Leiden, 1639), is a forgery,
for aid against his rival, Callias of Chalcis, who though John probably did not forge it.
for aid against his rival, Callias of Chalcis, who though John probably did not forge it.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
428 (#444) ############################################
428
PLOTINUS.
PLUTARCHUS.
а
(Cic. pro
$ 19). Essences must flow from it, without its ex- p. 248. 12, Kreuz. iv. 2. SS 1,2, iv. 7. $ 8, p. 857,
periencing any change ; it must dwell in all Kr. ). Moreover, there is in connection with the
existences so far as they partake of the one essen last-mentioned passage a completion by Eusebius
tial existence (iv. 3. & 17, vi. 9. & 1); as absolutely (Pr. Ev. xv. 22).
perfect it must be the end (not the operating The Ennends of Plotinus appeared first in the
cause) of all being (vi. 9. SS 8,9). The immediate Latin Translation of Marsilius Ficinus (Florence,
productive power of the unconditioned one abso- | 1492), a translation which was furnished with
lutely exists ; and next to it stands the spirit, which an elaborate introduction to each part, and a
has a certain connection with duality and plurality, full table of contents, and to which the very
and is the source of all the determinations of being faulty Greck text of Petrus Perna was appended
and knowing (v. 1. 86, v. 6. & 1, v. 2. & 1, vi. 9. & 2). (Basel, 1580). The Greek and Latin edition of
This partakes both of uniformity and diversity- Fr. Kreuzer is much more satisfactory, which is
of unity and plurality (v. 1. $ 4, vi. 1). The spirit furnished, moreover, with critical and exegetical
is the basis both of being and thinking, for every annotations : " Plotini opera omnia," &c. Oxonii,
act of thought, directed to the unconditioned, pro- 1835, 3 vols. 4to. There is an English translation
duces a real existence, an idea ; each one of which of Selections from the works of Plotinus by Thomas
is different from the rest by virtue of its form, but | Taylor, London, 1834.
[Ch. A. B. )
identical in respect of the matter (ii. 4. § 4, ii. 5. 86, PLOTIUS. 1. A. PLotius, a friend of Ci-
jii. 8. SS 8, 10, v. 1. $ 7, vi. 7. $ 16). Out of the cero, was curule aedile with Cn. Plancius, B. c. 54,
spirit is developed the idea that is contained in it praetor urbanus, B. c. 51, and subsequently pro-
(abyos, iii. 2. $ 2, v. 1. $$ 3-6), that is, the soul. praetor of Bithynia and Pontus, in which province
As being an immediate production of the spirit, he was at least as late as B. C. 48.
the soul has a share in all existence or in ideas, Planc. 7, 22, ad Att. v. 15, ad Fam. xii. 29. )
being itself an idea (iii. 6. § 18). By it is pro- 2. M. PLotius, was engaged in the civil war,
duced the transition from eternity to time, from B. C. 48, between Caesar and Pompey. (Caes.
rest to motion (iv. 4. & 15, ii. 9. § 1; comp. v. B. C. ii. 19. )
1. $ 4); to it belongs, in contradistinction from the PLO'TIUS FIRMUS. [FIRMUS. ]
spirit, the power of looking out of itself; and as PLO'TIUS GALLUS. (GALLUS. )
the result of this a practical activity (ii. 1. & 2, iii. 5. PLO'TIUS GRIPAUS, a partizan of Vespa-
$ 3, iii. 6. § 4, v. 1. ŠS 6, 10, v, 2. $ 1, vi. 2. $ 22). In sian, was raised to the praetorship, a. D. 70 (Ta. .
its power of imaging the world, it (the soul) stands Hist. in. 52, iv. 39, 40. 5
midway between the intelligible and the sensuous PLO'TIUS NU'MIDA. (NUMIDA. ]
(iv. 8. SS 2, 3, iv. 9. $ 7); the latter is an image of PLO'TIUS TUCCA. [Tucca. ]
itself, as itself is an image of the spirit. The boun- PLOʻTIUS, whose full name was MARIUS
dary of being, or the lowest principle of all, is Plotius SACERDOS, a Latin grammarian, the
maiter ; the necessary contrast of the first, or the author of De Metris Liber, dedicated to Maximus
good (i. 8. § 1, &c. ); and in so far it must also be and Simplicius. All that we know with regard
negative and evil (i. 8, i. 7. § 15, iii. 4. $9); never- to the writer is comprised in the brief notice pre-
theless in consequence of its susceptibility of form, fixed by himself to his work “ Marius Plotius
it must have something positive about it (ii. 4. Sacerdos composui Romae docens de metris. "
$S 10-13). Nature also is a soul (iii. 8. § 3), From the prooemium which follows we learn that
and perception at once the ground and aim of this essay formed the third and concluding book
all becoming But in proportion as the percep- of a treatise upon grammar, the subject of the first
tion becomes more clear and distinct, the cor- book having been De Institutis Artis Grammaticae,
responding essence belongs to a higher step in the and of the second De Nominum Verborumque
scale of being (iii. 8. SS 3, 7).
Ratione nec non de Structurarum Compositionibus.
The further development of Plotinus's three | Although we have no direct means of determining
principles, and of the dim idea of matter (see espe the period when Plotius flourished we are led to
cially ii. 4, &c. ), and the attempts he made to infer from his style that he cannot be earlier than
determine the idea of time in opposition to that of the fifth or sixth century. Endlicher published
eternity (iii. 7), to explain the essential constitution in his “ Analecta Grammatica” from a MS. which
of man, and his immortal blessedness (i. 4, &c. ), to once belonged to the celebrated monastery of
maintain the belief in a divine providence, and the Bobbio a tract, entitled M. Claudü Sacerdotis
freedom of the will, in opposition to the theory of Artium Grammaticarum Libri duo, which he en-
an evil principle, and the inexorable necessity of deavoured to prove were in reality the two books
predetermination or causal sequence (iii. 1-3, by Marius Plotius Sacerdos described above, but
comp. ii. 9), together with the first weak begin- there is not sufficient evidence to warrant this
nings of a natural philosophy (ii. 5—8), and the conclusion.
foundations of an ethical science answering to the The “Liber de Metris” was first published by
above principles, and grounded on the separation Putschius in his “Grammaticae Latinae Auctores
of the lower or political from the higher or intel antiqui," 4to. Hannov. 1605. p. 2623— 2663,
ligible virtue,—these points, as also his researches from a MS. or MSS. belonging to Andreas
on the Beautiful, can orly just be mentioned in Schottus and Joannes a Wouwer. It will be
passing (i. 2, 3, comp. 4, 5, and ii. 6).
found also in the “ Scriptores Latini Rei Me-
Beside Porphyry's recension of the books of Plo- tricae ” of Gaisford, 8vo. Oxon. 1837. p. 242-
tínus there was also another furnished by Eusto- | 302.
[W. R. ]
chius, out of which a more extensive division of the PLUTARCHUS (OXotapxos), a tyrant of
books on the soul (iv. 4. § 30) has been quoted in a Eretria in Euboea. Whether he was the imme-
Greek Scholion, and the operation of which on the diate successor of Themison, and also whether he
present text has been traced and pointed out by was in any way connected with him by blood, are
Fr. Kreuzer (see his remarks to i. 9. § 1, ii. 3. S 5, points which we have no means of ascertaining,
a
&
a
## p. 429 (#445) ############################################
PLUTARCHUS.
429
PLUTARCHUS.
Trusting perhaps to the influence of his friend which only exists in the Policraticus of John of Salis-
Meidias, he applied to the Athenians in B. C. 354 bury (Lib. 5. c. 1, ed.
Leiden, 1639), is a forgery,
for aid against his rival, Callias of Chalcis, who though John probably did not forge it. John's
had allied himself with Philip of Macedon. The expression is somewhat singular : “ Extat Epistola
application was granted in spite of the resistance of Plutarchi Trajanum instituentis, quae cujusdam
Demosthenes, and the command of the expedition politicae constitutionis exprimit sensum. Ea dicitur
was entrusted to Phocion, who defeated Callias at esse hujusmodi ;” and then he gives the letter.
Tamynae. But the conduct of Plutarchus in the In the second chapter of this book John says that
battle had placed the Athenians in great jeopardy, this Politica Constitutio is a small treatise in-
and though it may have been nothing more than scribed “ Institutio Trajani," and he gives the sub-
rashness, Phocion would seem to have regarded it stance of part of the work. Plutarch, who dedi-
as treachery, for he thenceforth treated Plutarchus cated the 'Aropoéquata Bagiaéw kal Srpatay
as an enemy and expelled him from Eretria to Trajanus, says nothing of the emperor having
(Dem. de Pac. p. 58, Philipp. iii. p. 125, c. Meid. been his pupil. But some critics have argued that
pp. 550, 567, 579 ; Aesch. de Fals. Leg. p. 50, Plutarch is not the author of the Apophthegmata,
c. Ctes. p. 66 ; Plut. Phoc. 12, 13; Paus. i. 36. ) | because he says in the dedication that he had
(Callias; Procion. ]
[E. E. ]
written the lives of illustrious Greeks and Ro-
PLUTARCHUS (Moútapxos), was born at mans; for they assume that he did not return to
Chaeroneia in Boeotia. The few facts of his life Chaeroneia until after the death of Trajanus, and
which are known, are chiefly collected from his own did not write his Lives until after his return. If
writings
these assumptions could be proved, it follows that he
He was studying philosophy under Ammonius did not write the Apophthegmata, or at least the
at the time when Nero was making his progress dedication. If we assume that he retired to Chaero-
through Greece (Ilepl toù Ei év Xenpois, c. 1), neia before the death of Trajanus, we may admit
as we may collect from the passage referred to that he wrote his Lives at Chaeroneia and the
Nero was in Greece and visited Delphi in A. D. 66; Apophthegmata afterwards. It appears from his
and Plutarch seems to say, that he was at Delphi Life of Demosthenes (c. 2), that he certainly
at that time. We may assume then that he was wrote that Life at Chaeroneia, and this Life and
a youth or a young man in A. D. 66. In another that of Cicero were the fifth pair. (Demosthenes,
passage (Antonius, 87) he speaks of Nero as his c. 3. ) Plutarch probably spent the later years of
contemporary. His great-grandfather Nicarchus his life at Chaeroneia, where he discharged various
told him what the citizens of Chaeroneia had suf- magisterial offices, and had a priesthood.
fered at the time of the battle of Actium (Plut. Plutarch's wife, Timoxena, bore him four sons
Antonius, 68). He also mentions his grandfather and a daughter, also named Timoxena. It was
Lamprias, from whom he heard various anecdotes on the occasion of his daughter's death that he
about M. Antonius, which Lamprias bad heard from wrote his sensible and affectionate letter of conso-
Philotas, who was studying medicine at Alexandria lation to his wife (Tapauvontinòs eis trio iðlav gu-
when M. Antonius was there with Cleopatra. vaika).
(Antonius, 29. ) His father's name does not The time of Plutarch's death is unknown.
appear in his extant works. He had two brothers, The work which has immortalised Plutarch's
Timon and Lamprias. As a young man, he was name is his Parallel Lives (Bioi ſapaandoe) of
once employed on a mission to the Roman governor forty-six Greeks and Romans. The forty-six
of the province. (Πολιτικά παραγγέλματα, 20. ) Lives are arranged in pairs ; each pair contains
It appears incidentally from his own writings the life of a Greek and a Roman, and is followed
that he must have visited several parts of Italy: by a comparison (rúg kplois) of the two men: in a
for instance, he speaks of seeing the statue or bust few pairs the comparison is omitted or lost. He
of Marius at Ravenna (Marius, 2). But he says seems to have considered each pair of Lives and
in express terms that he spent some time at Rome, the Parallel as making one book (B:Galov). When
and in other parts of Italy (Demosthenes, 2). He he says that the book of the Lives of Demosthenes
observes, that he did not learn the Latin language and Cicero was the fifth, it is the most natural in-
in Italy, because he was occupied with public com-terpretation to suppose that it was the fifth in the
missions, and in giving lectures on philosophy ; order in which he wrote them. It could not be
and it was late in life before he busied himself with the fifth in any other sense, if each pair composed
Roman literature. He was lecturing at Rome a book.
during the reign of Domitianus, for he gives an The forty-six Lives are the following :-1. The
account of the stoic L. Junius Arulepus Rusticus seus and Romulus ; 2. Lycurgus and Numa ; 3.
receiving a letter from the emperor while he was Solon and Valerius Publicola ; 4. Themistocles and
present at one of Plutarch's discourses (Tepl ta Camillus ; 5. Pericles and Q. Fabius Maximus ;
AUTOS Y Fogurns, c. 15). Rusticus was also a friend 6. Alcibiades and Coriolanus ; 7. Timoleon and
of the younger Plinius, and was afterwards put to Aemilius Paulus ; 8. Pelopidas and Marcellus ;
death by Domitianus. Sossius Senecio, whom 9. Aristides and Cato the Elder ; 10. Philopoemen
Plutarch addresses in the introduction to his life of and Flamininus ; 11. Pyrrhus and Marius ; 12.
Theseus (c. 1), is probably the same person who Lysander and Sulla ; 13. Cimon and Lucullus ; 14.
was a friend of the younger Plinius (Ep. i. 13), and Nicias and Crassus ; 15. Eumenes and Sertorius ;
consul several times in the reign of Trajanus. 16. Agesilaus and Pompeius ; 17. Alexander and
The statement that Plutarch was the preceptor Caesar; 18. Phocion and Cato the Younger ; 19.
of Trajanus, and that the emperor raised him to the Agis and Cleomenes, and Tiberius and Caius Grac-
consular rank, rests on the authority of Suidas chi ; 20. Demosthenes and Cicero ; 21. Demetrius
(s. v. Noutapxos), and a Latin letter addressed to Poliorcetes and Marcus Antonius ; 22. Dion and
Trajanus. But this short notice in Suidas is a worth- M. Junius Brutus.
less authority; and the Latin letter to Trajanus, There are also the Lives of Artaxerxes Mnemon,
## p. 430 (#446) ############################################
430
PLUTARCHUS.
PLUTARCHUS.
Aratus, Galba, and Otho, which are placed in the schichte Roms) has reason to complain of Plutarch
editions after the forty-six Lives. A Life of Ilo- and his carelessness.
mer is also sometimes attributed to him, but it is But there must be some merit in a work which
not printed in all the editions,
has entertained and instructed so many gene-
The following Lives by Plutarch are lost :-rations, which is read in so many languages, and
Epaminondas, Scipio, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, by people of all conditions : a work which de
Claudins, Nero, Vitellius, Hesiod, Pindar, Crates lighted Montnigne and Rousseau, for it was one
the Cynic, Daiphantus, Aristomenes, and the poet of the few books which Rousseau had never read
Aratus.
without profit (Les Reveries du Promeneur solitaire,
There is extant an imperfect list of the works of Quatrième Promenade); a work which amuses
Plutarch, intitled II lovtápxou Bienlwv hivat, which both young and old, the soldier and the statesman,
is attributed to his son Lamprias. Whether Lam- the philosopher and the man who is busied about
prias made the list or not, may be doubtful ; but it the ordinary affairs of life. The reason is that
is probable that a list of Plutarch's works was Plutarch has rightly conceived the business of
made in ancient times, for it was common to make a biographer : his biography is true portraiture
such lists ; and his son may have performed the (Alexander, 1). Other biography is often a dull,
pious duty. (Suidas, s. v. Aaumplas. )
tedious enumeration of facts in the order of time,
The authorities for Plutarch's Lives are inci- with perhaps a summing up of character at the
dentally indicated in the Lives themselves. He end. Such biography is portraiture also, but it is
is said to quote two hundred and fifty writers, of false portraiture: the dress and the accessories put
whom about eighty are writers whose works are the face out of countenance. The reflections of
entirely or partially lost. The question of the Plutarch are neither impertinent, nor trifling :
sources of Plutarch's Lives has been examined by his sound good sense is always there : his honest
A. H. L. Heeren. (De Fontibus et Auctoritate Vi- purpose is transparent : his love of humanity
tarum Parallelarum Plutarchi Commentationes IV. warms the whole. His work is and will remain,
Goettingae, 1820, 8vo. ) Plutarch must have bad in spite of all the fault that can be found with it
access to a good library ; and if he wrote all his by plodding collectors of facts, and small critics,
Lives during his old age at Chaeronea, we must the book of those who can nobly think, and dare
infer that he had a large stock of books at com- and do. It is the book of all ages for the same
mand. The passage in the Life of Demosthenes reason that good portraiture is the painting of all
(c. 2), in which he speaks of his residence in a time ; for the human face and the human cha-
small town, is perhaps correctly understood to racter are ever the same. It is a mirror in which
allude to the difficulty of finding materials for his all men may look at themselves.
Roman Lives; for he could hardly have been If we would put the Lives of Plutarch to a
deficient in materials for his Greek Biographies. severe test, we must carefully examine his Roman
It is not improbable that he may have collected Lives. He says that he knew Latin imperfectly ;
materials and extracts long before he began to and he lived under the empire when even many
compose his Lives. Plutarch being a Greek, and of the educated Romans had but a superficial
an educated man, could not fail to be well ac- acquaintance with the earlier history of their
quainted with all the sources for his Greek Lives ; state. We must, therefore, expect to find him
and he has indicated them pretty fully. His imperfectly informed on Roman institutions; and
acquaintance with the sources for his Roman we can detect him in some errors. Yet, on the
Lives was less complete, and his handling of them whole, his Roman Lives do not often convey
less critical, but yet he quotes and refers to a erroneous notions : if the detail is incorrect, the
great number of Roman writers as his authorities, general impression is true. They may be read
as we may observe particularly in the Lives of with profit by those who seek to know something
Cicero and Caesar. He also used the Greek of Roman affairs, and have not knowledge enough
writers on Roman affairs - Polybius, Theophanes to detect an error. They probably contain as few
the historian of Cn. Pompeius, Strabo, Nicolaus mistakes as most biographies which have been
Damascenus, and others.
written by a man who is not the countryman of
In order to judge of his merits as a biographer those whose lives he writes.
we must see how he conceived his work. He The first edition of the Lives was a collection
explains his method in the introduction to his Life of the Latin version of the several Lives, which
of Alexander : he says, that he does not write his-had been made by several bands. The collection
tories, - he writes lives : and the most conspicuous appeared at Rome, 2 vols. fol. about 1470: this
events in a man's life do not show his character so version was the foundation of the Spanish and
well as slight circunstances. It appears then that Italian versions. The first edition of the Greek
his object was to delineate character, and he text was that printed by P. Giunta, Florence,
selected and used the facts of a man's life for this 1517, folio. The edition of Bryan, London, 1729,
purpose only.
His Lives, as he says, are not 5 vols. 4to. , with a Latin version, was completed
histories ; nor can history be written from them by Moses du Soul after Bryan'a death. There is
alone. They are useful to the writer of history, an edition by A. Coraes, Paris, 1809-1815, with
but they must be used with care, for they are not notes, in 6 vols. 8vo. ; and one by G. H. Schaefer,
intended even as materials for history. Important Leipzig, 1826, 6 vols. 8vo. , with notes original
historical events are often slightly noticed, and and selected. The latest and best edition of the
occupy a subordinate place to a jest or an anec- Greek text is by C. Sintenis, Leipzig, 1839–
dote. The order of time is often purposely neg- 1846, 4 vols. 8vo. , with the Index of the Frankfort
lected, and circumstances are mentioned just when edition, considerably altered. (See the Praefatio
it is most suitable to the biographer's. purpose. of Sintenis, vol. i. )
Facts and persons are sometimes confounded ; and The translations are numerous.
The French
a suber painstaking writer, like ,Drumann (Ge- | translation of Amyot, which first appeared in
## p. 431 (#447) ############################################
PLUTARCHUS.
431
PLUTION.
1
1559, and has often been reprinted, has great | Bâle by Froben, 1542, fol. , 1574, fol. Wytten-
merit
. The English translation of Sir Thomas bach's edition of the Moralia, the labour of four
North, London, 1612, professes to be from the and-twenty years, was printed at Oxford in 4to. :
French of Amyot, but it does not always follow it consists of four parts, or six volumes of text
the French version, and some passages are very (1795-1800), and two volumes of notes (1810–
incorrectly rendered by North which are correctly 1821). It was also printed at the same time in
rendered by Amyot. North's version is, however, 8vo. The notes of Wyttenbach were also printed
justly admired for the expression. The translation at Leipzig, in 1821, in two vols. 8vo. The
commonly called Dryden's, was made by many Moralia were translated by Amyot into French,
hands : Dryden did nothing further than write 1565, 3 vols. fol. Kaltwasser's German trans-
the dedication to the Duke of Ormond, and the lation of the Moralin was published at Frankfort-
Life of Plutarch, which is prefixed to the version. on-the-Main, 1783–1800, 9 vols. 8vo.
The English version of John and William The first edition of all the works of Plutarch is
Langhorne has been often printed. The writer that of H. Stephens, Geneva, 1572, 13 vols. 8vo.
of this article has translated and written Notes on An edition of the Greek text, with a Latin version,
the following Lives : Tiberius and Caius Gracchi, appeared at Leipzig, 1774-1782, 12 vols.
428
PLOTINUS.
PLUTARCHUS.
а
(Cic. pro
$ 19). Essences must flow from it, without its ex- p. 248. 12, Kreuz. iv. 2. SS 1,2, iv. 7. $ 8, p. 857,
periencing any change ; it must dwell in all Kr. ). Moreover, there is in connection with the
existences so far as they partake of the one essen last-mentioned passage a completion by Eusebius
tial existence (iv. 3. & 17, vi. 9. & 1); as absolutely (Pr. Ev. xv. 22).
perfect it must be the end (not the operating The Ennends of Plotinus appeared first in the
cause) of all being (vi. 9. SS 8,9). The immediate Latin Translation of Marsilius Ficinus (Florence,
productive power of the unconditioned one abso- | 1492), a translation which was furnished with
lutely exists ; and next to it stands the spirit, which an elaborate introduction to each part, and a
has a certain connection with duality and plurality, full table of contents, and to which the very
and is the source of all the determinations of being faulty Greck text of Petrus Perna was appended
and knowing (v. 1. 86, v. 6. & 1, v. 2. & 1, vi. 9. & 2). (Basel, 1580). The Greek and Latin edition of
This partakes both of uniformity and diversity- Fr. Kreuzer is much more satisfactory, which is
of unity and plurality (v. 1. $ 4, vi. 1). The spirit furnished, moreover, with critical and exegetical
is the basis both of being and thinking, for every annotations : " Plotini opera omnia," &c. Oxonii,
act of thought, directed to the unconditioned, pro- 1835, 3 vols. 4to. There is an English translation
duces a real existence, an idea ; each one of which of Selections from the works of Plotinus by Thomas
is different from the rest by virtue of its form, but | Taylor, London, 1834.
[Ch. A. B. )
identical in respect of the matter (ii. 4. § 4, ii. 5. 86, PLOTIUS. 1. A. PLotius, a friend of Ci-
jii. 8. SS 8, 10, v. 1. $ 7, vi. 7. $ 16). Out of the cero, was curule aedile with Cn. Plancius, B. c. 54,
spirit is developed the idea that is contained in it praetor urbanus, B. c. 51, and subsequently pro-
(abyos, iii. 2. $ 2, v. 1. $$ 3-6), that is, the soul. praetor of Bithynia and Pontus, in which province
As being an immediate production of the spirit, he was at least as late as B. C. 48.
the soul has a share in all existence or in ideas, Planc. 7, 22, ad Att. v. 15, ad Fam. xii. 29. )
being itself an idea (iii. 6. § 18). By it is pro- 2. M. PLotius, was engaged in the civil war,
duced the transition from eternity to time, from B. C. 48, between Caesar and Pompey. (Caes.
rest to motion (iv. 4. & 15, ii. 9. § 1; comp. v. B. C. ii. 19. )
1. $ 4); to it belongs, in contradistinction from the PLO'TIUS FIRMUS. [FIRMUS. ]
spirit, the power of looking out of itself; and as PLO'TIUS GALLUS. (GALLUS. )
the result of this a practical activity (ii. 1. & 2, iii. 5. PLO'TIUS GRIPAUS, a partizan of Vespa-
$ 3, iii. 6. § 4, v. 1. ŠS 6, 10, v, 2. $ 1, vi. 2. $ 22). In sian, was raised to the praetorship, a. D. 70 (Ta. .
its power of imaging the world, it (the soul) stands Hist. in. 52, iv. 39, 40. 5
midway between the intelligible and the sensuous PLO'TIUS NU'MIDA. (NUMIDA. ]
(iv. 8. SS 2, 3, iv. 9. $ 7); the latter is an image of PLO'TIUS TUCCA. [Tucca. ]
itself, as itself is an image of the spirit. The boun- PLOʻTIUS, whose full name was MARIUS
dary of being, or the lowest principle of all, is Plotius SACERDOS, a Latin grammarian, the
maiter ; the necessary contrast of the first, or the author of De Metris Liber, dedicated to Maximus
good (i. 8. § 1, &c. ); and in so far it must also be and Simplicius. All that we know with regard
negative and evil (i. 8, i. 7. § 15, iii. 4. $9); never- to the writer is comprised in the brief notice pre-
theless in consequence of its susceptibility of form, fixed by himself to his work “ Marius Plotius
it must have something positive about it (ii. 4. Sacerdos composui Romae docens de metris. "
$S 10-13). Nature also is a soul (iii. 8. § 3), From the prooemium which follows we learn that
and perception at once the ground and aim of this essay formed the third and concluding book
all becoming But in proportion as the percep- of a treatise upon grammar, the subject of the first
tion becomes more clear and distinct, the cor- book having been De Institutis Artis Grammaticae,
responding essence belongs to a higher step in the and of the second De Nominum Verborumque
scale of being (iii. 8. SS 3, 7).
Ratione nec non de Structurarum Compositionibus.
The further development of Plotinus's three | Although we have no direct means of determining
principles, and of the dim idea of matter (see espe the period when Plotius flourished we are led to
cially ii. 4, &c. ), and the attempts he made to infer from his style that he cannot be earlier than
determine the idea of time in opposition to that of the fifth or sixth century. Endlicher published
eternity (iii. 7), to explain the essential constitution in his “ Analecta Grammatica” from a MS. which
of man, and his immortal blessedness (i. 4, &c. ), to once belonged to the celebrated monastery of
maintain the belief in a divine providence, and the Bobbio a tract, entitled M. Claudü Sacerdotis
freedom of the will, in opposition to the theory of Artium Grammaticarum Libri duo, which he en-
an evil principle, and the inexorable necessity of deavoured to prove were in reality the two books
predetermination or causal sequence (iii. 1-3, by Marius Plotius Sacerdos described above, but
comp. ii. 9), together with the first weak begin- there is not sufficient evidence to warrant this
nings of a natural philosophy (ii. 5—8), and the conclusion.
foundations of an ethical science answering to the The “Liber de Metris” was first published by
above principles, and grounded on the separation Putschius in his “Grammaticae Latinae Auctores
of the lower or political from the higher or intel antiqui," 4to. Hannov. 1605. p. 2623— 2663,
ligible virtue,—these points, as also his researches from a MS. or MSS. belonging to Andreas
on the Beautiful, can orly just be mentioned in Schottus and Joannes a Wouwer. It will be
passing (i. 2, 3, comp. 4, 5, and ii. 6).
found also in the “ Scriptores Latini Rei Me-
Beside Porphyry's recension of the books of Plo- tricae ” of Gaisford, 8vo. Oxon. 1837. p. 242-
tínus there was also another furnished by Eusto- | 302.
[W. R. ]
chius, out of which a more extensive division of the PLUTARCHUS (OXotapxos), a tyrant of
books on the soul (iv. 4. § 30) has been quoted in a Eretria in Euboea. Whether he was the imme-
Greek Scholion, and the operation of which on the diate successor of Themison, and also whether he
present text has been traced and pointed out by was in any way connected with him by blood, are
Fr. Kreuzer (see his remarks to i. 9. § 1, ii. 3. S 5, points which we have no means of ascertaining,
a
&
a
## p. 429 (#445) ############################################
PLUTARCHUS.
429
PLUTARCHUS.
Trusting perhaps to the influence of his friend which only exists in the Policraticus of John of Salis-
Meidias, he applied to the Athenians in B. C. 354 bury (Lib. 5. c. 1, ed.
Leiden, 1639), is a forgery,
for aid against his rival, Callias of Chalcis, who though John probably did not forge it. John's
had allied himself with Philip of Macedon. The expression is somewhat singular : “ Extat Epistola
application was granted in spite of the resistance of Plutarchi Trajanum instituentis, quae cujusdam
Demosthenes, and the command of the expedition politicae constitutionis exprimit sensum. Ea dicitur
was entrusted to Phocion, who defeated Callias at esse hujusmodi ;” and then he gives the letter.
Tamynae. But the conduct of Plutarchus in the In the second chapter of this book John says that
battle had placed the Athenians in great jeopardy, this Politica Constitutio is a small treatise in-
and though it may have been nothing more than scribed “ Institutio Trajani," and he gives the sub-
rashness, Phocion would seem to have regarded it stance of part of the work. Plutarch, who dedi-
as treachery, for he thenceforth treated Plutarchus cated the 'Aropoéquata Bagiaéw kal Srpatay
as an enemy and expelled him from Eretria to Trajanus, says nothing of the emperor having
(Dem. de Pac. p. 58, Philipp. iii. p. 125, c. Meid. been his pupil. But some critics have argued that
pp. 550, 567, 579 ; Aesch. de Fals. Leg. p. 50, Plutarch is not the author of the Apophthegmata,
c. Ctes. p. 66 ; Plut. Phoc. 12, 13; Paus. i. 36. ) | because he says in the dedication that he had
(Callias; Procion. ]
[E. E. ]
written the lives of illustrious Greeks and Ro-
PLUTARCHUS (Moútapxos), was born at mans; for they assume that he did not return to
Chaeroneia in Boeotia. The few facts of his life Chaeroneia until after the death of Trajanus, and
which are known, are chiefly collected from his own did not write his Lives until after his return. If
writings
these assumptions could be proved, it follows that he
He was studying philosophy under Ammonius did not write the Apophthegmata, or at least the
at the time when Nero was making his progress dedication. If we assume that he retired to Chaero-
through Greece (Ilepl toù Ei év Xenpois, c. 1), neia before the death of Trajanus, we may admit
as we may collect from the passage referred to that he wrote his Lives at Chaeroneia and the
Nero was in Greece and visited Delphi in A. D. 66; Apophthegmata afterwards. It appears from his
and Plutarch seems to say, that he was at Delphi Life of Demosthenes (c. 2), that he certainly
at that time. We may assume then that he was wrote that Life at Chaeroneia, and this Life and
a youth or a young man in A. D. 66. In another that of Cicero were the fifth pair. (Demosthenes,
passage (Antonius, 87) he speaks of Nero as his c. 3. ) Plutarch probably spent the later years of
contemporary. His great-grandfather Nicarchus his life at Chaeroneia, where he discharged various
told him what the citizens of Chaeroneia had suf- magisterial offices, and had a priesthood.
fered at the time of the battle of Actium (Plut. Plutarch's wife, Timoxena, bore him four sons
Antonius, 68). He also mentions his grandfather and a daughter, also named Timoxena. It was
Lamprias, from whom he heard various anecdotes on the occasion of his daughter's death that he
about M. Antonius, which Lamprias bad heard from wrote his sensible and affectionate letter of conso-
Philotas, who was studying medicine at Alexandria lation to his wife (Tapauvontinòs eis trio iðlav gu-
when M. Antonius was there with Cleopatra. vaika).
(Antonius, 29. ) His father's name does not The time of Plutarch's death is unknown.
appear in his extant works. He had two brothers, The work which has immortalised Plutarch's
Timon and Lamprias. As a young man, he was name is his Parallel Lives (Bioi ſapaandoe) of
once employed on a mission to the Roman governor forty-six Greeks and Romans. The forty-six
of the province. (Πολιτικά παραγγέλματα, 20. ) Lives are arranged in pairs ; each pair contains
It appears incidentally from his own writings the life of a Greek and a Roman, and is followed
that he must have visited several parts of Italy: by a comparison (rúg kplois) of the two men: in a
for instance, he speaks of seeing the statue or bust few pairs the comparison is omitted or lost. He
of Marius at Ravenna (Marius, 2). But he says seems to have considered each pair of Lives and
in express terms that he spent some time at Rome, the Parallel as making one book (B:Galov). When
and in other parts of Italy (Demosthenes, 2). He he says that the book of the Lives of Demosthenes
observes, that he did not learn the Latin language and Cicero was the fifth, it is the most natural in-
in Italy, because he was occupied with public com-terpretation to suppose that it was the fifth in the
missions, and in giving lectures on philosophy ; order in which he wrote them. It could not be
and it was late in life before he busied himself with the fifth in any other sense, if each pair composed
Roman literature. He was lecturing at Rome a book.
during the reign of Domitianus, for he gives an The forty-six Lives are the following :-1. The
account of the stoic L. Junius Arulepus Rusticus seus and Romulus ; 2. Lycurgus and Numa ; 3.
receiving a letter from the emperor while he was Solon and Valerius Publicola ; 4. Themistocles and
present at one of Plutarch's discourses (Tepl ta Camillus ; 5. Pericles and Q. Fabius Maximus ;
AUTOS Y Fogurns, c. 15). Rusticus was also a friend 6. Alcibiades and Coriolanus ; 7. Timoleon and
of the younger Plinius, and was afterwards put to Aemilius Paulus ; 8. Pelopidas and Marcellus ;
death by Domitianus. Sossius Senecio, whom 9. Aristides and Cato the Elder ; 10. Philopoemen
Plutarch addresses in the introduction to his life of and Flamininus ; 11. Pyrrhus and Marius ; 12.
Theseus (c. 1), is probably the same person who Lysander and Sulla ; 13. Cimon and Lucullus ; 14.
was a friend of the younger Plinius (Ep. i. 13), and Nicias and Crassus ; 15. Eumenes and Sertorius ;
consul several times in the reign of Trajanus. 16. Agesilaus and Pompeius ; 17. Alexander and
The statement that Plutarch was the preceptor Caesar; 18. Phocion and Cato the Younger ; 19.
of Trajanus, and that the emperor raised him to the Agis and Cleomenes, and Tiberius and Caius Grac-
consular rank, rests on the authority of Suidas chi ; 20. Demosthenes and Cicero ; 21. Demetrius
(s. v. Noutapxos), and a Latin letter addressed to Poliorcetes and Marcus Antonius ; 22. Dion and
Trajanus. But this short notice in Suidas is a worth- M. Junius Brutus.
less authority; and the Latin letter to Trajanus, There are also the Lives of Artaxerxes Mnemon,
## p. 430 (#446) ############################################
430
PLUTARCHUS.
PLUTARCHUS.
Aratus, Galba, and Otho, which are placed in the schichte Roms) has reason to complain of Plutarch
editions after the forty-six Lives. A Life of Ilo- and his carelessness.
mer is also sometimes attributed to him, but it is But there must be some merit in a work which
not printed in all the editions,
has entertained and instructed so many gene-
The following Lives by Plutarch are lost :-rations, which is read in so many languages, and
Epaminondas, Scipio, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, by people of all conditions : a work which de
Claudins, Nero, Vitellius, Hesiod, Pindar, Crates lighted Montnigne and Rousseau, for it was one
the Cynic, Daiphantus, Aristomenes, and the poet of the few books which Rousseau had never read
Aratus.
without profit (Les Reveries du Promeneur solitaire,
There is extant an imperfect list of the works of Quatrième Promenade); a work which amuses
Plutarch, intitled II lovtápxou Bienlwv hivat, which both young and old, the soldier and the statesman,
is attributed to his son Lamprias. Whether Lam- the philosopher and the man who is busied about
prias made the list or not, may be doubtful ; but it the ordinary affairs of life. The reason is that
is probable that a list of Plutarch's works was Plutarch has rightly conceived the business of
made in ancient times, for it was common to make a biographer : his biography is true portraiture
such lists ; and his son may have performed the (Alexander, 1). Other biography is often a dull,
pious duty. (Suidas, s. v. Aaumplas. )
tedious enumeration of facts in the order of time,
The authorities for Plutarch's Lives are inci- with perhaps a summing up of character at the
dentally indicated in the Lives themselves. He end. Such biography is portraiture also, but it is
is said to quote two hundred and fifty writers, of false portraiture: the dress and the accessories put
whom about eighty are writers whose works are the face out of countenance. The reflections of
entirely or partially lost. The question of the Plutarch are neither impertinent, nor trifling :
sources of Plutarch's Lives has been examined by his sound good sense is always there : his honest
A. H. L. Heeren. (De Fontibus et Auctoritate Vi- purpose is transparent : his love of humanity
tarum Parallelarum Plutarchi Commentationes IV. warms the whole. His work is and will remain,
Goettingae, 1820, 8vo. ) Plutarch must have bad in spite of all the fault that can be found with it
access to a good library ; and if he wrote all his by plodding collectors of facts, and small critics,
Lives during his old age at Chaeronea, we must the book of those who can nobly think, and dare
infer that he had a large stock of books at com- and do. It is the book of all ages for the same
mand. The passage in the Life of Demosthenes reason that good portraiture is the painting of all
(c. 2), in which he speaks of his residence in a time ; for the human face and the human cha-
small town, is perhaps correctly understood to racter are ever the same. It is a mirror in which
allude to the difficulty of finding materials for his all men may look at themselves.
Roman Lives; for he could hardly have been If we would put the Lives of Plutarch to a
deficient in materials for his Greek Biographies. severe test, we must carefully examine his Roman
It is not improbable that he may have collected Lives. He says that he knew Latin imperfectly ;
materials and extracts long before he began to and he lived under the empire when even many
compose his Lives. Plutarch being a Greek, and of the educated Romans had but a superficial
an educated man, could not fail to be well ac- acquaintance with the earlier history of their
quainted with all the sources for his Greek Lives ; state. We must, therefore, expect to find him
and he has indicated them pretty fully. His imperfectly informed on Roman institutions; and
acquaintance with the sources for his Roman we can detect him in some errors. Yet, on the
Lives was less complete, and his handling of them whole, his Roman Lives do not often convey
less critical, but yet he quotes and refers to a erroneous notions : if the detail is incorrect, the
great number of Roman writers as his authorities, general impression is true. They may be read
as we may observe particularly in the Lives of with profit by those who seek to know something
Cicero and Caesar. He also used the Greek of Roman affairs, and have not knowledge enough
writers on Roman affairs - Polybius, Theophanes to detect an error. They probably contain as few
the historian of Cn. Pompeius, Strabo, Nicolaus mistakes as most biographies which have been
Damascenus, and others.
written by a man who is not the countryman of
In order to judge of his merits as a biographer those whose lives he writes.
we must see how he conceived his work. He The first edition of the Lives was a collection
explains his method in the introduction to his Life of the Latin version of the several Lives, which
of Alexander : he says, that he does not write his-had been made by several bands. The collection
tories, - he writes lives : and the most conspicuous appeared at Rome, 2 vols. fol. about 1470: this
events in a man's life do not show his character so version was the foundation of the Spanish and
well as slight circunstances. It appears then that Italian versions. The first edition of the Greek
his object was to delineate character, and he text was that printed by P. Giunta, Florence,
selected and used the facts of a man's life for this 1517, folio. The edition of Bryan, London, 1729,
purpose only.
His Lives, as he says, are not 5 vols. 4to. , with a Latin version, was completed
histories ; nor can history be written from them by Moses du Soul after Bryan'a death. There is
alone. They are useful to the writer of history, an edition by A. Coraes, Paris, 1809-1815, with
but they must be used with care, for they are not notes, in 6 vols. 8vo. ; and one by G. H. Schaefer,
intended even as materials for history. Important Leipzig, 1826, 6 vols. 8vo. , with notes original
historical events are often slightly noticed, and and selected. The latest and best edition of the
occupy a subordinate place to a jest or an anec- Greek text is by C. Sintenis, Leipzig, 1839–
dote. The order of time is often purposely neg- 1846, 4 vols. 8vo. , with the Index of the Frankfort
lected, and circumstances are mentioned just when edition, considerably altered. (See the Praefatio
it is most suitable to the biographer's. purpose. of Sintenis, vol. i. )
Facts and persons are sometimes confounded ; and The translations are numerous.
The French
a suber painstaking writer, like ,Drumann (Ge- | translation of Amyot, which first appeared in
## p. 431 (#447) ############################################
PLUTARCHUS.
431
PLUTION.
1
1559, and has often been reprinted, has great | Bâle by Froben, 1542, fol. , 1574, fol. Wytten-
merit
. The English translation of Sir Thomas bach's edition of the Moralia, the labour of four
North, London, 1612, professes to be from the and-twenty years, was printed at Oxford in 4to. :
French of Amyot, but it does not always follow it consists of four parts, or six volumes of text
the French version, and some passages are very (1795-1800), and two volumes of notes (1810–
incorrectly rendered by North which are correctly 1821). It was also printed at the same time in
rendered by Amyot. North's version is, however, 8vo. The notes of Wyttenbach were also printed
justly admired for the expression. The translation at Leipzig, in 1821, in two vols. 8vo. The
commonly called Dryden's, was made by many Moralia were translated by Amyot into French,
hands : Dryden did nothing further than write 1565, 3 vols. fol. Kaltwasser's German trans-
the dedication to the Duke of Ormond, and the lation of the Moralin was published at Frankfort-
Life of Plutarch, which is prefixed to the version. on-the-Main, 1783–1800, 9 vols. 8vo.
The English version of John and William The first edition of all the works of Plutarch is
Langhorne has been often printed. The writer that of H. Stephens, Geneva, 1572, 13 vols. 8vo.
of this article has translated and written Notes on An edition of the Greek text, with a Latin version,
the following Lives : Tiberius and Caius Gracchi, appeared at Leipzig, 1774-1782, 12 vols.
