Plutarch - Plutarchos

The greatest ancient Greek biographer and essayist. In Japan, he is better known by his English nickname Plutarch. At the time, Greece was a Roman province, and he spent his childhood during the reign of Nero, while Domitian, who was no less infamous, ruled when he was in his 30s and 40s. He was born in Chaeronea, a remote area of ​​Greece from the perspective of Rome, and spent most of his life there. His family was of influential background in the region. In his late teens, he went to Athens to study philosophy and natural science under Ammonius, a member of the Academic School. Therefore, Plutarch can be said to have been a student of Plato, but he was particularly interested in rhetoric, ethics, and religion, and in these areas he was influenced by the Peripatetic School and the Stoics. In short, he can be said to be an eclectic man of common sense.

He traveled frequently, and visited Rome several times in his life. It seems that he visited as a representative of Chaeronea for a formal purpose, and on this occasion he became acquainted with several important members of the Roman government. However, it is regrettable that he did not have any contact with leading intellectuals of the time, such as Tacitus or Pliny the Younger. Furthermore, the reason he was able to remain safe when Emperor Domitian persecuted many Stoic scholars was because he did not call himself a Stoic and stayed in Chaeronea, and also because he himself knew how to behave wisely as a conquered person (the above is from his essay "Advice to Magistrates." However, it is difficult to understand why he never mentions his hometown of Chaeronea, the site of a bloody battle against Macedonia that brought about the downfall of classical Greece, in any of his works).

It is striking that all of the major works of Plutarch were written after the age of 50. The most important of these is the Parallel Lives (commonly known as the Lives of the Heroes), but in addition to these there are many other essays (79 extant) collectively called the Ethics. The contents range from serious arguments dealing with problems in Platonic philosophy and criticizing the Stoics to lighter topics such as which came first, the chicken or the egg, and 48 rules for marriage. The writing is quite talkative and far from being virtuoso, but it conveys to the reader the mood of Plutarch, who enjoys speaking. From the perspective of literary history, it is noteworthy that two thinkers of the Renaissance period wrote important essays inspired by his essay collections. These two men are Montaigne and Bacon.

[Shigetake Yanuma]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

古代ギリシア最大の伝記作家、エッセイスト。日本では英語式の呼び方プルタークでよく知られる。当時ギリシアはローマの属州であり、彼の幼・少年期はネロの治世にあたり、ネロに劣らず悪名の高いドミティアヌスの治世は、彼の30、40代にあたっている。生地は、ローマからみればギリシアの片田舎(かたいなか)のカイロネイア。生涯の大半をここで過ごす。生家はこの地方では有力な家柄であった。10代の終わりにアテナイへ出て、アカデメイア派のアムモニオスについて哲学、自然学を学ぶ。したがってプルタルコスもプラトン学徒といえるが、彼がとくに関心をもったのは弁論術、倫理、宗教で、この方面ではペリパトス派やストア派の影響も受けている。要するに折衷派の常識人といえよう。

　しばしば旅に出、ローマへも生涯に何度か行っている。カイロネイア代表として儀礼的に訪問したようだが、この機に何人かのローマ政府要人の知己を得た。ただし、タキトゥスや小プリニウスら当時の代表的知識人とは交渉をもたないのは惜しまれる。またドミティアヌス帝が多くのストア派学者を迫害したとき無事でいられたのは、彼がストア派を自任してはおらず、カイロネイアに引っ込んでいたという理由のほかに、彼自身被征服者の賢明な身の処し方を心得ていたためといえる（以上は彼のエッセイ『為政者への忠告』による。しかし、彼の故郷カイロネイアは、かつて古典ギリシアの滅亡を決定的にした対マケドニアの血戦場であり、このことに全著作を通じて一言も触れていないのは理解に苦しむ）。

　彼のおびただしい著作のおもなものはすべて50歳以後の執筆という事実は目をひく。なかでも重要なのは『対比列伝』（通称『英雄伝』）だが、このほかに『倫理論集』の名で一括されている多数（79編現存）のエッセイがある。内容は、プラトン哲学の諸問題を扱ったもの、ストア派を指弾するなどの重い論調から、鶏と卵とどちらが先か、あるいは結婚48訓などの軽妙なものまで、対象は多方面に及んでいる。文章は名文にはほど遠い饒舌調(じょうぜつちょう)だが、話すことを楽しんでいるプルタルコスの気分が読者に伝わってくる。文学史的に注目されるのは、彼のエッセイ集に触発されて、ルネサンス期に2人の思索家がそれぞれ重要なエッセイを書いている事実である。2人とはモンテーニュとベーコンである。

［柳沼重剛］

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