![]() ![]() Plutarch’s dialogues on the Delphic Oracle consider how the Greek cities’ subservience to Rome alters the form in which the gods reveal themselves.īy contrast to the Moralia, the Parallel Lives were conceived as a single work, though parts have been lost and its precise scope is somewhat obscure. In the dialogue on land and sea animals, for instance, interlocutors are asked to judge a contest among ambitious rhetoricians. Even in these works, however, the traditional questions of political and moral philosophy are not entirely absent. Others, like “Whether Land or Sea Animals are More Intelligent,” take up topics in natural philosophy, or, like “The Obsolescence of Oracles,” theology. Some of his writings, like “On Moral Virtue” or “Controlling Anger,” seem nevertheless to fit easily under the heading of moral essays. Plutarch himself did not conceive the Moralia as a single work. With the title “Moralia” Plutarch’s editors indicated what they took to be the central theme of the varied dialogues, treatises, and orations that have come down to us under his name. ![]() The two collections differ significantly, however, in form and content. Both testify to Plutarch’s philosophical interest in human excellence, and both have won admiration from illustrious figures like Montaigne, Shakespeare, Rousseau, and the American founders. Plutarch’s writing comes down to us in two voluminous collections: the Moralia and the Lives. ![]()
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