Plutarch of Chaeronea

Plutarch studied mathematics and philosophy under Ammonius at the Athenian Academy, and maintained close links there throughout his life, later directing a school of philosophy, specializing in ethics. Plutarch spent the last thirty years of his life serving as a priest in the Temple at Delphi. He underwent initiation in Apollo’s mysteries, and in the Eleusinian Mysteries, as did his wife Timoxena. As a Platonist and as an initiate, he believed in the soul’s immortality, and almost certainly in the doctrine of many lives.

Greek scholar Eduard Zeller wrote that Plutarch’s “warm religious feelings and his distrust of human powers of knowledge led him to believe that God comes to our aid by direct revelations, which we perceive the more clearly the more completely that we refrain in ‘enthusiasm’ from all action; this made it possible for him to justify popular belief in divination. … His attitude to popular religion was similar. The gods of different peoples are merely different names for one and the same divine Being and the powers that serve it. The myths contain philosophical truths which can be interpreted allegorically. Thus Plutarch sought to combine the philosophical and religious conception of things and to remain as close as possible to tradition.”

Plutarch’s Moralia (Customs and Mores) was first translated into English directly from the Greek in 1603. Its influence was quickly evident in Francis Bacon’s Essays, which counsels public morality and private virtue, recognizably derived from Plutarch. Notably, the Moralia also greatly influenced Ralph Waldo Emerson and the New England Transcendentalists.

Included here are selected essays from Plutarch’s Moralia, and an excellent biographical overview of his life and works by George Karamanolis.

– Linda Mihalic, Via Christa site editor


Plutarch, A biography detailing Plutarch’s remarkable contributions to philosophy in general and Platonism in articular, by George E. Karamanolis, Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Vienna.


A Letter of Consolation to His Wife
F. C. Babbitt, trans., Loeb Classical Library


On the Delays of Divine Vengeance
John Philips, Trans., W. W. Goodwin, Ed. Plutarch’s Morals, vol 2, Loeb Library


On the ‘E’ at Delphi, F. C. Babbitt, trans. Loeb Classical Library


On Isis and Osiris, F. C. Babbitt, trans. Loeb Classical Library


On Listening to Lectures, F. C. Babbitt, trans. Loeb Classical Library


On the Obsolescence of Oracles, F. C. Babbitt, trans. Loeb Classical Library


Platonic Questions, Isaac Chauncy, trans., William W. Goodwin, ed. Harvard University Press


Plutarch’s Moralia

On the Procreation of the Soul in Timaeus
John Philips, Trans., W. W. Goodwin, Ed. Plutarch’s Morals, vol 2, Loeb Library


On the Sign of Socrates, Phillip H. De Lacy and Benedict Einarson, trans. Loeb Classical Library.


To an Uneducated Ruler, William W. Goodwin, ed. Harvard University Press

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Plutarch of Chaeronea
(46 A.D.–died after 119 A.D.)
Plutarch was a notable Greek Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and was the priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi for 30 years. He is known primarily for his Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of illustrious Greeks and Romans, and Moralia, a collection of essays and speeches.


References

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Introduction,” Plutarch’s Morals, William W. Goodwin (ed.), London: Sampson, Low, 1870. The text is in the public domain.

Karamanolis, George, “Plutarch,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2020 Edition, Edward N. Zalta, ed.

Walbank, Frank W. “Plutarch,” Encyclopædia Britannica Online. October 21, 2023.