Thucydides' Eulogy of Athens

According to Thucydides, following the burial, Pericles climbed atop an elevated platform in order to address all of those who had gathered. He begins his speech by noting how difficult it is to properly praise the dead, but since it is the law, he offers to do his duty and to make his best attempt at it. His speech differs from the usual Athenian funerary speeches, in that it focuses not on the dead themselves, but on the city of Athens,. A way of life that is defined as the antithesis of everything Spartan. In the process, he paints a picture of the character and superiority of Athena's democracy.