The Biographers 1/2
the character shows itself, but make very little account of the other parts of the body, so I must be permitted to devote myself rather to the signs of the soul in men, and by means of these to portray the life of each, leaving to others the description of their great contests.
The result is that Plutarch's biographies often focus on anecdotes about the subject, while omitting details of his (and it always is 'his') career that we would love to know. Although the biographies are comparatively short (mostly between 20 and 30 pages long), Plutarch cannot resist digressions on anything that catches his interest. See, for example, the digression on the Athenians' treatment of retired beasts of burden in his life of Cato the Elder. Plutarch is also very interested in omens and frequently notes prodigious events, such as monstrous births, that preceded any great battle or the death of his subject.
The first translation into English of Plutarch's lives was by Sir Thomas North in 1579 (in fact a translation of the French translation of Jacques Amyot). This was the source Shakespeare used for his Roman plays: Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra. It can be found online at Perseus.
John Dryden wrote a life of Plutarch to go with a translation of the lives by various translators published from 1683-1686. The translation was revised by Arthur Clough and re-issued in 1864. It can be found online at about.com ancient history
The Loeb translation by Bernadotte Perrin was issued from 1914. The Roman lives, and some of the Greek lives can be found here at Bill Thayer's Lacus Curtius. Some more of the Greek lives can be found at Perseus.
The Modern Library has published the Dryden translation, as revised by Arthur Clough, in two volumes. Penguin Classics and Oxford World Classics have both published selected Greek lives and selected Roman lives, thus destroying Plutarch's scheme for his work of Greek and Roman lives being narrated and compared. The Loeb translation by Bernadotte Perrin, which has the Greek and the English translation on facing pages, is still in print.
Plutarch has his own home on the internet at CHAIRONEIA.
Plutarch was the subject of a Smithsonian Magazine article recently.
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