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Rating: 
Summary: Over-hyped
Review: I read Plutarch's "Lives" for research for the Shakespeare plys 'Julius Caesar' and 'Antony & Cleopatra'. Thus a love affair with Roman history began. Plutarch is obviously vital as an ancient source, and I enjoyed him to begin with, but after reading far and wide into other authors, I now find Plutarch rather tedious and merely a recorder of facts and events. He needs to be read for anyone studying this period, but only as a nessecity. Move on!
Rating: 
Summary: Great stuff!
Review: Plutarch is one of the more reliable and trustworthy historians that ancient Rome has to offer. After his death, the great emperor Hadrian bestowed upon him ingratiating respect and admiration. These are excerpts from his infamous "Lives." In this book we get a historical documentary on such personages as the Gracchus brothers, Coriolanus, Brutus, Cato the Elder, Sertorius and Mark Anthony. Of particular interest to the military historian are his accounts of Fabius Maximus and Marcellus (two of the Roman generals who squared off against Hannibal). I would recommend this book as a must-read for any and all people who take a curiosity in the Roman empire. Plutarch fills in a lot of the "gaps" of common knowledge re: what happened after Julius Caesar's assasination insofar as Brutus, Cassius, Octavion and Mark Anthony are concerned. The brief section on Sertorius intrigued me as he is a figure whom I was not familiar with at all. The bravery of the Gracchs brothers (which they probably inherited from their grandfather, Scipo Africanus) is extolled, as well it should be. And, to top it off, we even get to find out why Coriolanus was a Mama's boy. Plutarch's "Makers Of Rome" is a very informative book which covers a lot of ground in just a few pages.
Rating:
Summary: Great stuff!
Review: Plutarch is one of the more reliable and trustworthy historians that ancient Rome has to offer. After his death, the great emperor Hadrian bestowed upon him ingratiating respect and admiration. These are excerpts from his infamous "Lives." In this book we get a historical documentary on such personages as the Gracchus brothers, Coriolanus, Brutus, Cato the Elder, Sertorius and Mark Anthony. Of particular interest to the military historian are his accounts of Fabius Maximus and Marcellus (two of the Roman generals who squared off against Hannibal). I would recommend this book as a must-read for any and all people who take a curiosity in the Roman empire. Plutarch fills in a lot of the "gaps" of common knowledge re: what happened after Julius Caesar's assasination insofar as Brutus, Cassius, Octavion and Mark Anthony are concerned. The brief section on Sertorius intrigued me as he is a figure whom I was not familiar with at all. The bravery of the Gracchs brothers (which they probably inherited from their grandfather, Scipo Africanus) is extolled, as well it should be. And, to top it off, we even get to find out why Coriolanus was a Mama's boy. Plutarch's "Makers Of Rome" is a very informative book which covers a lot of ground in just a few pages.
Rating:
Summary: Nine Fascinating "Lives" By Plutarch
Review: Plutarch is one of the most popular ancient historians. His straightforward style and flair for the dramatic make his biographies of ancient Greeks and Romans both informative and entertaining. In fact, a number of Shakespearean characters are based on Plutarch's writings. It was his fondness for dramatic appeal that prompted the "semi-fictional" rather than purely factual treatment of history for which he is known. His intent was not so much to record historical events as it was use character and dramatic examples of success and failure to illustrate moral lessons. Plutarch was not an eyewitness to the events he recorded. Although he was a prominent scholar and civil servant and traveled widely, he spent most of his life in Chaeronea in central Greece. Further, his subjects all lived 200 or more years before him. He had a wide variety of sources, but conflicting evidence and an occaissional paucity of detail gave him ample opportunities to dramatize or embellish his work. In his "Lives", Plutarch pursued two major themes. One was the tenacity of Rome in war. Despite military setbacks, Rome always stayed the course and prevailed in the end. Whether it was Hannibal, Pyrrhus, gallic tribes or whoever, Rome outlasted them. The second was Rome's political genius and ability to compromise. In contrast to the Greeks, who always fought among themselves and brought about their own downfall, Romans managed to put aside their differences and stand together when necessary. The "Lives" were originally written in pairs, matching a Greek and a Roman whose lives paralleled each other in Plutarch's estimation. For example, he paired the lives of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. To most modern readers, these pairings seem artificial. Instead, translator Scott-Kilvert has chosen to group together nine Roman biographies that collectively extend through the period from the beginnings of the Republic to the establishment of the Empire and illustrate Plutarch's two major themes. These "Lives" are fascinating reading. Find out how the strategy of Fabius Maximus enabled Rome to defeat Hannibal and why the Gracchi brothers were killed. This book is a must for anybody with an interest in Roman history. Beyond that, though, Plutarch's straightforward and dramatic style will appeal to many casual readers, as well. Give it a try. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: It will leave you wanting more.
Review: Plutarch remains one of the most popular Roman-era historians, and it is easy to see why. The leaders whose lives he details in this volume were men in whom circumstance and ambition combined to create larger-than-life heroes who continue to instruct and inspire curious students of the past even today. The epoch spanned by their lives (c. 500 BCE - 30 BCE) saw the transformation of Rome from beleaguered village republic to imperial mistress of the Mediterranean--a period filled with the clash of battle, political intrigue, and the full gamut of human nature, from hatred and betrayal to the noblest acts of bravery and sacrifice. Plutarch's flair for dramatic license doesn't so much undermine the factual underpinnings of his accounts so much as it breathes life into them.
Plutarch's Lives were originally published in pairs comparing and contrasting the parallels between a leading figure from Greek history and a Roman counterpart. These pairings are of little value to modern readers and the editor of this volume has chosen a selection of Roman lives that make more sense, thematically. My only complaint is that the selection is not a comprehensive one; Plutarch wrote several other lives that fit into both the time period and the historical theme of this volume but which are not included. They form a companion volume, "The Fall of the Roman Republic," which is also highly recommended.
For anyone interested in Roman history and ready to move beyond modern renditions, Plutarch is perhaps the single best introduction there is to the ancient historians. Even casual readers are sure to be surprised and delighted at Plutarch's readability and the vivid, dramatic events he describes.
Rating:
Summary: It will leave you wanting more.
Review: Plutarch remains one of the most popular Roman-era historians, and it is easy to see why. The leaders whose lives he details in this volume were men in whom circumstance and ambition combined to create larger-than-life heroes who continue to instruct and inspire curious students of the past even today. The epoch spanned by their lives (c. 500 BCE - 30 BCE) saw the transformation of Rome from beleaguered village republic to imperial mistress of the Mediterranean--a period filled with the clash of battle, political intrigue, and the full gamut of human nature, from hatred and betrayal to the noblest acts of bravery and sacrifice. Plutarch's flair for dramatic license doesn't so much undermine the factual underpinnings of his accounts so much as it breathes life into them.
Plutarch's Lives were originally published in pairs comparing and contrasting the parallels between a leading figure from Greek history and a Roman counterpart. These pairings are of little value to modern readers and the editor of this volume has chosen a selection of Roman lives that make more sense, thematically. My only complaint is that the selection is not a comprehensive one; Plutarch wrote several other lives that fit into both the time period and the historical theme of this volume but which are not included. They form a companion volume, "The Fall of the Roman Republic," which is also highly recommended.
For anyone interested in Roman history and ready to move beyond modern renditions, Plutarch is perhaps the single best introduction there is to the ancient historians. Even casual readers are sure to be surprised and delighted at Plutarch's readability and the vivid, dramatic events he describes.
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