Plutarchs Lives, Vol. 1

Synopsis

One of the worlds most profoundly influential literary works and the basis for Shakespeares Roman plays, Plutarchs Lives have been entertaining and arousing the spirit of emulation in countless readers since their creation in the second century. Originally named Parallel Lives, the work pairs eminent Romans with famous Greek counterpartslike the orators Cicero and Demosthenesgiving illuminating treatments of each separately and then comparing the two in a pithy essay. The first of the two volumes in this translation by John Dryden presents Theseus and Romulus, Pericles and Fabius, Alcibiades and Coriolanus, Aristides and Marcus Cato, and Lysander and Sylla, among others.