Every possible kind of disorder was to be
found among a people possessing so great an empire as the Athenians; and
he alone was able to bring them into harmony, by playing alternately
upon their hopes and fears, checking them when over-confident, and
raising their spirits when they were cast down and disheartened. Thus,
as Plato says, he was able to prove that oratory is the art of
influencing men's minds, and to use it in its highest application, when
it deals with men's passions and characters, which, like certain strings
of a musical instrument, require a skilful and delicate touch. The
secret of his power is to be found, however, as Thucydides says, not so
much in his mere oratory, as in his pure and blameless life, because he
was so well known to be incorruptible, and indifferent to money; for
though he made the city, which was a great one, into the greatest and
richest city of Greece, and though he himself became more powerful than
many independent sovereigns, who were able to leave their kingdoms to
their sons, yet Perikles did not increase by one single drachma the
estate which he received from his father.
XVI. This is the clear account of his power which is given by Thucydides
the historian; though the comic poets misrepresent him atrociously,
calling his immediate followers the New Peisistratidae, and calling upon
him to swear that he never would make himself despot, as though his
pre-eminence was not to be borne in a free state.
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