, or by a desire to curry favour with the chief men of
the time.

XIV. When the speakers of Thucydides's party complained that Perikles
had wasted the public money, and destroyed the revenue, he asked the
people in the assembly whether they thought he had spent much. When they
answered "Very much indeed," he said in reply, "Do not, then, put it
down to the public account, but to mine; and I will inscribe my name
upon all the public buildings." When Perikles said this, the people,
either in admiration of his magnificence of manner, or being eager to
bear their share in the glory of the new buildings, shouted to him with
one accord to take what money he pleased from the treasury, and spend it
as he pleased, without stint. And finally, he underwent the trial of
ostracism with Thucydides, and not only succeeded in driving him into
exile, but broke up his party.

XV. As now there was no opposition to encounter in the city, and all
parties had been blended into one, Perikles undertook the sole
administration of the home and foreign affairs of Athens, dealing with
the public revenue, the army, the navy, the islands and maritime
affairs, and the great sources of strength which Athens derived from her
alliances, as well with Greek as with foreign princes and states.
Henceforth he became quite a different man: he no longer gave way to the
people, and ceased to watch the breath of popular favour; but he changed
the loose and licentious democracy, which had hitherto existed, into a
stricter aristocratic, or rather monarchical, form of government. This
he used honourably and unswervingly for the public benefit, finding the
people, as a rule, willing to second the measures which he explained to
them to be necessary, and to which he asked their consent, but
occasionally having to use violence, and to force them, much against
their will, to do what was expedient; like a physician dealing with some
complicated disorder, who at one time allows his patient innocent
recreation, and at another inflicts upon him sharp pains and bitter,
though salutary, draughts. 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