upon every subject, and, not
constantly addressing them, but, as Kritolaus says, keeping himself like
the Salaminian trireme for great crises, and allowing his friends and
the other orators to manage matters of less moment. One of these friends
is said to have been Ephialtes, who destroyed the power of the Council
of the Areopagus, "pouring out," as Plato, the comic poet, said, "a full
and unmixed draught of liberty for the citizens," under the influence of
which the poets of the time said that the Athenian people
"Nibbled at Euboea, like a horse that spurns the rein,
And wantonly would leap upon the islands in the main."
VIII. Wishing to adopt a style of speaking consonant with his haughty
manner and lofty spirit, Perikles made free use of the instrument which
Anaxagoras as it were put into his hand, and often tinged his oratory
with natural philosophy.
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