Editing Parallel Lives (section)

== Contents ==
[[File:Plutarchs Lives Vol the Third 1727.jpg|thumb|left|Third Volume of a 1727 edition of ''Plutarch's Lives'', printed by [[Jacob Tonson]]]]
The chief manuscripts of the ''Lives'' date from the 10th and 11th centuries, and the first printed edition appeared in [[Rome, Italy|Rome]] in 1470.<ref>Pade, Marianne. ''The Reception of Plutarch's Lives in Fifteenth-Century Italy'' Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007. http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/R/bo14317199.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201041214/http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/R/bo14317199.html |date=2017-12-01 }}</ref> [[Thomas North]]'s 1579 English translation was an important source-material for [[Shakespeare]]. Jacob Tonson printed several editions of the ''Lives'' in English in the late 17th century, beginning with a five-volume set printed in 1688, with subsequent editions printed in 1693, 1702, 1716, and 1727.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} The most generally accepted text is that of the minor edition of Carl Sintenis in the ''Bibliotheca Teubneriana'' (five volumes, Leipzig 1852–1855; reissued without much change in 1873–1875).{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} There are annotated editions by I. C. Held, E. H. G. Leopold, Otto Siefert and Friedrich Blass and Carl Sintenis, all in German; and by Holden, in English.<ref name="americana" />

Two of the lives, those of [[Epaminondas]] and [[Scipio Africanus]] or [[Scipio Aemilianus]], are lost,<ref>{{cite book|title=The Parallel Lives|publisher=Loeb Classical Library Edition|edition=Vol. I|year=1914|chapter=Translator's Introduction|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Introduction*.html }}</ref> and many of the remaining lives are truncated, contain obvious [[Lacuna (manuscripts)|lacunae]] and/or have been tampered with by later writers.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}}

Plutarch's ''Life of Alexander'' is one of the few surviving [[secondary source|secondary]] or [[tertiary sources]] about [[Alexander the Great]], and it includes anecdotes and descriptions of incidents that appear in no other source. Likewise, his portrait of [[Numa Pompilius]], an early Roman king, contains unique information about the early [[Roman calendar]].{{citation needed|date=July 2013}}  Plutarch has been praised for the liveliness and warmth of his portrayals, and his moral earnestness and enthusiasm, and the ''Lives'' have attracted a large circle of readers throughout the ages.<ref name="americana" />

Together with [[Suetonius]]'s ''[[The Twelve Caesars]]'', and [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]]'s own works [[Commentarii de Bello Gallico|''de Bello Gallico'']] and ''[[Commentarii de Bello Civili|de Bello Civili]]'', the ''Life of Caesar'' is the main account of [[Julius Caesar]]'s feats by ancient historians. Plutarch starts by telling of the audacity of Caesar and his refusal to dismiss [[Lucius Cornelius Cinna|Cinna's]] daughter, [[Cornelia (wife of Caesar)|Cornelia]]. Other important parts are those containing his military deeds, accounts of battles and Caesar's capacity of inspiring the soldiers.

{{quotation|His soldiers showed such good will and zeal in his service that those who in their previous campaigns had been in no way superior to others were invincible and irresistible in confronting every danger to enhance Caesar's fame. Such a man, for instance, was Acilius, who, in the sea-fight at Massalia, boarded a hostile ship and had his right hand cut off with a sword, but clung with the other hand to his shield, and dashing it into the faces of his foes, routed them all and got possession of the vessel. Such a man, again, was Cassius Scaeva, who, in the battle at Dyrrhachium, had his eye struck out with an arrow, his shoulder transfixed with one javelin and his thigh with another, and received on his shield the blows of one hundred and thirty missiles. In this plight, he called the enemy to him as though he would surrender. Two of them, accordingly, coming up, he lopped off the shoulder of one with his sword, smote the other in the face and put him to flight, and came off safely himself with the aid of his comrades. Again, in Britain, when the enemy had fallen upon the foremost centurions, who had plunged into a watery marsh, a soldier, while Caesar in person was watching the battle, dashed into the midst of the fight, displayed many conspicuous deeds of daring, and rescued the centurions, after the Barbarians had been routed. Then he himself, making his way with difficulty after all the rest, plunged into the muddy current, and at last, without his shield, partly swimming and partly wading, got across. Caesar and his company were amazed and came to meet the soldier with cries of joy; but he, in great dejection, and with a burst of tears, cast himself at Caesar's feet, begging pardon for the loss of his shield. Again, in Africa, Scipio captured a ship of Caesar's in which Granius Petro, who had been appointed quaestor, was sailing. Of the rest of the passengers Scipio made booty, but told the quaestor that he offered him his life. Granius, however, remarking that it was the custom with Caesar's soldiers not to receive but to offer mercy, killed himself with a blow of his sword.|''Life of Caesar'', XVI}}

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