Editing Pericles (section)

==== Personal attacks ====
[[Image:Aspasie Pio-Clementino Inv272.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Aspasia]] of Miletus ({{Circa|469 BC|406&nbsp;BC}}), Pericles' companion]]
Pericles and his friends were never immune from attack, as preeminence in democratic Athens was not equivalent to absolute rule.<ref name="For2">Fornara-Samons, ''Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles'', [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft2p30058m&chunk.id=d0e2016&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e2016&brand=eschol/ 31]</ref> Just before the eruption of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles and two of his closest associates, Phidias and his companion, [[Aspasia]], faced a series of personal and judicial attacks.

[[Phidias]], who had been in charge of all building projects, was first accused of embezzling gold meant for the statue of [[Athena]] and then of impiety, because, when he wrought the battle of the [[Amazons]] on the shield of Athena, he carved out a figure that suggested himself as a bald old man, and also inserted a very fine likeness of Pericles fighting with an Amazon.<ref name="P31">Plutarch, ''Pericles'', [[s:Lives/Pericles#31|XXXI]]</ref>

[[Aspasia]], who was noted for her ability as a conversationalist and adviser, was accused of corrupting the women of Athens to satisfy Pericles' perversions.<ref name="SudaAsp">Suda, article [http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?login=guest&enlogin=guest&db=REAL&field=adlerhw_gr&searchstr=alpha,4202 Aspasia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924122324/http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?login=guest&enlogin=guest&db=REAL&field=adlerhw_gr&searchstr=alpha,4202 |date=24 September 2015 }}</ref><ref name="P32">Plutarch, ''Pericles'', [[s:Lives/Pericles#32|XXXII]]</ref><ref name="Loraux">N. Loraux, ''Aspasie, l'étrangère, l'intellectuelle'', 133–164</ref><ref name="H138-139">M. Henry, ''Prisoner of History'', 138–139</ref> The accusations against her were probably nothing more than unproven slanders, but the whole experience was very bitter for Pericles. Although Aspasia was acquitted thanks to a rare emotional outburst of Pericles, his friend Phidias died in prison according to Plutarch; however, he is also credited with the later [[statue of Zeus at Olympia]], therefore this is debated, and another friend of his, Anaxagoras, was attacked by the [[Ecclesia (ancient Athens)|ecclesia]] for his religious beliefs.<ref name="P31" />

Beyond these initial prosecutions, the ecclesia attacked Pericles himself by asking him to justify his ostensible profligacy with, and maladministration of, public money.<ref name="P32" /> According to Plutarch, Pericles was so afraid of the oncoming trial that he did not let the Athenians yield to the [[Lacedaemonians]].<ref name="P32" /> Beloch also believes that Pericles deliberately brought on the war to protect his political position at home.<ref name="Beloch19-22">K.J. Beloch, ''Die Attische Politik seit Perikles'', 19–22</ref> Thus, at the start of the Peloponnesian War, Athens found itself in the awkward position of entrusting its future to a leader whose pre-eminence had just been seriously shaken for the first time in over a decade.<ref name="Helios" />