Plutarch's Lives

by Plutarch, Charles William Eliot (Editor)

Plutarch's Lives of Themistocles; Pericles; Aristides; Alcibiades and Coriolanus; Comparison of Alcibiades with Coriolanus; Demosthenes; and Cicero; Comparison of Demosthenes and Cicero; Caesar and Antony. In the translation called Dryden's corrected and revised by Arthur Hugh Clough with introductions and notes.

Genres: Classics, Biography, History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Ancient

412 pages, Paperback

Published January 11, 2004

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

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend of mine purchased this book and sent it to me, and I have to admit I was pleased to receive it and read it, for Plutarch's writing has long been of interest to me [1], even if I have not been very familiar directly with many of his writings.  This book does not include all of Plutarch's writings nor does it include many of them (with the exception of two collections of paired laws) in the form that he originally wrote it as parallel lives, but even with these flaws this collection is definitely one to appreciate, coming as it does from Dryden's translation, corrected and revised by Arthur Hugh Clough, and serving as volume twelve of the lengthy collection of Harvard classics.  Reading this book almost makes me want to hunt down some more of these volumes to read for myself, as it represents an accessible collection of classical literature for the intelligent reader, and not the sort of thing that we can expect to be recreated anytime soon in our own day and age.

Plutarch as a writer was well aware of his goals and his limitations and his approach.  While he serves as the only or almost the only known historian for certain incidents and periods of Greco-Roman history, his writing looms larger than it would have at the time, when his work was part of a larger context of writings.  In this particular collection, we have a nice balance between Greek and Roman lives, which were originally put in parallel for purposes of moralizing and drawing conclusions about character and not necessarily a detailed discussion of all of the noteworthy deeds of the people in question.  In this collection, for example, we see the trouble that Greek leaders had in terms of keeping the unstable democracies of Athens on their side, the experience of leaders in exile, the question of cowardice and moral corruption, and the relationship between public and private virtue.  Some of the discussions are somewhat short, and some of them very long, and many of them involve tragic ends relating to suicide and assassination.  Even though this particular book is aimed at presenting historical heroes in their humanity and complexity, it left this reader at least with a great deal of melancholy feelings about the relationship between challenging times and capable men and the price that is paid for leading others.

Plutarch's skill as a moralist is especially in evidence here, and he does not whitewash the people here, although it must be admitted as well that this version does not include the nastiest rumors about some of these historical figures that we have, such as Julius Caesar's rumored time as the "Queen of Bithynia."  Even so, there are a lot of aspects of the leaders discussed here that are worthy lessons for others.  We see from leaders like Themistocles and Alcibiades how virtue and reputation can be ruined by having a reputation for treachery and corruption of various kinds.  We see from Coriolanus how those who hunger and thirst after political power need to develop charisma and learn to control their temper to prevent themselves from destroying their lives.  The lessons these figures can help teach are of great interest for present and potential leaders, and it is little wonder that these works in their original and translation were sought after for centuries and why they remain relevant for readers today.  It is immensely worthwhile to learn through the example of others rather than have to make every mistake for oneself, after all.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

ebook text here: http://www.bartleby.com/12/

I don't have much to say about this, but here are some particularly memorable bits.

- In the Life of Aristides, Plutarch describes how he came to be resented and was exiled on trumped up charges of corruption:

"Of all his virtues, the common people were most affected with his justice, because of its continual and common use; and thus, although of mean fortune and ordinary birth, he possessed himself of the most kingly and divine appellation of Just; which kings, however, and tyrants have never sought after; but have taken delight to be surnamed besiegers of cities, thunderers, conquerors, or eagles again, and hawks; affecting, it seems, the reputation which proceeds from power and violence, rather than that of virtue. 

Although the divinity, to whom they desire to compare and assimilate themselves, excels, it is supposed, in three things, immortality, power, and virtue; of which three, the noblest and divinest is virtue. For the elements and vacuum have an everlasting existence; earthquakes, thunders, storms, and torrents have great power; but in justice and equity nothing participates except by means of reason and the knowledge of that which is divine. And thus, taking the three varieties of feeling commonly entertained towards the deity, the sense of his happiness, fear, and honor of him, people would seem to think him blest and happy for his exemption from death and corruption, to fear and dread him for his power and dominion, but to love, honor, and adore him for his justice. 

Yet though thus disposed, they covet that immortality which our nature is not capable of, and that power the greatest part of which is at the disposal of fortune; but give virtue, the only divine good really in our reach, the last place, most unwisely; since justice makes the life of such as are in prosperity, power, and authority the life of a god, and injustice turns it to that of a beast.

Aristides, therefore, had at first the fortune to be beloved for this surname, but at length envied…"

- In the Life of Alcibiades, Plutarch describes Alcibiades's relationship with Socrates:

"... the many well-born persons who were continually seeking his company, and making their court to him, were attracted and captivated by his brilliant and extraordinary beauty only. But the affection which Socrates entertained for him is a great evidence of the natural noble qualities and good disposition of the boy, which Socrates, indeed, detected both in and under his personal beauty; and, fearing that his wealth and station, and the great number both of strangers and Athenians who flattered and caressed him, might at last corrupt him, resolved, if possible, to interpose, and preserve so hopeful a plant from perishing in the flower, before its fruit came to perfection. For never did fortune surround and enclose a man with so many of those things which we vulgarly call goods, or so protect him from every weapon of philosophy, and fence him from every access of free and searching words, as she did Alcibiades; who, from the beginning, was exposed to the flatteries of those who sought merely his gratification, such as might well unnerve him, and indispose him to listen to any real adviser or instructor. 

Yet such was the happiness of his genius, that he discerned Socrates from the rest, and admitted him, whilst he drove away the wealthy and the noble who made court to him. And, in a little time, they grew intimate, and Alcibiades, listening now to language entirely free from every thought of unmanly fondness and silly displays of affection, finding himself with one who sought to lay open to him the deficiencies of his mind, and repress his vain and foolish arrogance.

… those who endeavored to corrupt Alcibiades, took advantage chiefly of his vanity and ambition, and thrust him on unseasonably to undertake great enterprises, persuading him, that as soon as he began to concern himself in public affairs, he would not only obscure the rest of the generals and statesmen, but outdo the authority and the reputation which Pericles himself had gained in Greece. But in the same manner as iron which is softened by the fire grows hard with the cold, and all its parts are closed again; so, as often as Socrates observed Alcibiades to be misled by luxury or pride, he reduced and corrected him by his addresses, and made him humble and modest, by showing him in how many things he was deficient, and how very far from perfection in virtue."

- Some bits from the Life of Antony

Plutarch describes Antony’s character:

"What might seem to some very insupportable, his vaunting, his raillery, his drinking in public, sitting down by the men as they were taking their food, and eating, as he stood, off the common soldiers’ tables, made him the delight and pleasure of the army. In love affairs, also, he was very agreeable; he gained many friends by the assistance he gave them in theirs, and took other people’s raillery upon his own with good-humor. And his generous ways, his open and lavish hand in gifts and favors to his friends and fellow-soldiers, did a great deal for him in his first advance to power, and, after he had become great, long maintained his fortunes, when a thousand follies were hastening their overthrow."

After Caesar’s death:

"Antony then convened the senate, and spoke in favor of an act of oblivion, and the appointment of Brutus and Cassius to provinces. These measures the senate passed; and resolved that all Cæsar’s acts should remain in force. Thus Antony went out of the senate with the highest possible reputation and esteem; for it was apparent that he had prevented a civil war, and had composed, in the wisest and most statesmanlike way, questions of the greatest difficulty and embarrassment. But these temperate counsels were soon swept away by the tide of popular applause, and the prospects, if Brutus were overthrown, of being without doubt the ruler-in-chief. As Cæsar’s body was conveying to the tomb, Antony, according to the custom, was making his funeral oration in the market-place, and, perceiving the people to be infinitely affected with what he had said, he began to mingle with his praises language of commiseration, and horror at what had happened, and, as he was ending his speech, he took the under-clothes of the dead, and held them up, shewing them stains of blood and the holes of the many stabs, calling those that had done this act villains and bloody murderers. All which excited the people to such indignation, that they would not defer the funeral, but, making a pile of tables and forms in the very market-place, set fire to it; and every one, taking a brand, ran to the conspirators’ houses, to attack them."

Plutarch’s description of a time when Antony visited Ephesus (in what is now Turkey) is memorable. When Antony proposed "to lay a second whole tribute on Asia, Hybreas, speaking on behalf of the cities, took courage, and told him broadly, but aptly enough for Antony’s taste, 'If you can take two yearly tributes, you can doubtless give us a couple of summers, and a double harvest time;' and put it to him in the plainest and boldest way, that Asia had raised two hundred thousand talents for his service: 'If this has not been paid to you, ask your collectors for it; if it has, and is all gone, we are ruined men.'

These words touched Antony to the quick, who was simply ignorant of most things that were done in his name; not that he was so indolent, as he was prone to trust frankly in all about him. For there was much simplicity in his character; he was slow to see his faults, but, when he did see them, was extremely repentant, and ready to ask pardon of those he had injured; prodigal in his acts of reparation, and severe in his punishments, but his generosity was much more extravagant than his severity; his raillery was sharp and insulting, but the edge of it was taken off by his readiness to submit to any kind of repartee; for he was as well contented to be rallied, as he was pleased to rally others. And this freedom of speech was, indeed, the cause of many of his disasters. He never imagined that those who used so much liberty in their mirth would flatter or deceive him in business of consequence, not knowing how common it is with parasites to mix their flattery with boldness, as confectioners do their sweetmeats with something biting, to prevent the sense of satiety. Their freedoms and impertinences at table were designed expressly to give to their obsequiousness in council the air of being not complaisance, but conviction.

Such being his temper, the last and crowning mischief that could befall him came in the love of Cleopatra, to awaken and kindle to fury passions that as yet lay still and dormant in his nature, and to stifle and finally corrupt any elements that yet made resistance in him, of goodness and a sound judgment…"

from Plutarch’s description of Cleopatra:
"Her actual beauty, it is said, was not in itself so remarkable that none could be compared with her, or that no one could see her without being struck by it, but the contact of her presence, if you lived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person, joining with the charm of her conversation, and the character that attended all she said or did, was something bewitching. It was a pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another; so that there were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by an interpreter; to most of them she spoke herself, as to the Æthiopians, Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, Parthians, and many others, whose language she had learnt; which was all the more surprising, because most of the kings her predecessors scarcely gave themselves the trouble to acquire the Egyptian tongue, and several of them quite abandoned the Macedonian."

[David Redden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plutarch's lives is a fun read, especially if you're just a little conversant with Greek and Roman history. Not a lot conversant...just a little. The kind you can get from PBS documentaries on Netflix.

This is not a boring book about Greek and Roman history. It's an engaging book about Greek and Roman people that's just as enjoyable as a quality work of fiction. It's like reading a People Magazine from around 50 AD, but with more credibility and less salaciousness. Actually, I guess it's nothing like People Magazine.

Anyway, some of it is downright funny. Take, for instance, Plutarch's comically erudite discussion of Pericles' huge misshapen head:

"His mother, being near her time, fancied in a dream that she was brought to bed of a lion, and a few days after was delivered of Pericles, in other respects perfectly formed, only his head was somewhat longish and out of proportion. For which reason almost all the images and statues that were made of him have the head covered with a helmet, the workmen apparently being willing not to expose him. The poets of Athens called him Schinocephalos, or squill-head, from schinos, a squill, or sea-onion. One of the comic poets . . . Teleclides, says, that now, in embarrassment with political difficulties, he sits in the city,—

'Fainting underneath the load
Of his own head; and now abroad,
From his huge galley of a pate,
Sends forth trouble to the state.'"

Plutarch is a primary source for some well-known pieces of Roman history. For example, he's one of I think two sources from which we learn that Julius Caesar described a very efficient victory with the phrase "Veni, Vidi, Vici," i.e., "I came, saw, and conquered." Another of my favorites is Plutarch's recounting of the relationship between Mark Antony and Cleopatra, which is as well-written, engaging, and gloriously tragic.

As an added benefit, this book will also make you the life of every party. Just think about it--when the dinner conversation turns to the noble Grecians and Roman from 2+ millenia ago (as it inevitably does at the multitude of dinner parties I attend), you'll knowingly raise an eyebrow and confidently draw from your armory of trivia, and all thanks to Plutarch.

[Rod Jetton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic study of human character through the eyes of a historian who studied some of the great leaders in the ancient world. Anyone who is or aspires to be a leader should get this book.

[Jonah Pavlik · Rating 4 out of 5]

We only have the Themistocles and Caeser lives, but I have read those two that are contained in this collection.

[Ci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first read of Plutarch in this slim volume of selection which serves to whet the reader's appetite for more. How can one read about Caesar without going through Pompey's life? Or Cato's, or Brutus?

The Dryden translation is elegant and refined, a classic by its own right. CW Eliot's selected samples focus on the biographies of major statesmen shaping the Roman history, the choices of names possibly influenced with Harvard's own educational objectives in mind.

For each name in the Lives, Plutarch examined their natural endowments, their particular chances in fortune good and ill, their ability to overcome or endure, and most importantly the character flaws or strengths. The paired comparison is a wonderful invention to compare and contrast two characters side-by-side, asking not just "A did this, yet B did that", but who ended up being the better in the higher measures of moral fortitude and character.

One can be easily overwhelmed by the breath and depth of information data points around each person's life. I have decided not to worry too much of getting through all the details but focus my first read on the overall arch of their lives. I am certain future re-read will yield richer insights.


****** selected segment notes

11/2. Anthony

No wonder every generation can reach into Plutarch and grab something dramatic. Anthony was a strong mixture of the most human excesses: his prowess at battle, his generosity and extravagance, his intelligence and his lack of wisdom, and his final undoing through Cleopatra. If Octavian and Octavia could not control him in that last chapter, then there was nothing humanly could have. Heroes and villains, like the wise had said, may be made of different stuff than us. Granting that fact Plutarch was known to hate Cleopatra, the death of Anthony is really wrenchingly painful. He died about 50 something, an age that seems to be late middle-life crisis.

11/17 Pericles

This segment opens with a glorious discussion about how a virtuous man should spend his time and energy. In particular, this exultation for virtue is about what not to do, what kind of company one should not keep. It seems to be a rather unique way to open for Pericles' life in the public sphere. Pericles exemplified a virtuous and yet modest statesman. His perils came not just from enemies outside, but from his own Athenian citizens. Plutarch clearly did not grant democracy much value at that time.

What is also striking is the story of Aspasia, his second wife and true companion. Plutarch lavished such laudable attribute on her, one wishes to read more of her life.

12/7 Aristides -- a just man who governed over vast states and tax revenue yet died poor. Notable for how Athenians took care of his daughters and relatives to ensure their economic conditions, a rather admirable action.

12/9 Alcibiades -- left no remarkable impression on me. Lots of career details, the only thing stands out is his tutelage under and friendship with Socrates.

12/12 Coriolanus -- a fantastic read, particularly the wonderful speech by his mother Volumnia. (Notes to self: need to read the Shakespeare play and show the different takes from Plutarch.)

12/15 Demosthenes and Cicero -- two outstanding orators and statesmen with different styles and political conducts.

12/17 Caesar -- a most astonishing career and a dramatic ending (the TV series Rome follows the details quite closely).

[Ixby Wuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excerpt from Plutarch's Lives of Themistocles Pericles, Aristides Alcibiades and Coriolanus Demosthenes and Cicero Caesar and Antony, Vol. 12: In the Translation Called Dryden's Corrected and Revised by Arthur Hugh Clough, With Introduction and Notes

Let the Greek women scorn me, if they please, I was the mother of Themistocles.

Yet Phanias writes that the mother of Themistocles was not of Thrace, but of Caria, and that her name was not Abro tonon, but Euterpe; and Neanthes adds farther that She was of Halicarnassus in Caria. And, as illegitimate children, including those that were of the half-blood or had but one parent an Athenian, had to attend at the Cynosarges (a wrestling-place outside the gates, dedicated to Hercules, who was also of half-blood amongst the gods, having had a mortal woman for his mother), Themistocles persuaded several of the young men of high birth to accompany him to anoint and exercise themselves together at Cynosarges; an ingenious device for destroying the distinction between the noble and the base-born, and between those of the whole and those of the half-blood of Athens. However, it is certain that he was related to the house of the Lycomedae; for Simonides records, that he rebuilt the chapel of Phlya, belonging to that family, and beautified it with pictures and other orna ments, after it had been burnt by the Persians.

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[Jonathan Jerden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Themistocles, Pericles, Aristides, Alcibiades, Coriolanus, Demosthenes, Cicero, Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony.

Additional Plutarch Lives on Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus, and Marc Anthony in the annotated version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar edited by David Daniell.

Plutarch approaches his subjects like Edward Gibbon does . . . chronology, dates and places are less important than motivation, cause-and-effect, and the impact on a broad range of constituents; all with a keen eye on public opinion and the trade-offs of decisions. Plutarch easily ignores, as Gibbon later fairly gives up on, detailing widespread, everyday human rights abuses, where discounting the impact of slavery and indentured servitude, the second-class status of women, the wholesale neglect of children, the slaughter of thousands - fellow citizens and 'barbarian' villagers alike, friendly and enemy combatants, Jews and early Christians (polytheism deniers) - is a direct result of an accepted, 'educated' cultural mindset of the times.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I slowly read these biographies over a period of 7 years. My favorite is the Life of Alexander, my second favorite is the Life of Alcibiades. I tend to enjoy the Greeks more because of their pioneering statesmanship, it was they who devised the archetype for representative government.

Though my favorite life was that of a monarch, it was precisely his (Alexander’s) tendency toward relaxing his authority, to heed the needs of his people that sets him apart from power mad dictators (like Stalin and Mao).

Plutarch records axioms and proverbs which establish the character of the particular statesmen, contemporary criticism of his personality. He quotes Greek philosophers, literature, and great leaders in an effort to fairly judge the man by the moral standards and ideals of ancient Greek society.

This is the Dryden translation, published at the end of the 17th century, and revised in 1859. It reads like the prose of the King James Bible – beautiful and timeless.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find the ancient Greeks a most admirable people, even if it is only the minority that we know through their artifacts. The Romans, Chinese and Indians all come up short in comparison to the Greeks. The humor and subtlety of their literature enhances the stories and legends in a way that we do not yet match even today. Our modern era, prodigious in science, philosophy and technology has only begun to surpass the Greek, even with a thousand times the population for our accomplishments. Yet the literature that remains from those ancient times is beyond our capabilities. Who today could write these lines attributed to Timor by Plutarch?

“Ye men of Athens, I have a little plot of ground, and in it grows a fig-tree, on which many citizens have been pleased to hang themselves; and now, having resolved to build in that place, I wished to announce it publicly, that any of you who may be desirous may go and hang yourselves before I cut it down.”

[Don Stanton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a History nut, I found Plutarch to be an excellent historian. He did not give an account about his own life but of those from Alexander the Great to Socrates. His depictions are vivid and clear leaving little doubt about the lives for those whom he wrote. Additionally he left little doubt about the character and life aims and pursuits of his subjects.
It would be unfair to not list those, other than the first two I mentioned, out of my review. The are:Themistocles; Pericles; Aristides; Coriolanus;Alcibiades; Coriolanus; Demosthenes; Cicero; Caesar and Antony.
If you like ancient Greek philosophy and history, this is the book.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plutarch was a Greek who lived in the era of 50-125 AD. This version of his "Lives" contains only nine of his many profiles. The work is unique in being a mostly contemporaneous telling of the lives (not so much their full 'histories', but focusing on their morality and personal characteristics and choices). This 1859 Clough translation is easily readable with modern language. It's educational to see parallels between political and social situations then and now (plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose). I found the piece on (Mark) Antony to be the most gripping.

[Samuel Clasby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting lives, with some nuggets of wisdom hidden between the lines. This book took me longer than expected, partially due to my lack of familiarity with the subject matter and partially due to the nature of the text. I decided upon reading it as I was interested in learning what made these men memorable. My conclusion: their boldness.

[Vicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite line described Antony & Cleopatra saying that the soul of a lover was in the body of another. This is a good read to understand that the way things are in the world right now are really they way things have always been.

[John Wiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep,deep reading

[Noah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was famous for a reason. What fun.

[Jacob Bornheimer]

I've read a chapter here, a chapter there. What I've read is quite enjoyable, however, I don't see myself reading this one cover to cover anytime soon.

[Maryjane Nordgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history by way of biographies of characters i'd known only by name.