Little journeys to the homes of eminent orators . i6 PERICLES. HE Greeks at their best were bar-barians; at their worst, average intelligence amongthem was low; and the idea thatthey were such a wonderful peo-ple has gained a foothold simplybecause they are so far off. Themiracle of it all is that such sub-limely great men as Pericles, Phi-dias, Socrates and Anaxagoras should have sprungfrom such a barbaric folk. The men just named were asexceptional as was Shakespeare in the reign of Eliza-beth. That the masses had small appreciation of thesemen is proven in the fact that Phidias a
Little journeys to the homes of eminent orators . i6 PERICLES. HE Greeks at their best were bar-barians; at their worst, average intelligence amongthem was low; and the idea thatthey were such a wonderful peo-ple has gained a foothold simplybecause they are so far off. Themiracle of it all is that such sub-limely great men as Pericles, Phi-dias, Socrates and Anaxagoras should have sprungfrom such a barbaric folk. The men just named were asexceptional as was Shakespeare in the reign of Eliza-beth. That the masses had small appreciation of thesemen is proven in the fact that Phidias and Anaxagorasdied in prison, probably defeating their persecutorsby suicide. Socrates drank the cup of hemlock, andPericles, the one man who had made Athens immor-tal, barely escaped banishment and death by divert-ing attention from himself to a foreign war. The chargeagainst both Pericles and Phidias was that of sacri-lege.* They said that Pericles and Phidias should bepunished because they had placed their pictures on asacred shield. Humanitys job lot was
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