parts of Italy,[1] though he says he was too much engaged in lecturing (doubtless in Greek, on philosophy) to turn his attention much to Roman literature during that period.
Plutarch’s design in writing the Parallel Lives—for this is the title which he gives them in dedicating Theseus and Romulus to Sosius Senecio—appears to have been the publication, in successive books, of authentic biographies in pairs, taking together a Greek and a Roman. In the introduction to the Theseus he speaks of having already issued his Lycurgus and Numa, viewing them, no doubt, as bearing a resemblance to each other in their legislative character. Theseus and Romulus are compared as the legendary founders of states. In the opening sentence of the life of Alexander he says that “in this book he has written the lives of Alexander and Caesar” (Julius), and in his Demosthenes, where he again (§ 1) mentions his friend Sosius, he calls the life of this orator and Cicero the fifth book.[2] It may therefore fairly be inferred that Plutarch’s original idea was simply to set a Greek warrior, statesman, orator or legislator side by side with some noted Roman celebrated for the same qualities, or working under similar conditions. Nearly all the lives are in pairs; but the series concluded with single biographies of Artaxerxes, Aratus (of Sicyon), Galba and Otho. In the life of Aratus, not Sosius Senecio, but one Polycrates, is addressed.
The Lives are works of great learning and research, long lists of authorities are given, and they must for this very reason, as well as from their considerable length, have taken many years in compilation. It is true that many of the lives, especially of Romans, do not show such an extent of research. But Plutarch must have had access to a great store of books, and his diligence as an historian cannot be questioned, if his accuracy is in some points impeached. From the historian’s point of view the weakness of the biographies is that their interest is primarily ethical. The author’s sympathy with Doric characters and institutions is very evident; he delights to record the exploits, the maxims and virtues of Spartan kings and generals. This feeling is the key to his apparently unfair and virulent attack on Herodotus, who, as an Ionian, seemed to him to have exaggerated the prowess and the foresight of the Athenian leaders.
The voluminous and varied writings of Plutarch exclusive of the Lives are known under the common term Opera moralia. These consist of above sixty essays, some of them long and many of them rather difficult, some too of very doubtful genuineness. Their literary value is greatly enhanced by the large number of citations from lost Greek poems, especially verses of the dramatists, among whom Euripides holds by far the first place. The principal treatises in the Opera moralia are the following:—
On the Education of Children (regarded as spurious by some) recommends (1) good birth, and sobriety in the father; (2) good disposition and good training are alike necessary for virtue; (3) a mother ought to nurse her own offspring, on the analogy of all animals; (4) the paedogogus must be honest and trustworthy; (5) all the advantages of life and fortune must be held secondary to education; (6) mere mob-oratory is no part of a good education; (7) philosophy should form the principal study, but not to the exclusion of the other sciences; (8) gymnastics are to be practised; (9) kindness and advice are better than blows; (10) over-pressure in learning is to be avoided, and plenty of relaxation is to be allowed, (11) self-control, and not least over the tongue, is to be learned; (12) the grown-up youth should be under the eye and advice of his father, and all bad company avoided, flatterers included; (13) fathers should not be too harsh and exacting, but remember that they were themselves once young; (14) marriage is recommended, and without disparity of rank; (15) above all, a father should be an example of virtue to a son.
How a Young Man ought to Hear Poetry is largely made up of quotations from Homer and the tragic poets. The points of the essay are the moral effects of poetry as combining the true with the false, the praises of virtue and heroism with a mythology depraved and unworthy of gods, εἰ θεοί τι δρῶσι φαῦλον, οὐκ εἰσὶν θεοί (§ 21).
On the Right Way of Hearing (περὶ τοῦ ἀκούειν) advocates the listening in silence to what is being said, and not giving a precipitate reply to statements which may yet receive some addition or modification from the speaker (§ 4). The hearer is warned not to give too much weight to the style, manner or tone of the speaker (§ 7), not to be either too apathetic or too prone to praise, not to be impatient if he finds his faults reproved by the lecturer (§ 16). He concludes with the maxim, “to hear rightly is the beginning of living rightly,” and perhaps he has in view throughout his own profession as a lecturer.
How a Flatterer may be Distinguished from a Friend is a rather long and uninteresting treatise. The ancient writers are full of warnings against flatterers, who do not seem to exercise much influence in modern society. The really dangerous flatterer (§ 4) is not the parasite, but the pretender to a disinterested friendship—one who affects similar tastes, and so insinuates himself into your confidence. Your accomplished flatterer does not always praise, but flatters by act, as when he occupies a good seat at a public meeting for the express purpose of resigning it to his patron (§ 15). A true friend, on the contrary, speaks freely on proper occasions. A good part of the essay turns on παρρησία, the honest expression of opinion. The citations, which are fairly numerous, are mostly from Homer.
How one may be Conscious of Progress in Goodness is addressed to Sosius Senecio, who was consul in the last years of Nerva, and more than once (99, 102, 107) under Trajan. If, says Plutarch, a man could become suddenly wise instead of foolish, he could not be ignorant of the change; but it is otherwise with moral or mental processes. Gradual advance in virtue is like steady sailing over a wide sea, and can only be measured by the time taken and the forces applied (§ 3). Zeno tested advance by dreams (§ 12); if no excess or immorality presented itself to the imagination of the sleeper, his mind had been purged by reason and philosophy. When we love the truly good, and adapt ourselves to their looks and manners, and this even with the loss of worldly prosperity, then we are really getting on in goodness ourselves (§ 15). Lastly, the avoidance of little sins is an evidence of a scrupulous conscience (§ 17).
How to get Benefit out of Enemies argues that, as primitive man had savage animals to fight against, but learnt to make use of their skins for clothing and their flesh for food, so we are bound to turn even our enemies to some good purpose. One service they do to us is to make us live warily against plots; another is they induce us to live honestly, so as to vex our rivals not by scolding them, but by making them secretly jealous of us (§ 4). Again, finding fault leads us to consider if we are ourselves faultless, and to be found fault with by a foe is likely to be lain truth speaking, ἀκουστέον ἐστὶ παρὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν (§ 6). Jealousies and strifes, so natural to man, are diverted from our friends by being legitimately expended on our enemies (§ 10).
On Having Many Friends, On Chance, On Virtue and Vice, are three short essays, the first advocating the concentration of one’s affections on a few who are worthy (τοὺς ἀξίους φιλίας διώκειν, § 4), rather than diluting them, as it were, on the many; the second pleads that intelligence, φρόνησις, not mere luck, is the ruling principle of all success; the third shows that virtue and vice are but other names for happiness and misery. All these are interspersed with citations from the poets, several of them unknown from other sources.
A longer treatise, well and clearly written, and not less valuable for its many quotations, is the Consolation addressed to Apollonius (considered spurious by some) on the early death of his “generally beloved and religious and dutiful son.” Equality of mind both in prosperity and in adversity is recommended (§ 4), since there are “ups and downs” (ὔψος καὶ ταπεινότης) in life, as there are storms and calms on the sea, and good and bad seasons on the earth. That man is born to reverses he illustrates by citing fifteen fine verses from Menander (§ 5). The uselessness of indulging in grief is pointed out, death being a debt to all and not to be regarded as an evil (§§ 10-12), Plato’s doctrine is cited (§ 13) that the body is a burden and an impediment to the soul. Death may be annihilation, and therefore the dead are in the same category as the unborn (§ 15). The lamenting a death because it is untimely or premature has something of selfishness in it (§ 19), besides that it only means that one has arrived sooner than another at the end of a common journey. If a death is more grievous because it is untimely, a new-born infant’s death would be the most grievous of all (§ 23). One who has died early may have been spared many woes rather than have been deprived of many blessings; and, after all, to die is but to pay a debt due to the gods when they ask for it (§ 28). Examples are given of fortitude and resignation under such affliction (§ 33). If, says the author in conclusion, there is a heaven for the good hereafter, be sure that such a son will have a place in it. The author has borrowed from the Περὶ πένθους of Crantor.
Precepts about Health commences as a dialogue, and extends to some length as a lecture. It is technical and difficult throughout, and contains but little that falls in with modern ideas. Milk, he says, should be taken for food rather than for drink, and wine should not be indulged in after hard work or mental effort, for it does but tend to increase the bodily disturbance (§ 17). Better than purges or emetics is a temperate diet. which induces the bodily
- ↑ Demosth. § 2. Plutarch’s orthography of Roman words and names is important as bearing on the question of pronunciation. A curious example (De fortun. Rom. § 5) is Virtutis et honoris, written Οὐιρτοῦτίς τε καὶ Ὁνῶρις. The Volsci are Οὐολοῦσκοι, ibid.
- ↑ It is quite evident that the original order of the books has been altered in the series of Lives as we now have them.
