I. Roman Historians: The Study of Virtue and Power
These Roman writers shared Plutarch's interest in how character—whether virtuous or corrupt—shapes the destiny of an empire. They are essential for understanding the world that Plutarch both documented and inhabited.
Tacitus
While Plutarch often sought out examples of virtue, Tacitus masterfully chronicled its decay. Arguably Rome's sharpest historian, his prose is dense and cynical, offering a penetrating analysis of the corrupting influence of absolute power. His works, particularly The Annals and Histories, are dark psychological portraits of an empire's ruling class, making him a perfect, albeit more pessimistic, companion to Plutarch.
Livy
Livy’s grand project, Ab Urbe Condita ("From the Founding of the City"), was an epic history of Rome intended to be a monument to Roman virtue. Like Plutarch, Livy believed history was a source of powerful moral examples. If you admire Plutarch's storytelling and his focus on figures who exemplify civic duty and courage, Livy's sweeping narratives of heroes like Cincinnatus and Scipio Africanus will feel both familiar and inspiring.
Sallust
Sallust focused on moments of crisis and moral rot in the late Roman Republic. In works like The Conspiracy of Catiline, he moves beyond mere chronicling to diagnose the societal sicknesses of ambition and greed. His belief that history should be a tool for ethical reflection and his sharp focus on the character flaws behind political turmoil deeply resonate with Plutarch’s own biographical project.
II. The Greek Narrative Tradition
These Greek authors represent the rich historical and storytelling tradition from which Plutarch emerged. While their methods differ, they share his fascination with the motivations and consequences of human action on a grand scale.
Herodotus
Known as "The Father of History," Herodotus is defined by his boundless curiosity and narrative flair. While his masterpiece, The Histories, is far more sprawling and digressive than Plutarch's focused lives, he shares a profound interest in how the character of individuals—from Croesus to Xerxes—shapes historical events. For those who love the rich anecdotes and character sketches in Plutarch, Herodotus offers a vast and entertaining tapestry of the ancient world.
Thucydides
Thucydides offers a different path to understanding history—one that is analytical, rigorous, and unsentimental. His History of the Peloponnesian War seeks to uncover the universal truths of power, politics, and human nature in times of conflict. While less focused on individual biography, his brilliant speeches and sharp analysis of leaders' motivations provide a psychological depth that will appeal to anyone who reads Plutarch for his insights into leadership and statecraft.
Xenophon
As both a student of Socrates and a military general, Xenophon offers a unique perspective on leadership. His work is clear, practical, and grounded in direct experience. The Anabasis, a thrilling account of leading an army out of hostile Persia, is a masterclass in character-driven narrative. His focus on courage, discipline, and leadership in action makes him one of the closest classical authors to Plutarch in spirit.
Arrian
A Greek historian who served as a Roman governor, Arrian is our most reliable ancient source on Alexander the Great. His work, The Campaigns of Alexander, is a model of military biography, prized for its clarity, critical use of sources, and compelling narrative drive. It reads like one of Plutarch's best "Lives"—a sober yet gripping account of a world-shaping individual.
III. Masters of the Biographical Sketch
These authors focused squarely on the biographical form, using the lives of individuals—from emperors to philosophers—to entertain, instruct, and preserve their memory for posterity.
Suetonius
If Plutarch used biography to explore morality, his contemporary Suetonius used it to reveal personality. His famous work, The Twelve Caesars, is a treasure trove of scandalous anecdotes, personal habits, and vivid gossip. For readers who enjoy how Plutarch brings historical figures to life, Suetonius provides a more intimate, shocking, and compulsively readable look at the men behind the imperial title.
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius gives the Plutarchan treatment to a different kind of great figure: the philosopher. His Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is an invaluable and often hilarious collection of biographies, doctrines, and memorable quotes. It reveals the character behind the ideas, reminding us that philosophy is a human endeavor, practiced by brilliant, eccentric, and flawed individuals.
Cornelius Nepos
Writing in the generation before Plutarch, Cornelius Nepos was a Roman biographer who specialized in short, accessible lives of famous commanders and statesmen. His collection, Lives of Eminent Commanders, was explicitly intended to provide clear moral examples for his readers. His straightforward, didactic approach makes him a direct forerunner of Plutarch's project.
IV. The Modern Heirs: Character as Destiny
Centuries later, Plutarch’s influence remains profound. These modern authors—essayists and biographers—continue his grand tradition of using individual lives to explore the timeless complexities of the human condition.
Michel de Montaigne
The connection here is direct and explicit: Montaigne adored Plutarch and quoted him constantly throughout his revolutionary Essays. He saw Plutarch as the ultimate guide to human nature. In his writing, Montaigne brilliantly turns Plutarch's biographical lens inward, using classical examples and unflinching self-examination to explore the same fundamental questions of virtue, weakness, and what it means to live a good life.
Samuel Johnson
The great 18th-century English man of letters, Samuel Johnson believed biography's primary purpose was moral instruction. This philosophy shines in his masterpiece, The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, which masterfully blends literary criticism with sharp, insightful, and often witty character analysis. It is a work built directly on a Plutarchan foundation.
James Boswell
Boswell revolutionized biography by capturing his subject with unprecedented intimacy and detail. His Life of Samuel Johnson makes the reader feel as if they are in the room with its brilliant, complex subject. While his method of using recorded conversations and direct observation is modern, his ultimate goal is pure Plutarch: to reveal the complete character of a great man, with all his virtues and flaws on display.
David McCullough
A modern master of narrative history, David McCullough wrote with the conviction that history is ultimately the story of people. His deeply researched and beautifully written biographies, such as John Adams and Truman, are celebrated for their profound understanding of character. McCullough shows how the course of history is shaped by the moral choices, resilience, and personal fortitude of individuals, continuing Plutarch’s work for our time.
Robert Caro
No modern writer has explored the nature of power with more exhaustive rigor than Robert Caro. His monumental multi-volume biography, The Years of Lyndon B. Johnson, uses the life of one towering, flawed figure to examine timeless themes of ambition, ethics, and political will. Like Plutarch, Caro demonstrates how a single, deeply understood life can illuminate the values and conflicts of an entire era.