he found himself. It was no part of his duty, as he conceived it, to become the mere scholar-recluse; his ideal of civic virtue forbade it. The ethical side of his character was as pronounced in the practical, as in the contemplative, side of life. It is certain that his Lives would not have possessed the influence that they have assuredly exercised on men so widely different as Rabelais, Montaigne, Jeremy Taylor, Rousseau, and Shakespeare, had he allowed the high duties of an enlightened citizenship to remain unemployed. As it is, the Lives have had more influence on the modern world than almost any other book of classical antiquity.[1] Of Shakespeare's indebtedness to Plutarch little need be said; it is writ large in many of his historical plays, as every student is aware.
The Moralia, or "Morals," are less well known than these biographical portraits, but they are worthy of attention, if only for the admirable spirit which breathes through the sixty odd "essays" of which the collection is composed. The essay on Superstition (included in the present selection) is, says a good authority, "one of the most eloquent and closely-reasoned compositions of antiquity."[2] Though not a deep thinker, "the devout and cultured"[3] Plutarch was a man of rare gifts, with an encyclopædic range. We love him for his kindliness and his urbanity, his sincerity and his real goodness of heart. Professor Mahaffy has happily described him as "the spokesman of the better life that still survived in the Greek world," in the autumn of its history.[4]
As to the chronological order of his works, we are still greatly in the dark. Probably their composition was spread over a considerable period; none appear to have been written in early life. If we date the bulk of his essays as belonging to the years A.D. 90–110, we shall probably not be far astray. He died somewhere about A.D. 120.
- The King's School, Ely.
- December 31, 1911.
- ↑ "As a literary art ancient biography reached its highest perfection in Plutarch's gallery of great men" (Bury, Ancient Greek Historians).
- ↑ Cf. Campbell, Religion in Greek Literature, p. 372; Taylor, Ancient Ideals, ii. 79; Bigg, The Origins of Christianity, pp. 133–135.
- ↑ H. M. Gwatkin, Early Church History, ii. 136.
- ↑ "To soften Paganism by a gentler philosophy of life, which approached Christianity, is the great speciality of Plutarch; and he idealised both ancient religion and ancient history" (Gregorovius, The Emperor Hadrian).
