Parallel Lives Study Guide & Notes

Parallel Lives Plot Summary

Preview of Parallel Lives Summary:

"Plutarch's Lives Volume II" is the second part of a collection of biographies of well-known figures from ancient Greece, Rome, Macedonia, Sparta, Persia, and Egypt. In this volume are included Plutarch's depictions of Sertorius, Eumenes, Agesilaus, Pompey, Alexander, Caesar, Phocion, Cato the Younger, Agis, Cleomenes, Tiberius Gracchus, Caius Gracchus, Demosthenes, Cicero, Demetrius, Antony, Dion, Marcus Brutus, Aratus, Artaxerxes, Galba, and Otho. Working from various sources and writing in the second century A.D., Plutarch produces character sketches of each of these great leaders based on episodes from their lives. He describes not only the grand exploits of his subjects, but also passes on stories of their private behavior he believes best illustrate their personal character and motivations.

Also included are shorter pieces in which Plutarch compares the characters of men to one another, such as Sertorius with Eumenes, Pompey with Agesilaus, Tiberius and Caius Gracchus with Agis and Cleomenes, Demetrius with...
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