Philip A. Stadter
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- December 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198718338
- eISBN:
- 9780191787638
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198718338.003.0012
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter compares the ideologies of government of Plutarch and of Pliny the Younger, setting the former’s thinking on leadership alongside Pliny’s restrained praise of the emperor Trajan in his ...
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This chapter compares the ideologies of government of Plutarch and of Pliny the Younger, setting the former’s thinking on leadership alongside Pliny’s restrained praise of the emperor Trajan in his Panegyric as a means of illuminating common elements in their political thinking. Pliny hoped to influence both Trajan and future emperors by praise rather than admonition, holding up a description of a good emperor to use as a mirror to check one’s success at reflecting the model. He praises especially Trajan’s humanity, ease of access to senators, fairness, respect for fellow citizens and subjects, and restraint of ambition. All these virtues may be paralleled by examples from Plutarch’s Solon–Publicola pair, and Numa, and other works. He too provides a mirror of virtue for his readers.Less
This chapter compares the ideologies of government of Plutarch and of Pliny the Younger, setting the former’s thinking on leadership alongside Pliny’s restrained praise of the emperor Trajan in his Panegyric as a means of illuminating common elements in their political thinking. Pliny hoped to influence both Trajan and future emperors by praise rather than admonition, holding up a description of a good emperor to use as a mirror to check one’s success at reflecting the model. He praises especially Trajan’s humanity, ease of access to senators, fairness, respect for fellow citizens and subjects, and restraint of ambition. All these virtues may be paralleled by examples from Plutarch’s Solon–Publicola pair, and Numa, and other works. He too provides a mirror of virtue for his readers.
Philip A. Stadter
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- December 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198718338
- eISBN:
- 9780191787638
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198718338.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter shows that in his Parallel Lives Plutarch addressed elite Roman readers, those who held leadership roles, as well as leading Greeks. Glosses to Latin words and explanations of Roman ...
More
This chapter shows that in his Parallel Lives Plutarch addressed elite Roman readers, those who held leadership roles, as well as leading Greeks. Glosses to Latin words and explanations of Roman customs are inserted for literary purposes and are not evidence that Plutarch wrote for an exclusively Greek audience. The chapter argues against taking Quiet of Mind 470C or the Rules for Politicians as evidence that Plutarch discouraged Greeks from political activity at the imperial level., Plutarch took as his model Plato, who attempted to educate the tyrant Dionysius II, and so tried to educate Roman imperial administrators. The Solon-Publicola pair presents Solon as a philosophic adviser to the people and to Peisistratus and Croesus, and Publicola as a statesman who expelled a tyrant and was a leader loved by the populace. The lives of the Gracchi, which demonstrate that statesmen who are well-intentioned can act for the worse under pressure of men and circumstances, would have meaning for a Roman audience who had lived through upheavals under Galba and Nerva, down to the time of TrajanLess
This chapter shows that in his Parallel Lives Plutarch addressed elite Roman readers, those who held leadership roles, as well as leading Greeks. Glosses to Latin words and explanations of Roman customs are inserted for literary purposes and are not evidence that Plutarch wrote for an exclusively Greek audience. The chapter argues against taking Quiet of Mind 470C or the Rules for Politicians as evidence that Plutarch discouraged Greeks from political activity at the imperial level., Plutarch took as his model Plato, who attempted to educate the tyrant Dionysius II, and so tried to educate Roman imperial administrators. The Solon-Publicola pair presents Solon as a philosophic adviser to the people and to Peisistratus and Croesus, and Publicola as a statesman who expelled a tyrant and was a leader loved by the populace. The lives of the Gracchi, which demonstrate that statesmen who are well-intentioned can act for the worse under pressure of men and circumstances, would have meaning for a Roman audience who had lived through upheavals under Galba and Nerva, down to the time of Trajan
