Free Pericles of Athens by Janet Lloyd and Paul Cartledge Vincent Azoulay

this as proof that Pericles was now designated stratēgos autokratōr and have assumed that he had regularly held this special position in the past. However,
     there is nothing to support that conjecture. In Athens, “full powers” such as those
     were attributed only for a special mission, on a particular occasion. What Thucydides
     probably means to say here is nothing more than that “the Athenians had full confidence
     in him in all matters.” 15 One might even say that, in a period of warfare, panta ta pragmata would refer only to a city’s “military affairs”—in other words, to precisely the
     business for which a stratēgos was responsible.
    The fact remains that Pericles’ longevity as a stratēgos truly was extraordinary, given the brutal events that affected the democratic city
     in this period. What can be the explanation for that permanence at the head of Athenian
     affairs? Although it is not the only factor involved here, this string of reelections
     may be explained in particular by Pericles’ numerous military successes. The fact
     is that victory was not only the aim of all stratēgoi , who were elected precisely to wage a war and to win it; it was also one of the motors
     of their continuing hold on power: victory enveloped a victorious leader in a charisma
     that, in return, guaranteed him popular support.
    T HE V ICTORIOUS S TRATĒGOS : T HE P ATHS OF G LORY
    The Charisma of Victory
    In the course of his long career at the head of the Athenian armies and navies, Pericles
     won many battles. Although not himself a specialist in warfare, as Phormion was, he
     took care to surround himself with competent individuals, relying in particular on
     the aid of “Menippus, his friend and second-in-command as stratēgos [ hupostratēgountos ].” 16 Thanks to the latter’s skills, Pericles won many victories—no fewer than nine according
     to Plutarch: “Being now near his end, the best of the citizens and those of his friends
     who survived were sitting around him holding discourse of his excellence andpower, how great they had been, and estimating all his achievements and the number
     of his trophies,—there were nine of these which he had set up as the city’s victorious
     general” ( Pericles , 38.3). Among these successes there were three that particularly struck the minds
     of his contemporaries. One century later, the orator Lycurgus of Athens recalled that
     Pericles “had conquered Samos, Euboea and Aegina,” 17 all of them victories won over recalcitrant allies in the Delian League.
    However, military successes were not enough. News of them needed to spread. Pericles
     publicized his own successes with masterly skill. His talent as a propagandist shone
     out in the full glare of publicity after the victory over Samos in 440/439. On this
     occasion, Pericles was chosen by the Athenians to deliver, in the public cemetery,
     the dēmosion sēma , the funeral oration for the soldiers who had died for their country. Thanks to his
     oratorical skill, this was a chance not only to celebrate the citizens who had fallen
     in battle, but at the same time implicitly to convey the part that he himself had
     played in the final victory. A number of famous phrases from this speech have been
     preserved for us by Plutarch and Aristotle, 18 and we know that his eulogy aroused so much admiration that “as he came down from
     the tribune, … the women clasped his hand and fastened wreaths and fillets on his
     head, as though he was some victorious athlete [ hōsper athlēten nikēphoron ]” ( Pericles , 28.4). Thanks to the charm of his eloquence, Pericles was showered with a glory
     that likened him to the victors in athletic games. The comparison is certainly apt:
     the athletes who won crowns received extraordinary honours from their city—in particular,
     honorific statues that were raised to them in the public squares, 19 and thanks to the prestige that this bestowed upon them, some became