Plutarch

plu'tark, a Greek writer of prose. He lived during the period of Grecian subjection to Rome,--during the reigns, it is inferred, of Nero to Trajan, inclusive. He is known chiefly for a series of Lives. The series consists of forty-six numbers. Each treats of a noted Grecian and of a Roman. Each pair is treated by way of contrast and comparison. A suitable moral points each pair of lives. Among the pairs are the lives of Alexander and Caesar, Demosthenes and Cicero, etc. He wrote the Lives in the Greek tongue. He drew his information from a vast number of manuscripts. Most of these manuscripts have been lost. Some authors are known, indeed, only through Plutarch's references. Many facts of Roman and Greek history are known to the historian through the Lives only, and many words in Greek lexicons have not been found outside of his writings. Nevertheless his Greek has borrowed too much from the Latin and from Rome, where he resided for a time, to take high rank in literature. As to historical value, fact and fable are mingled inextricably. None the less, Plutarch's Lives is an excellent boys' book and a charming volume for the mature student. The first printed edition of the Lives appeared at Florence in 1517. So far as ancient history is concerned, the Lives are considered "Shakespeare's storehouse." Extensive writings by Plutarch on moral subjects exist, but are little known save to the maker of a Greek lexicon.