Editing Parallel Lives (section)

== Motivation ==
''Parallel Lives'' was Plutarch's second set of biographical works, following the Lives of the Roman Emperors from [[Augustus]] to [[Vitellius]]. Of these, only the Lives of [[Galba]] and [[Otho]] survive.<ref name=NewCriterion>{{cite web|last=Kimball|first=Roger|title=Plutarch & the issue of character|url=http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/19/dec00/plutarch.htm|publisher=The New Criterion Online|access-date=2006-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061116200602/http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/19/dec00/plutarch.htm|archive-date=2006-11-16|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.e-classics.com/plutarch.htm|title=Plutarch – His Life and Legacy|access-date=2006-12-10|last=McCutchen|first=Wilmot H.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205061217/http://e-classics.com/plutarch.htm|archive-date=2006-12-05|url-status=dead}}</ref>

As he explains in the first paragraph of his ''Life of Alexander'', Plutarch was not concerned with writing histories, but with exploring the influence of character, good or bad, on the lives and destinies of famous men. He wished to prove that the more distant past of Greece could show its men of action and achievement as well as the [[Recency bias|more recent]] past of Rome.<ref>''Life of Alexander'' 1.2</ref> Plutarch's interest was primarily [[ethics|ethical]] ("For it is not Histories that I am writing, but Lives."), although the work has significant [[history|historical]] value as well. The ''Lives'' was published by Plutarch late in his life after his return to [[Chaeronea]] and, if one may judge from the long lists of authorities given, it must have taken many years to compile.<ref name="americana">{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Lives, Parallel|year=1920}}</ref>