Greeks and the Roman past in the Second Sophistic: The case of Plutarch

Since Ewen Bowie's masterly study, Greeks and their past have been explored again and again, yet one feels that Greek attitudes to the Romans have more often than not received serious attention only as far as their relationship to their contemporary Romans was concerned, and their stance towards Roman history has been neglected. Plutarch has not entirely escaped this approach. Yet even after composing the Lives of the Caesars Plutarch all but ignored imperial history: compared to the multitude of examples from the history of the Republic he quotes hardly a handful from the Empire. Similarly, in his discussion of the various monuments of the city of Rome he ignores the transformation of the city by Augustus and the later monuments and discusses almost exclusively republican ones, and most notably he chooses for his Parallel Lives solely republican personages. Especially this last point is of cardinal importance for understanding Plutarch's view of Roman history, but it has been all but neglected in scholarship. It appears that Plutarch studiously avoided contemporary references or historical allusions that may have been politically relevant. Consequently it is suggested that Plutarch's cautious approach to contemporary politics may have influenced his avoidance of potentially dangerous subjects.