Lives

A collection of historical profiles by the Greek writer Plutarkh (Plutarch).

Plutarkh was a Greek but he studied in Rome and it’s obvious from Lives that he intended to preserve the wisdom (and folly) of ancient Greece so that the Romans could learn from the achievements of the Greek political and military leaders and see the common threads which connected the declining Greek culture with the emerging Roman civilization.

Lives was written circa 105-115 CE and generally divided into four groups:

1. Biographies which he wrote at the suggestion of friends;
2. Great men he personally found inspiring as role-models;
3. Great men whose lives he thought might serve as warnings for right thinking people; and
4. Legendary or mythical men.

There are numerous translations of Lives and most are readable; I personally recommend the Loeb Classical Library series or the Penguin Classics book The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives by Plutarch translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert (ISBN 0140441026).