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. –“Funeral Oration,” Pericles What point does Pericles make about the laws of democracy? Laws help men gain more possessions and become richer. Laws only help the people who have government positions. Laws are unequal to citizens because they put one person before another. Laws are equal for people who have money and for people who live in poverty.