In Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles praises the ergon of the Athenian heroes, who placed them in the realm of logos, while ordering the Athenians to follow these ideals of the logos. The maintenance and continued success of Athens' political establishment rests on the predominance of the polis, rationality, and discourse over family, emotion, and reckless action. However, blind turns of fate and fortune often place the logos in opposition to the base and primitive nature of the ergon. Thucydides and Sophocles recognize that when the logos comes into conflict with the unexpected ergon, the preservation of rationality and unanimity among the citizens of the polis depends on the leadership of a single honest ruler. In the History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides presents Pericles as a man of logos, whom Athens needs to reach its full potential as an empire and later to save it from disaster. Likewise, Sophocles presents Theseus, in Oedipus Colonus, as the perfect successor to Pericles, who restores Athens to its former glory before the end of the war. In these two examples we see that the dominance of the logos over Ergon within a polis lies in the ability and logos of the city's current leader. In his funeral oration, Pericles elevates the acts of the Athenian heroes to the rank of eternal worship (logos). A man of rhetoric, he succeeded in transforming the death of Athenian warriors into a source of inspiration. Instead of focusing on the limited and fleeting qualities of the past, he asks Athenians to rejoice in serving the common good of their polis (PW 2.43). However, after the plague, the Athenians realized that working for a better future would prove useless if you cannot survive...... middle of paper ......f Athens leads him to take the right decision to accept Oedipus, which not only supports Athens' reputation, but also ensures its success, as Oedipus explains in his prophecy. The Athenian people's dependence on Theseus's moral authority further supports the polis's demand for an idealized ruler. Thucydides attributes Athens' early success to Pericles and blames his inferior political successors for Athens' final defeat. These successors did not follow Periclean's policy and put their own private interests and good ahead of the common good of the state. Sophocles uses Theseus as a didactic example of the ideal Athenian ruler. The final scene between Theseus and Oedipus offers the people of Athens hope that restoration is possible and that, under the leadership of honorable authority figures, the logos will once again prevail over their land..