SOURCE: Jones, C. P. “The Political Treatises.” In Plutarch and Rome, pp. 110-21. London: Oxford University Press, 1971.

In the following essay, Jones discusses Plutarch's views on Greek and Roman relations.

Plutarch's political treatises, above all the Political Precepts, have a special place among his works. Besides expounding his answers to problems of his time, the reign of Trajan,¹ they are primary documents for an understanding of the relationship between Greece and Rome.

The general outline of that relationship is clear and well known. From the first establishment of their power in the East, the Romans had used the traditional unit of Greek political life, the city, as an instrument of domination. To ensure loyalty and stability, they needed agents whose interests were close to their own. It was inevitable that they should turn to the upper classes of the cities, the landowners and merchants who themselves stood to...