Cosmo.—­We have indeed an equal right to value ourselves on that noblest of empires, the empire we gained over the minds of our countrymen.  Force or caprice may give power, but nothing can give a lasting authority except wisdom and virtue.  By these we obtained, by these we preserved, in our respective countries, a dominion unstained by usurpation or blood—­a dominion conferred on us by the public esteem and the public affection.  We were in reality sovereigns, while we lived with the simplicity of private men; and Athens and Florence believed themselves to be free, though they obeyed all our dictates.  This is more than was done by Philip of Macedon, or Sylla, or Caesar.  It is the perfection of policy to tame the fierce spirit of popular liberty, not by blows or by chains, but by soothing it into a voluntary obedience, and bringing it to lick the hand that restrains it.

Pericles.—­The task can never be easy, but the difficulty was still greater to me than to you.  For I had a lion to tame, from whose intractable fury the greatest men of my country, and of the whole world, with all their wisdom and virtue, could not save themselves.  Themistocles and Aristides were examples of terror that might well have deterred me from the administration of public affairs at Athens.  Another impediment in my way was the power of Cimon, who for his goodness, his liberality, and the lustre of his victories over the Persians was much beloved by the people, and at the same time, by being thought to favour aristocracy, had all the noble and rich citizens devoted to his party.  It seemed impossible to shake so well established a greatness.  Yet by the charms and force of my eloquence, which exceeded that of all orators contemporary with me; by the integrity of my life, my moderation, and my prudence; but, above all, by my artful management of the people, whose power I increased that I might render it the basis and support of my own, I gained such an ascendant over all my opponents that, having first procured the banishment of Cimon by ostracism, and then of Thucydides, another formidable antagonist set up by the nobles against my authority, I became the unrivalled chief, or rather the monarch, of the Athenian Republic, without ever putting to death, in above forty years that my administration continued, one of my fellow-citizens; a circumstance which I declared, when I lay on my death-bed, to be, in my own judgment, more honourable to me than all my prosperity in the government of the State, or the nine trophies erected for so many victories obtained by my conduct.