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The third century before the common era was a time of empire-making and empire-breaking especially in the western Mediterranean, where a conflict was brewing that would shape the future of the known world. |
Ancient Sources
(- threads, 15 posts)
 Mestrios Plutarchos
Historical Thread
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Livy is not the only ancient writer who can be described as a moralist. One of the last “classical Greek historians” , Mestrios Plutarchos is well known for his collection of essays and treatises, commonly identified as the Moralia, but is even more well known for his Parallel Lives of prominent Greeks and Romans. A scholar of great learning, Plutarch used his bioi to give object lessons, hoping to improve the moral standards of the Roman Empire of his time. Lives of several important men who played a major role on the Roman side during the Second Punic War like Fabius Maximus, Cato the Censor and Marcellus are included in the bioi. However, the most important life from the Hannibalic War, apart from Hannibal himself, that of Scipio Africanus, does not survive and is a great loss to the study of the time period.
