May 16 : Biographer’s Day & Plutarch

Plutarch: The Father of Biography

Plutarch (c. 46 – c. 119 CE) was a Greek philosopher, biographer, essayist, and priest who lived in the Roman Empire. He is best known for his Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, and his Moralia, a collection of essays and speeches on various ethical, religious, political, and literary topics. Plutarch was one of the most influential and widely read writers of antiquity and of later periods, and had a profound impact on the development of biography, history, and moral philosophy.

Life and Works

Plutarch was born in Chaeronea, a small town in Boeotia, a region of central Greece. His family was wealthy and prominent, and he received a good education in mathematics, rhetoric, and philosophy. He studied in Athens under the philosopher Ammonius, who was a follower of the Middle Platonist school, which combined the teachings of Plato with elements of Stoicism, Pythagoreanism, and other schools. Plutarch was also influenced by the writings of Aristotle, whom he admired and commented on extensively.

Plutarch travelled widely, visiting various parts of the Roman Empire, such as Italy, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Syria. He also made several trips to Rome, where he lectured on philosophy, made many friends among the Roman elite, and possibly met the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. Plutarch was granted Roman citizenship and adopted the name Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, after his friend and patron Lucius Mestrius Florus, a Roman consul. He also held several public offices in his hometown and in Delphi, where he was a priest of Apollo and a member of the Delphic Amphictyony, a religious and political federation of Greek states.

Major Works

Plutarch wrote more than 200 works, of which about 227 have survived in whole or in part. His most famous and influential work is the Parallel Lives, a collection of 46 biographies of illustrious Greeks and Romans, arranged in 23 pairs, such as Theseus and Romulus, Alexander and Caesar, Demosthenes and Cicero, and so on. Each pair is followed by a comparison, in which Plutarch evaluates the characters and achievements of the two subjects, highlighting their similarities and differences. Plutarch’s aim was not to write a comprehensive and accurate history, but to illustrate the moral lessons and the human qualities that can be derived from the lives of great men. He used a variety of sources, some of which are now lost, and he often added anecdotes, speeches, and quotations that may not be historically reliable, but that enhance the vividness and the charm of his narratives.

Plutarch’s other major work is the Moralia, a collection of more than 60 essays and speeches on various topics, such as ethics, religion, politics, education, literature, art, and natural science. The Moralia reflects Plutarch’s wide-ranging interests and his eclectic approach to philosophy. He draws on the teachings of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, the Pythagoreans, and other schools, as well as on the traditions and customs of different peoples, such as the Egyptians, the Persians, the Spartans, and the Romans. He also expresses his own opinions and insights, often in a personal and conversational tone. The Moralia covers a variety of subjects, such as the nature of the soul, the meaning of dreams, the causes of anger, the role of women, the education of children, the ideal ruler, the value of friendship, the best way of living, and many more. Some of the most famous and influential essays in the Moralia are On the Education of Children, On the Control of Anger, On the Tranquillity of the Mind, On the Delay of the Divine Justice, On the E at Delphi, How to Study Poetry, On the Malice of Herodotus, and On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander.

Plutarch also wrote several commentaries on the works of Plato and Aristotle, as well as on some of the Pythagorean and Orphic writings. He also wrote some dialogues, such as On the Face in the Moon, On the Generation of the Soul in the Timaeus, and On the Daimonion of Socrates, in which he discusses some of the metaphysical and cosmological issues raised by these authors. He also wrote some works of historical and geographical interest, such as On the Isis and Osiris, a study of the Egyptian religion and mythology, and On the Rivers and Mountains of Greece, a description of the natural features and the legends of his homeland.

Plutarch: Contributions and Legacy

Plutarch was one of the most influential and widely read writers of antiquity and of later periods. His works had a profound impact on the development of biography, history, and moral philosophy. He was admired and imitated by many writers, such as Montaigne, Shakespeare, Bacon, Rousseau, Emerson, and others, and was also a source of inspiration and information for many historians, such as Livy, Pliny, Gibbon, and more. Plutarch was also a teacher and a guide for many philosophers, such as Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus, and others, and was also a model and a mentor for many statesmen, such as Cicero, Brutus, Marcus Aurelius, and others.

Plutarch’s contributions to literature and thought can be summarized as follows:

• He created a new genre of biography, which combined historical facts with moral lessons and human interest. He showed how the lives of great people can be used as examples and warnings for the readers, and how they can reveal the virtues and vices, the strengths and weaknesses, the successes and failures, of human nature. He also showed how to compare and contrast different characters and cultures, and how to evaluate them according to a universal standard of morality and wisdom.

• He enriched the history of Greece and Rome with his vivid and detailed accounts of the events and the personalities of his times and of the past. He provided a wealth of information and anecdotes that are not found in other sources, and that illuminate the political, social, cultural, and religious aspects of the ancient world. He also offered his own interpretations and judgments of the causes and the consequences of the historical phenomena, and he highlighted the role of the divine providence and the human free will in the course of history.

• He developed a new form of moral philosophy, which was based on the practical application of the Platonic and Aristotelian principles to the problems and the situations of everyday life. He showed how to cultivate the virtues and to avoid the vices, how to achieve happiness and peace of mind, how to deal with the passions and the emotions, how to relate to others and to oneself, how to face the challenges and the opportunities of life, and how to attain the highest good, which is the knowledge and the love of the divine. He also showed how to integrate the different aspects of human nature, such as the rational, the ethical, and the religious, and how to harmonize the different elements of human society, such as the individual, the family, the community, and the state.

Plutarch was a master of biography and morality, a historian and a philosopher, a teacher and a friend, a citizen and a priest, who devoted his life and his works to the pursuit and the dissemination of the truth, the goodness, and the beauty. He was a witness and a participant of a crucial period of history, when the ancient world was undergoing a profound transformation under the influence of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity. He was a mediator and a reconciler of the different cultures and traditions of Greece and Rome, of the East and the West, of the pagan and the monotheistic, and was a lover and seeker of the divine, who believed that the ultimate goal of human life is to become like God, by following the examples and the teachings of the wise and the good.

Since 2013, The Plutarch Award, by the Biographers International Organization is given to the best biography of the year. We have a special section in our shop for Plutarch Award winners.