Read the excerpt from Pericles's funeral oration by
Thucydides.
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, so long as he has it
in him to be of service to the state, is kept in political
obscurity because of poverty.
Which statement best shows how the speaker
develops the idea that power is in the hands of the
whole people?
He explains that the government is a democracy.
He emphasizes that having wealth is not important.
He gives examples of different positions people can
fill.
He shows that all people have the same
opportunities.