The Use of Historical Sources

Abstract

The historical value of the Parallel Lives cannot be separated from their ethical and moral value. This is confirmed in Plutarch's recourse to historical sources whose authority he recognizes with regard to the individual presented. The selection of the historians correlates with three principal factors: (1) the individual protagonists of the Lives and the necessity of finding some reliable sources for these individuals; (2) the familiarity with those historians who had become paradigmatic for their credibility and style; (3) the breadth or the brevity of certain works that facilitated the recovery of materials to use and reuse in different biographies. Multiple examples can be adopted to underline how Plutarch selects and adapts his own sources in order to convey a moral interpretation of the individual. When Plutarch had a multitude of sources, he made use of them, albeit in different forms (direct or indirect) and measure.

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