plutarch lives of the noble grecians and romans

The great Duke of Marlborough, it is said, confessed that his only knowledge of English history was derived from Shakespeare’s historical plays, and it would not be too much to say that a very large proportion of educated men, in our own as well as in Marlborough’s times, have owed much of their knowledge of classical antiquity to the study of Plutarch’s Lives. From the period of the revival of classical literature in Europe down to our own times, his writings have done more than those of any other single author to familiarise us with the greatest men and the greatest events of the ancient world.

He lived mostly in Greece, where he was a local magistrate, though he was a Roman citizen who knew the Emperors Trajan and Hadrian.No apologies are needed for a new edition of so favourite an author as Plutarch. Plutarch (AD 46 -119 ) was a philosopher, teacher, and biographer, whose writing strongly influenced the evolution of the essay, the biography, and historical writing in Europe from the 16th to the 19th century, especially the work of Michel de Montaigne and William Shakespeare. Plutarch is essentially a moralist whose aim is to edify the reader destiny follows from character, which he illustrates by anecdotes. The Lives display formidable learning and research. The form of Plutarch's Lives was new he outlined the birth, youth, achievements, and death of his characters, followed by a formal comparison. There are fifty biographies of famous soldiers, legislators, orators, and statesmen, and an additional eighteen comparisons. By comparing a famous Roman with a famous Greek, Plutarch intended to provide model patterns of behaviour and to encourage mutual respect between Greeks and Romans. Plutarch's Lives is a brilliant collection of biographies by one of the greatest biographers and moralists of all time. 'It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything.' Plutarch 'To make no mistakes is not in the power of man but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.' Plutarch 'Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.' Plutarch 'To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.' Plutarch 'I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent than in the extent of my power or possessions.' Plutarch

Plutarch lives of the noble grecians and romans