of attitude Henceforward he repressed all projects of reckless enterprise, and confined himself to the gradual expansion and consolidation of the empire It is not quite easy to see why he abandoned this successful policy in order to hasten on a war with Sparta, and neither the Corcyrean alliance nor the Megarian decree seems justified by the facts as known to us, though commercial motives may have played a part which we cannot now gauge. In his adoption of a purely defensive policy at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, he miscalculated the temper of the Athenians, whose morale would have been better sustained by a greater show of activity. But in the main his policy in 431–429 was sound, and the disasters of the war cannot fairly be laid to his charge. The foundation of cleruchies was an admirable device, which in many ways anticipated the colonial system of the Romans.
In his attitude towards the members of the Delian League Pericles likewise maintained a purely Athenian point of view. But he could hardly be said seriously to have oppressed the subject cities, and technically all the League money was spent on League business, for Athena, to whom the chief monuments in Athens were reared, was the patron goddess of the League. Under Pericles Athens also attained her greatest measure of commercial prosperity, and the activity of her traders all over the Levant, the Black Sea and the West, is attested not only by literary authority, but also by numerous Attic coins, vases, &c.
Pericles’ home policy has been much debated since ancient times His chief enactments relate to the payment of citizens for State service. These measures have been interpreted as an appeal to the baser instincts of the mob, but this assumption is entirely out of keeping with all we know of Pericles’ general attitude towards the people, over whom Thucydides says he practically ruled as a king. We must, then, admit that Pericles sincerely contemplated the good of his fellow-countrymen, and we may believe that he endeavoured to realize that ideal Athens which Thucydides sketches in the Funeral Speech—an Athens where free and intelligent obedience is rendered to an equitable code of laws, where merit finds its way to the front, where military efficiency is found along with a free development in other directions and strangles neither commerce nor art. In accordance with this scheme Pericles sought to educate the whole community to political wisdom by giving to all an active share in the government, and to train their aesthetic tastes by making accessible the best drama and music. It was most unfortunate that the Peloponnesian War ruined this great project by diverting the large supplies of money which were essential to it, and confronting the remodelled Athenian democracy, before it could dispense with his tutelage, with a series of intricate questions of foreign policy which, in view of its inexperience. it could hardly have been expected to grapple with successfully.
Pericles also incurred unpopularity because of his rationalism in religious matters; yet Athens in his time was becoming ripe for the new culture, and would have done better to receive it from men of his circle—Anaxagoras, Zeno, Protagoras and Meton—than from the more irresponsible sophists. The influence of Aspasia on Athenian thought, though denounced unsparingly by most critics may indeed have been beneficial, inasmuch as it tended towards the emancipation of the Attic woman from the over-strict tutelage in which she was kept. As a patron of art Pericles was a still greater force His policy in encouraging the drama has already been mentioned among his friends he could count three of the greatest Greek writers—the poet Sophocles and the historians Herodotus and Thucydides. Pericles likewise is responsible for the epoch-making splendour of Attic art in his time, for had he not so fully appreciated and given such free scope to the genius of Pheidias, Athens would hardly have witnessed the raising of the Parthenon and other glorious structures, and Attic art could not have boasted a legion of first-rate sculptors of whom Alcamenes, Agoracritus and Paeonius are only the chief names (See also Greek Art). Of Pericles’ personal characteristics we have a peculiarly full and interesting record. He was commonly compared to Olympian Zeus, partly because of his serene and dignified bearing, partly by reason of the majestic roll of the thundering eloquence, with its bold poetical imagery, with which he held friend and foe spellbound. The same dignity appeared in the grave beauty of his features, though the abnormal height of his cranium afforded an opportunity for ridicule of which the comedians made full use. In spite of an unusually large crop of scandals about him we cannot but believe that he bore an honourable character, and his integrity is vouched for by Thucydides in such strong terms as to exclude all further doubt on the question.
Ancient Authorities.—One chief source must always remain Thucydides (i. and ii. 1–65), whose insight into the character and ideals of Pericles places him far above all other authorities. The speeches which he puts into his mouth are of special value in disclosing to us Pericles’ inmost thoughts and aspirations (i. 140–144; ii. 35–46; ii. 60–64). Thucydides alone shows sympathy with Pericles, though, as J. B. Bury points out (Ancient Greek Historians, 1909, pp. 133 seq), he was by no means a blind admirer. Of other 5th-century sources, Aristophanes is obviously a caricaturist, pseudo-Xenophon (de republica Atheniensium) a mere party pamphleteer. Plato, while admiring Pericles’ intellect, accuses him of pandering to the mob; Aristotle in his Politics and especially in the Constitution of Athens, which is valuable in that it gives the dates of Pericles’ enactments as derived from an official document, accepts the same view. Plutarch (Pericles) gives many interesting details as to Pericles’ personal bearing, home life, and patronage of art, literature and philosophy, derived in part from the old comic poets, Aristophanes, Cratinus, Eupolis, Hermippus, Plato and Teleclides; in part from the contemporary memoirs of Stesimbrotus and Ion of Chios. At the same time he reproduces their scandalous anecdotes in a quite uncritical spirit, and accepts unquestioningly the 4th-century tradition. He quotes Aristotle, Heraclides Ponticus, Aeschines Socraticus, Idomeneus of Lampsacus and Duris of Samos, and is also indebted through some Alexandrine intermediary to Ephorus and Theopompus. Diodorus (xi. and xii), who copied Ephorus, contains nothing of value.
Modern Works.—Historians are agreed that Pericles was one of the most powerful personalities of ancient times, and generally allow him to have been a man of probity. J. Beloch, Griech. Gesch. vols. i. and ii. (Strassburg and Bonn, 1893–1896), and Die attische Politik seit Perikles (Leipzig, 1884) takes the most disparaging view; E. Abbott, Greek Hist., vol. ii. (London, 1892), and M. Duncker, Gesch. d. Altertums, vols. viii, ix. (Leipzig, 1884–1886), are on the whole unfavourable; Adolf Schmidt, Das Perikleische Zeitalter (Jena, 1877), V. Duruy, History of Greece (Eng. trans., London, 1892), G. Busolt, Griech. Gesch., vol. iii. (Gotha, 1897, 1904), and E. Meyer, Gesch. d. Altertums, vols. iii. and iv. (Stuttgart, 1901), Forschungen, vol. ii. (Halle, 1899; London, 1902), apportion praise and blame more equally; J. B. Bury and E Curtius, Hist. of Greece (Eng. trans., vols. ii. and iii., London, 1869, 1870), A. Holm, Hist. of Greece (Eng. trans, vol. ii., London, 1895), W. Lloyd, The Age of Pericles (London, 1875), and especially G. Grote, Hist. of Greece, vols. iv. and v. (see also additional notes in the edition by J. M. Mitchell and M. Caspari, 1907) take a favourable view. For Pericles’ buildings, see C. Wachsmuth, Gesch. d. Stadt Athen, i. 516–560 (Leipzig, 1874); E. A. Gardner, Ancient Athens (London, 1902), for his strategy, H. Delbrück, Die Strateg. d. Perikles (Berlin, 1890). See Athens: History, Greece: Ancient History; and Greek Art. (M. O. B. C.)
PERIDOT, sometimes written peridote, a name applied by
jewelers to “noble olivine,” or that kind of olivine which can
be used as a gem-stone (see Olivine). The word peridot is
an old trade-term, of unknown origin, used by French jewelers
and introduced into science by J. R. Haüy. Peridot is practically
the same stone as chrysolite (q.v.), though it is convenient
to restrict that term to transparent olivine of pale yellowish
green colour, and to apply the term peridot to those kinds which
are darker and decidedly green: the colour, which is due to
the presence of ferrous iron, is never vivid, like that of emerald,
but is usually some shade of olive-, pistachio- or leek-green.
Although the stone is sometimes cut en cabochon, and in rose-form,
the cutting best adapted to display the colour is that of a
table or a step-cut stone. Unfortunately the hardness of peridot
is only about 6·5, or but little above that of glass, so
that the polished stone readily suffers abrasion by wear. In
polishing peridot the final touch is given on a copper wheel
moistened with sulphuric acid.
Although olivine has a fairly wide distribution in nature, the varieties used as gem-stones are of very limited occurrence. Much mystery for a long time surrounded the locality which
