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The Parallel Lives are primarily concerned with exploring various modes of eudaimonia, as Plutarch mines the lives of illustrious Greeks and Romans for moral exempla and offers them up to his audience for contemplation and imitation. In contrast to his usual practice, Plutarch offers the Demetrius and its Roman pair the Antony as explicitly negative examples. These men, who are “conspicuous for badness,” habitually engage in behavior this is to be rejected, not imitated. Demetrius is capable of great virtues, but his life provides a paradigm of how not to live. The ruinous state of Hellenistic historiography, however, places a historical burden on Plutarch’s moralizing biography that it was manifestly not designed to bear. Indeed, Plutarch’s Life is the sole continuous account of Demetrius’ career, and provides the only literary evidence for many of the events from the Battle of Ipsus in 301 to Demetrius’ death in 282. Despite all this, there is no full-length commentary on the Demetrius in any language. This thesis represents an attempt to fill that gap. The commentary is not merely a survey of relevant scholarship, but offers many original contributions to the study of Hellenistic kingship and ruler-cult, the politics and propaganda of the Successors, and Demetrius’ pivotal role in the remarkable advances in naval technology and siegecraft for which the period is justly famous. While the body of the commentary firmly grounds Demetrius’ career in the historical context of the early Hellenistic period, the historiographical introduction illuminates the didactic ethics that shape Plutarch’s biographical project, and confronts the vexed question of his sources.

Univ., Diss.--Cambridge, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Habilitationsschrift--Heidelberg. / Bibliography: p. [9]-12.

Part of Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1934. / Photolithographed. "Private edition, distributed by the University of Chicago libraries." Bibliography: p. 8-12.

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The Introduction is concerned with the antecedents, the circumstances of writing and the structure of the biography. Its first chapter surveys the successive treatments of Cato's figure in the Roman literature: immediately after his suicide at Utica a great literary controversy around Cato came into being: cicero, and later Brutus, Fadius Gallus and Munatius Rufus wrote laudatory accounts while Caesar and A. Hirtius composed defamatory <u>Anticatones</u>. This theme was also central a few years later in Salluet's <u>Catilinarian Conspiracy</u> and was taken up by the aged Augustus in a rhetorical reply to Brutus. With the completion of the Roman revolution the theme of Cato lost its urgency and relevance and during the early Principate Cato's figure is reduced to a few stereotyped acts and situation discussed in the schools of Rhetoric. Yet under the reign of Claudius and Nero a revival in the interest in Cato takes place: Seneca regards him as the Stoic Saint Incarnate, his nephew Lucan makes him the chief hero of his <u>Pharsalia</u>, while Thrasea Paetus composes a full scale <u>Life of Cato</u>: for the senatorial opposition under Nero Cato's figure again has a political relevance. The reign of Domitian ensures the end of the literary preoccupation with Cato: hero worshippers found in Thrasea Paetus and Helvidius Priscus a more recent vintage of martyrs for the cause of libertas.

This thesis explores Plutarch’s use of metaphors and similes of the theatre in order to represent, explore and criticise political action in his Parallel Lives. Most of the studies available on Plutarch’s use of the theatre have tended to address his understanding and employment of the tragic, that is what is defined as tragedy as a genre from the conventions of language, plot and characterisation. This approach belongs to the textual, literary aspect of theatrical production, the word of the writer, and the interpretation of the reader. Although interlinked with my study, this is not what my thesis examines. I am concerned with the performative aspect of the theatre. This envelops all the components which define the activity of the theatrical spectacle: the professionals involved in the production, from the sponsors, to the musicians and dancers, the actors and their performance, from its preparation to its presentation, the costumes, the props and the sets, the intention of the performance, the impact on and the reaction of the audience. Plutarch has two means of approaching the theatrical world. He draws on the reality of theatrical productions, showing an awareness of the technical demands involved in the creation of spectacle and drama. He also draws upon the tradition of theory and definitions of the theatre which had been laid down by philosophers and playwrights. But whether his understanding stems from a familiarity with theatrical productions or a reading of theoretical discourse, Plutarch’s deployments are consistent: they become a tool to assess morally the statesman or political body he is observing. While Plutarch’s judgement tends to be severe, he recognises the impact and effectiveness of histrionic politics. This thesis concentrates on three political structures: kingship, oratory and the relationship between statesman and assembly. Plutarch’s moral assessment is consistent, and yet he draws on different aspects and different theories to represent not only these different structures but also individual approaches to the office of statesman. While absolute monarchs tend to resort to staging, some put the emphasis on spectacle and the experience of the observer and others concentrate on their own person by styling themselves as actors. If some orators draw on techniques used by actors, they do not equally resort to the same methods but according to their character and origin, choose different aspects of the acting profession. Although several assemblies take place in the theatre, their histrionic behaviour depends on the statesman who influences them. While other studies have notes the theatrical quality of Plutarch’s Lives, this thesis offers the first in-depth analysis of the intricacy and richness of Plutarch’s understanding of theatre as a political tool. Other works have tended to put characterisation at the centre of Plutarch’s use of theatre. I propose, however, to focus on political action, revealing Plutarch’s attitude not only towards the spectacular, but also, and crucially, towards some of the most important political structures of antiquity.

This dissertation concerns two aspects of Plutarch’s ethics that have received relatively little attention: the link between his metaphysics and ethics, and Plutarch’s use of diatribe, a rhetorical style primarily associated with Stoics and Cynics, as a means of targeting a wider audience of educated elite for his philosophy. I argue that Plutarch’s De virtute morali links his ethics with his understanding of Platonic metaphysics. De virtute morali also serves as model for Plutarch’s ethical treatises on specific topics. I analyze the following works: De curiositate, De garrulitate, De vitando aere alieno, De vitioso pudore, and De superstitione. In these, Plutarch identifies a vicious behavior (κρίσις) and suggests methods of self-training to eliminate the vicious behavior (ἄσκησις). Self-training always involves the subordination of emotions to reason (μετριοπάθεια), rather than the elimination of emotions (άπάθεια) advocated by the Stoics. Plutarch uses diatribe, in which the author adopts a conversational tone and addresses the reader in second person, both in κρίσις and ἄσκησις, as well as in his arguments against Stoic άπάθεια. Since Stoicism was the most popular philosophical adherence among educated elites during the time when Plutarch began to write, I argue that Plutarch adopts rhetoric associated with the Stoics as a means of promoting Platonism, and himself as its interpreter, in a culture where intellectuals required the patronage of the educated elite for their personal livelihood and the livelihood of their schools.