Did Pericles influence Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address?

(written by lawrence krubner, however indented passages are often quotes). You can contact lawrence at: lawrence@krubner.com, or follow me on Twitter.

This I did not know:

“If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences…if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition. The freedom we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbour for doing what he likes…”[13] These lines form the roots of the famous phrase “equal justice under law.” The liberality of which Pericles spoke also extended to Athens’ foreign policy: “We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality…”[14] Yet Athens’ values of equality and openness do not, according to Pericles, hinder Athens’ greatness, indeed, they enhance it, “…advancement in public life falls to reputations for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit…our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters…at Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger.”[15]

Pericles then turns to the audience and exhorts them to live up to the standards set by the deceased, “So died these men as becomes Athenians. You, their survivors, must determine to have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray that it may have a happier outcome.” [18]

and this:

American Civil War scholar Garry Wills addresses the parallels of Pericles’ funeral oration to Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech the Gettysburg Address.[19][20] Lincoln’s speech, like Pericles’, begins with an acknowledgment of revered predecessors: “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent…”; Lincoln, like Pericles, then praises the uniqueness of the State’s commitment to democracy: “..a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…government of the people, by the people, and for the people…”; Lincoln, like Pericles, addresses the difficulties faced by a speaker on such an occasion, “…we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground”; Lincoln, like Pericles, exhorts the survivors to emulate the deeds of the dead, “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the great task remaining before us”; and finally, Lincoln, like Pericles, contrasts the efficacy of words and deeds, “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract…The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”[21] It is uncertain to what degree Lincoln was directly influenced by Pericles’ Funeral Oration. Wills never claims that Lincoln drew on it as a source, though Edward Everett, who delivered a lengthy oration at the same ceremony at Gettysburg, began by describing the “Athenian example”.[22]

Post external references

  1. 1
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pericles%27_Funeral_Oration
Source