Pericles’ funeral oration “our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people. when it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law; when it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses. no one . . is kept [out of government] because of poverty.” —pericles, as recorded by thucydides, history of the peloponnesian war what did the greeks use to decide who should hold public office? a. class c. wealth b. primary elections d. ability