The Sepulchre of Famous Men is the Whole Earth

'What you leave behind is not what is engraved in monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others'. ~ Pericles

'ἀνδρῶν γὰρ ἐπιφανῶν πᾶσα γῆ τάφος, καὶ οὐ στηλῶν μόνον ἐν τῇ οἰκείᾳ σημαίνει ἐπιγραφή, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ μὴ προσηκούσῃ ἄγραφος μνήμη παρ᾽ ἑκάστῳ τῆς γνώμης μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦ ἔργου ἐνδιαιτᾶται'.


Let us begin by saying that the above original Greek is translated more beautifully and truthfully into this,

' The sepulchre of famous men is the whole earth, not only the epigraph engraved on the columns in their own country, since also in foreign lands there dwells the unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts and minds of men'.

While it may have been beneficial to make the quote more concise, the beauty of the original statement is clear - the imagery of columns with engravings of great battles, the exoticness of foreign lands and global impact of great men. However the discussion about the public policy consequences will take precedent, not the butchering of Greek poetry and prose!

If a public policy student could look up to a man they couldn't do better than use Pericles as the example. Statesman, Orator, citizen ( and perhaps disconcertantly General), the classical hero and patron of the arts led Greece into its Golden Age and his influential Funeral Oratory, from which the above is taken, would not seem out of place spoken by a leader such as Barack Obama. Whether we would have known about the speech had it not been for Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War is a moot point - he did - and the leader of Athens talked about participating in politics and civic pride and what many saw as an eulogy of Athens itself. Pericles has ever since been held up as an ideal statesman, who while somewhat populist gave civilisation its roots for freedom of speech and true democracy, even if that was far from the fact. Thucydides, while lauding Pericles, acknowledged with his persuasive manner and charismatic demeanour, that he may be the only Greek to balance the democracy he had created.

The quote itself encourages immortality in people's mind as opposed to the immortality of physical things. Monuments will fall, but memories will last, as Pericles himself found. His notoriety may infer he got the balance right - and historical evidence seems to imply this - but of course we have to look at this in its context. He was a General and nobleman, so fear could have been memory and who is to know how many monuments to himself he actually built?

From a public policy point of view, the implications of the quote are perculiar. No matter what your actions, policy must influence the lives of others in a positive way. However, this quote does not bear any value judgement - you should be remembered, but we are left to understand this should be in a good way. However, as the example of another Greek, Achilles, shows us, acting heroically to be remembered is folly also it applied on a Grand scale - you must compromise, you must sometimes hurt the many for the few, you must make tough decisions in the present that affect the future in a positive way, tainting your legacy. In this modern day and age, a leader cannot unite and inspire to this extent and then use this inspiration for expansionist reasons( see Bush, George)- if he does he taints his memory. Pericles speech is perhaps at odds with pramatism in public policy, something that politicians and thought leaders find more and more. Then again more public servants would be happy with an engraving nowadays to render them immortal - being remembered in the hearts and minds is fickle and as olden times sometimes become rose tinted, often they also lose their sheen.

Pericles oratory will be remembered, not at face value, but to do the job that it was required to do at the time - to inspire men to be great.