Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans

by Plutarch

"Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans" by Plutarch is a series of biographies written in Greek probably at the beginning of the second century. This monumental work pairs famous Greeks with Romans of similar destiny—Alexander with Caesar, Demosthenes with Cicero—to illuminate their moral virtues and failings. Rather than pure history, Plutarch crafted ethical portraits exploring how character shaped the lives of great men. Twenty-three paired biographies survive, alongside four singular lives, offering timeless lessons through comparison and moral examination.