There is no man living but knows that Phylarchus simply invents in his history, where he all but uses an actual stage machine, and brings in Neocles and Demopolis as the sons of Themistocles, to incite or move compassion, as if he were writing a tragedy.—Plutarch
I resolved this year to read the first volume of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, and I hope to catch up on my goal this summer. I’d read most of the Lives a few years ago, but wanted to start again and get all the way through.
I’ve just finished the life of Themistocles, whose arrogance makes him my least favorite Greek so far. I do not see that he did so much good for Athens, that he should be numbered among their greatest men.
Be that as it may, Plutarch’s always personable narration made the reading enjoyable. His (sometimes lengthy) asides never fail to make me smile. This is why I love the Lives; these are great stories, told by a real person who enjoyed writing them, and who couldn’t resist occasionally inserting his own opinion—of other historians as well as of historical figures.
In the life of Themistocles, for example, Plutarch mentions that stories about the Athenian’s tomb were later fabricated for political purposes. I loved Plutarch’s devastating comments about the earlier Greek historian Phylarchus, who—as Plutarch indignantly points out—adapted history in order to gain emotional effect. (See quote above.)
I looked up a ‘stage machine,’ and discovered it was a mechane, a crane used in Greek theaters to lift actors into the air, usually to represent flight.
“He all but uses an actual stage machine...” Ah, Plutarch makes me laugh.
• a bust of Plutarch at the Temple of Delphi, where he served as a priest •
June 25, 2013
WHY I LOVE PLUTARCH