Plutarch

Plutarch (pl`tärk), A.D. 46?–c.A.D. 120, Greek essayist and biographer, b. Chaeronea, Boeotia. He traveled in Egypt and Italy, visited Rome (where he lectured on philosophy) and Athens, and finally returned to his native Boeotia, where he became a priest of the temple of Delphi. His great work is The Parallel Lives comprising 46 surviving biographies arranged in pairs (one Greek life with one comparable Roman) and four single biographies; some 19 short comparisons affixed to the lives are of doubtful authenticity. The English translation by Sir Thomas North had a profound effect upon English literature; it supplied, for example, the material for Shakespeare's Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Timon of Athens. A translation by John Dryden was revised by A. H. Clough in 1864. Although Plutarch displays evident pride in the culture and greatness of the men of Greece, he is nevertheless fair and honest in his treatment of the Romans. As a biographer Plutarch is almost peerless, although his facts are not always accurate. Since his purpose was to portray character and reveal its moral implications, his technique included the use of much anecdotal material. Less known, but also of great charm and interest, are Plutarch's Moralia (tr. by F. C. Babbitt et al., 14 vol., 1927–76). They consist of dialogues and essays on ethical, literary, and historical subjects, such as The Late Vengeance of the Deity, On Superstition, The Right Way of Hearing Poetry, and Advice to Married Couples. Plutarch's quotations (frequent and long) from the old dramatists are often our only record of such writings.

Bibliography

See biography by R. H. Barrow (1967, repr. 1979); studies by C. J. Gianakaris (1970), C. P. Jones (1971), D. A. Russell (1973), and A. Wardman (1974).

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Plutarch

 Greek Plutarchos Latin Plutarchus

(born AD 46, Chaeronea, Boeotia—died after 119) Greek biographer and author. The son of a biographer and philosopher, Plutarch studied in Athens, taught in Rome, traveled widely, and made many important friends before returning to his native town in Boeotia. His literary output was immense, but his popularity rests primarily on his Parallel Lives, a series of pairs of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans. Displaying impressive learning and research, the Lives exhibit noble deeds and characters and provide model patterns of behaviour. The Moralia, or Ethica, contains his surviving writings on ethical, religious, physical, political, and literary topics. His works profoundly influenced the evolution of the essay, biography, and historical writing in 16th–19th-century Europe, especially through translations such as Sir Thomas North's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes (1579), William Shakespeare's source for his Roman history plays.

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Plutarch

(c. 46–c. 120) Greek biographer known for his Lives, a collection of biographies of Greek and Roman leaders. [Gk. Lit.: NCE, 2170]

See : Biography and Autobiography