Plutarch's Pragmatic Biographies

Lessons for Statesmen and Generals in the Parallel Lives
Erscheinungsjahr 2017
ISBN: 978-90-04-27660-4
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 43, 472 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 998 g

Reihe: Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition

In Plutarch’s Pragmatic Biographies, Susan Jacobs argues for a major revision in how we interpret the Parallel Lives. She integrates the existing focus on moral issues into the much broader paradigm of effective leadership found in Plutarch’s Moralia. There, in addition to moral virtue, the successful leader needed good critical judgment, persuasiveness and facility in managing alliances and rivalries. The analysis of six sets of Lives shows how Plutarch carefully portrayed Greek and Roman leaders of the past assessing situations and solving problems that paralleled those faced by his politically-active audience. By linking victories and defeats to specific strategic insights and practical skills, Plutarch created “pragmatic biographies” that could instruct statesmen and generals of every era.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Jacobs, Susan G

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Biographien & Autobiographien: Historisch, Politisch, Militärisch
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Klassische Literaturwissenschaft Klassische Lateinische Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents
Acknowledgments
Sources and Abbreviations
List of Tables

Introduction

Training the Politikos under Rome

1 Plutarch and His Audience
1.1 Plutarch’s Concept of the Politikos
1.2 Plutarch’s Audience as Politikoi
1.3 Political Careers Open to the Educated Elite
1.4 Conclusion: Implications for Interpreting the Parallel Lives

2 Pragmatic Literature for Statesmen and Generals
2.1 Advice Literature
2.2 Pragmatic History
2.3 Individual Lives of Statesmen and Generals: Nepos and Plutarch
2.4 Conclusion: Implications for the Purpose of the Parallel Lives

3 Didactic Agenda of the Parallel Lives: Insights from the Prologues and Synkriseis
3.1 Statesmanship and Generalship in the Prologues
3.2 Statesmanship in the Synkriseis
3.3 Techniques for Reinforcing Pragmatic Lessons Across the Parallel Lives
3.4 Conclusion: Didactic Agenda of the Parallel Lives as Pragmatic Biography

Political and Military Leadership

4 Pericles-Fabius Maximus
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Life of Pericles
4.3 Life of Fabius Maximus
4.4 Insights from the Synkrisis

5 Coriolanus-Alcibiades
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Life of Coriolanus
5.3 Life of Alcibiades
5.4 Insights from the Synkrisis

6 Agesilaus-Pompey
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Life of Agesilaus
6.3 Life of Pompey
6.4 Insights from the Synkrisis

Ruling and Being Ruled

7 Ruling and Being Ruled

Aemilius-Timoleon
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Life of Aemilius Paulus
7.3 Life of Timoleon
7.4 Insights from the Synkrisis

Demetrius-Antony
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Life of Demetrius
8.3 Life of Antony
8.4 Insights from the Synkrisis

Phocion-Cato Minor
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Life of Phocion
9.3 Life of Cato Minor
9.4 Insights from Analyzing Differences

10 Conclusion
10.1 Plutarch’s Project in the Parallel Lives
10.2 Applying the Exempla
10.3 Reception of the Lives as Pragmatic Biography in the Western Classical Tradition
10.4 “Pragmatic Biography” versus “Explorations of Issues of Virtue and Vice”

Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Susan G. Jacobs Ph.D. (2011), Columbia University, is an independent scholar who writes about Plutarch’s Lives and their reception.