Appendix 3 Part 1 Summary

Pericles' speech makes somewhat difficult reading, even though Wills divides it into the parts discussed in Chapter 2: The Revival of Greek Oratory. Wills marks each part so that the reader can follow the form of the speech. Pericles gave this speech after the first battles of the Peloponnesian war. He talks at length about the value of democracy and the virtues of his city, Athens. Like Lincoln, Pericles stresses that Athens was worth dying for. Pericles praises the soldiers who died valiantly, and offers advice to the living to carry on their work. Gorgias' piece is short. It has about 14 stanzas of verse made up of four lines of poetry that do not rhyme in English.

Earlier in the book, author Wills talks about Gorgianisms - which are balanced sentences or phrases as found in the Gettysburg Address. "The world...