Plutarch

The Greek Maestrius Plutarcus (circa 45–125 AD), known to history as Plutarch, is primarily recognized as the great biographer of antiquity for his seminal work, Parallel Lives, a compendium of biographies of famous Greek and Roman military and political figures. A leading thinker in the Roman Empire's golden age, Plutarch was born in the Greek town of Chaeronea, studied philosophy at Athens, traveled to Alexandria and various parts of Italy, and lived for a significant time in Rome. For many years Plutarch served as one of the two priests at the temple of Apollo at Delphi. As a lecturer and teacher of philosophy, he achieved considerable repute. By his writings and lectures, he became a celebrity in the Roman Empire, yet he continued to reside in Greece and actively participated in local affairs, even serving as mayor into the early part of Emperor Hadrian's reign.

In Parallel Lives (written between 100 and 125 AD) Plutarch paired equivalent famous Greek and Roman political and military figures in philosophical biographies. Plutarch developed a pattern to the biographies: the subject's family, education, entry into public life, career high points, a change in fortune or attitude, and final years and death. Then a short essay of comparison follows most of the pairs of lives. Among the 48 lives are the pairs Alexander the Great/Julius Caesar and Demosthenes/Cicero, and figures such as Caius Gracchus, Pericles, and Pompey.

Throughout Parallel Lives, Plutarch delivers insightful observations on human nature illustrated by his subjects, so it is difficult to classify the Lives as history, biography, or philosophy. Plutarch believes history to be a theater of morals, in which great individuals rise and fall by their strengths and weaknesses; thus, he was more concerned with examining the character of great men than with writing a chronicle of great historical events. Because he views history not as a set of vast and mechanistic processes but as a forum within which to study the natures of particularly great men and the influences these natures exerted over events, the chosen lives tend to be anecdotal and to focus on revealing stories. He believed incidents to demonstrate the character of his subjects were far more interesting than their great battles or political struggles.

During Plutarch's life, guests from throughout the empire congregated for serious conversation at his country estate. Many of these dialogues were recorded and published, and the 78 essays and other works that have survived are now known collectively as the Moralia (Essays on Moral Issues), which deals with a variety of themes but is strongly centered on virtue, conduct, and ethics, the ruling passion of Plutarch's life.

Readers have appreciated Plutarch for his practical wisdom. C. S. Lewis has stated that Plutarch laid the foundation for the heroic ideal of the Elizabethan Age. [Page 768]Characters from several of Shakespeare's plays have their foundation from Plutarch's Lives, including Marc Antony, Julius Caesar, Brutus, and Coriolanus. Scholars in the field of educational leadership can utilize Plutarch's works as the first theory of leadership: trait theory. From antiquity and Plutarch we have suggested characteristics of the heroic or noble leader. Are the leaders of antiquity comparable to or different from the leaders of modern times? Plutarch provides insight from which to begin the discussion.

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