Plutarch's Miscellanies and Essays, Vol. 4 of 5: Comprising All His Works Collected Under the Title of "Morals"

by Plutarch

Excerpt from Plutarch's Morals, Vol. 4: Translated From the Greek by Several Hands; Corrected and Revised

Thus fitly did the God chastise this bold enquirer into eu cient traditions.

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528 pages, Paperback

Published August 24, 2018

About the author

Plutarch (later named, upon becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus; AD 46–AD 120) was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist. Plutarch's surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers.

Reviews

[Erick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think Plutarch has received the credit he deserves as a philosopher. I think his writings are quite engaging and incredibly thought provoking. Also, being one of the few examples of Middle Platonism we have, he is incredibly important as a representative of that school.
Here, in this volume of his morals, I would submit the following works as being incredibly important for Middle Platonism (and also as representing some of the most interesting of Plutarch's works): "On Why The Oracles Cease To Give Answers", "Of Isis and Osiris", "Of Love" and "Of The Word EI Engraven Over The Gate Of Apollo's Temple At Delphi". One should note that Plutarch was a priest at Delphi, so the information he provides in some of the above works is very credible and thus qualifiedly authoritative philosophy. One should also add the work entitled "On The Face Which Appears On The Orb Of The Moon" to the above list of works as well -which was not included in this volume, but I am now in the process of reading separately.
Most of those works I listed above (excepting "On Love") were collected and published by C.W. King in 1889 as Plutarch's "Theosophical Essays" (it also included a couple of additional works) and has been reprinted by Kessinger. If one has that book and a copy of Plutarch's Platonic Essays, one has a great resource for Middle Platonism and an overall good account of Plutarch's philosophical views -at least in regards to his metaphysics.
Next to Philo of Alexandria, I think Plutarch is the most important for understanding Middle Platonism. I may change the preceding view after reading Maximus Of Tyre, but as it stands, these writers I have now read substantially and bear witness to their importance and philosophical relevance and thus highly recommend both.

[Peter J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much tasty wisdom.