No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 September 2021
At the outset of Plato's Timaeus, Socrates briefly recalls the discussion of the ideal state which he had the day before with his companions (Tim. 17c1–19b2). Looking back at it, he experiences what people often experience when they see beautiful creatures in repose: he wants to see them in motion (19b3–c2). This is precisely the goal of the present chapter. The previous one has provided a general overview of several essential themes and characteristics of the Parallel Lives. Now, it is time to see them ‘in motion’.
1 Pelling 2002: 132.
2 Pelling 2002: 133.
3 Stadter 1984: 359.
4 Duff 2008b: 159–68.
5 The pair lacks a proem, but this could be lost, as the Life of Themistocles begins with a δέ; see Duff 2008b: 176–9.
6 Cf. H. Martin 1961.
7 Duff 2008a: 3–11 and 2009.
8 Frost 1980: 83 argues that the historical reality was probably different and that the Athenians were conscious of the Persian threat and the intentions of Themistocles’ proposal.
9 Thus correctly Zadorojnyi 2006: 263 against the common interpretation of the passage.
10 Larmour 1992: 4187–9. On Plutarch's position on the question whether the end justifies the means, see esp. Nikolaidis 1995; also Duff 1999b: 131–3; Frazier 2016: 217–24.
11 Tuci 2006.
12 Cf. Larmour 1992: 4194.
13 H. Martin 1961: 331–4; Larmour 1992: 4196–8; Duff 2010: 46 and 54–6. See also Wardman 1974: 69–78; Verdegem 2005.
14 Duff 2008b: 165–7 and 2010: 53–4 and 57–8. Themistocles’ attitude towards money (Them. 25.3; cf. 5.1) is discussed by Zadorojnyi 2006: 270–85 (who aptly links him to Plato's timocratic man).
15 Contrast Timocreon's sharp attack on Themistocles (21.3–7); Zadorojnyi 2006: 279–81.
16 See Duff 2010: 53.
17 See Flacelière et al. 1961: 94; Marr 1998: 123.
18 On this passage, see Graninger 2010 (who regards the scene as an example of ‘creative reconstruction’ on the basis of Thucydides’ account of the departure of the Sicilian expedition; cf. Flacelière et al. 1961: 100–1).
19 See Duff 2008b: 171–2 and 2010: 55–6.
20 Duff 2010: 56–8.
21 On the difference between phronesis and synesis in Plutarch, see Frazier 2016: 283–4.
22 Duff 2010: 63 with 77–8 n. 109, points to the parallel in Them. 19.6 about the Thirty changing the orientation of the Pnyx.
23 See Larmour 1992: 4184; Pelling 2005: 335; Duff 2010: 62.
24 Duff 2010: 59–61.
25 Stadter 1984: 359; Pelling 2005: 335–6.
26 Duff 2010: 63 points out that Pontius’ ambition recalls that of Themistocles: ‘The brief parallel might be read as a reminder that ambition, although it can get out of hand and become dangerous, is necessary for the performance of great exploits: men like Themistocles and Cominius are needed at such times of crises.’ We may add that Pontius’ boldness, while recalling that of Themistocles, is not opposed to Camillus’ vigour (τῷ δραστηρίῳ; 36.1) either.
27 The most likely hypothesis is that the synkrisis is lost: see Swain 1992: 111; Duff 1999b: 253; Larmour 2014: 410; contra Pelling 2002: 377–82. Discussions also in Erbse 1956: 403–6; Larmour 1992: 4175–7; Duff 2011b: 258–9.
28 Cf. Duff 2008b: 165–6 and 2010: 53 on the recurrence of the motif of greatness in the Life of Themistocles.
29 See esp. Larmour 1992: 4176–8.
30 Konrad 1994: xxx–xxxi; García Moreno 1992: 146–52 (Sertorius as an ideal ruler); Flacelière and Chambry 1973: 2–6. On Plutarch's sources, which include both very critical and positive views of Sertorius, see esp. Konrad 1994: xli–liii; also Scardigli 1979: 98–100.
31 Geiger 1995: 185 regards it as a ‘biography so inferior to the very best in the series’; cf. García Moreno 1992: 134 and Konrad 1994: xxxii–xxxiii.
32 For the historical background, see Konrad 1994: 59–62; I. König 2000: 445–7.
33 The historicity of this conversation between Sertorius and Cinna has been questioned by Katz 1983: 62.
34 Plutarch here considerably abridges the events; more details about the historical background of Sertorius’ decision to go to Spain can be found in Strisino 2002; cf. de Michele 2005 and Konrad 1994: 73–85.
35 McAlhany 2016; see also García Moreno 1992: 143–6 (who connects the episode with the paradoxographic tradition).
36 Konrad 1994: 111: ‘P.'s explanation here shows the levelheaded, calculating, risk-taking soldier we encountered in chapters 3–6; surely it is correct.’
37 On the role played by Sertorius’ friends in Spain, see Sert. 22.10 and Konrad 1987.
38 Beneker 2010: 108.
39 See, e.g., Brenk 1977: 177–9; Wardman 1974: 132–40 (esp. 134–6); Gill 1983; Swain 1989a.
40 E.g. in moral works such as On fortune and Is vice a sufficient cause for unhappiness?; see also De tranq. an. 475B–476A; De virt. et vit. 101D–E.
41 We can improve our character (βελτιουμένῳ τὸ ἦθος, De prof. in virt. 85C) but we improve towards virtue (βελτιουμένου πρὸς ἀρετήν, 75B).
42 Cf. De prof. in virt. 76C–78A on intermissions and retrogressions during the process of moral improvement; Roskam 2005b: 247–55.
43 On this balance between mildness and efficiency, see also Sert. 6.9 and 18.11.
44 The last of these topics is discussed by Scherr 2015; cf. Konrad 1994: 141–4; Payen 2002: 106–8.
45 I. König 2000.
46 His preference for a simple, anonymous life in Rome is diametrically opposed to that of Caesar (Caes. 11.4). See Konrad 1994: 189; Beneker 2010: 114–15.
47 The moral evaluation of Sertorius’ deed has been discussed in Sert. 10.5–7 and is recalled in the brief phrase ἐκ τῆς προτέρας ἐπιεικείας καὶ πρᾳότητος μεταβαλόντα (‘having laid aside his former clemency and mildness’; 25.6).
48 See Eum. 3.1: τῇ μὲν γνώμῃ…τῷ δὲ λόγῳ (‘in his opinion…but in what he said…’). Caesar is similarly criticized for his cunning reconciliation of Pompey and Crassus (Pomp. 47.2). On Solon's compromising between the poor and the rich, see Sol. 14.1–2; Leão 2003–4: 54.
49 At least, this is how Plutarch presents the matter. In reality, many soldiers simply deserted to the enemy: see Bosworth 1992: 79.
50 Plutarch will make this point in the concluding comparison: Comp. Sert. et Eum. 2.1–5.
51 See, e.g., Anson 1977; Bosworth 1992: 66–7; Hadley 2001: 18–20.
52 In all likelihood, Plutarch developed this perspective ad hoc, for the majority of the Silver Shields were probably not led by concerns for ethnicity: see Roisman 2011: 72–3.
53 See Bosworth 1992: 64–5 on the parallel with Sert. 6.6.
54 Duff 1999b: 275.
55 Thus, e.g., Bosworth 1992: 56–7; García Moreno 1992: 134.
56 This is the view of Jacobs 2018, who sees the Parallel Lives as pragmatic biography (see above, Chapter V, §1).