This extract from Plutarch will also in some
measure be an apology for the want of historical order observable in
many of his Lives. Though altogether deficient in that critical sagacity
which discerns truth from falsehood, and distinguishes the intricacies
of confused and conflicting statements, Plutarch has preserved in his
Lives a vast number of facts which would otherwise have been unknown to
us. He was a great reader, and must have had access to large libraries.
It is said that he quotes two hundred and fifty writers, a great part of
whose works are now entirely lost." (_Penny Cyclopaedia_, art.
"Plutarch," by the writer of this Preface.)
The lively portraitures of men drawn in Plutarch's Lives have made them
favourite reading in all ages. Whether Plutarch has succeeded in drawing
the portraits true, we cannot always determine, because the materials
for such a judgment are sometimes wanting. But when we can compare his
Lives with other extant authorities, we must admit, that though he is by
no means free from error as to his facts, he has generally selected
those events in a man's life which most clearly show his temper, and
that on the whole, if we judge of a man by Plutarch's measure, we shall
form a just estimate of him. He generally wrote without any
predilections or any prejudices. He tells us of a man's good and bad
acts, of his good and bad qualities; he makes no attempt to conceal the
one or the other; he both praises and blames as the occasion may arise;
and the reader leaves off with a mixed opinion about Plutarch's Greeks
and Romans, though the favourable or the unfavourable side always
predominates.
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