Plutarch

*Parallel Lives* (also called *Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans*) pairs biographies of one Greek figure with one Roman figure—such as Alexander the Great with Julius Caesar, or Pericles with Fabius Maximus—followed by a comparative moral analysis. Of the original 23 paired lives, not all survive in full, but the work remains a primary narrative source for many ancient figures.

Shakespeare relied heavily on Sir Thomas North's English translation of Plutarch's *Lives* (1579) for *Julius Caesar*, *Antony and Cleopatra*, and *Coriolanus*, sometimes echoing Plutarch's language almost verbatim in the plays' dialogue and scene construction. North's translation itself was made from a French version by Jacques Amyot rather than the Greek original.

Plutarch also authored the *Moralia*, a wide-ranging collection of over 60 essays on ethics, religion, politics, philosophy, and antiquarian topics. Titles include *On the Delays of the Divine Justice*, *Advice to the Bride and Groom*, and the famous *Bravery of Women*.

Plutarch lived from roughly 46 to 120 CE in the small town of Chaeronea in Boeotia, central Greece, during the period of the Roman Empire. He served as a priest at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and was a Roman citizen, reflecting the dual Greek-Roman culture that informed *Parallel Lives*.