Plutarch structured his Lives by pairing lives of famous Greeks with those of famous Romans. After each pair of lives he generally writes out a comparison of the preceding biographies.[a] The table below gives the list of the biographies. Its order follows the one found in the Lamprias Catalogue, the list of Plutarch's works made by his hypothetical son Lamprias.[8] The table also features links to several English translations of Plutarch's Lives available online. In addition to these 48 Parallel Lives, Plutarch wrote an additional four unpaired biographies that although not considered part of Parallel Lives, can be included in the term Plutarch's Lives. The subjects of these four biographies are Artaxerxes, Aratus, Galba, and Otho.[i]
All dates are BC.
| № | Greek | Roman | Comparison | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Life | Years | Translations | Life | Years | Translations | ||
| 1 | Theseus | mythic | D G L P LV | Romulus | fl. 771–717 | D G L | D G L |
| 2 | Lycurgus | fl. c. 820 BC | (D) G L | Numa Pompilius | 715–673 | D G L | D G L |
| 3 | Themistocles | c. 524–459 | D G L P | Camillus | 446–365 | (D) G L | n/a |
| 4 | Solon | 638–558 | D G L P | Poplicola | d. 503 | D G L | D G L |
| 5 | Pericles | c. 495–429 | (D) G L P | Fabius Maximus | 275–203 | D G L | D G L |
| 6 | Alcibiades | 450–404 | (D) G L P | Coriolanus | fl. 475 | (D) G L P | D G L |
| 7 | Epaminondas | d. 362 | Lost | Scipio Africanus or Aemilianus[9] | 236–183 or 185–129 | Lost | |
| 8 | Phocion | c. 402 – c. 318 | D G L P | Cato the Younger | 95–46 | (D) G L | n/a |
| 9–10 | Agis | fl. 245 | D L | Tiberius Gracchus | c. 164–133 | D L | D L |
| Cleomenes | d. 219 | D L | Gaius Gracchus | 154–121 | D L | ||
| 11 | Timoleon | c. 411–337 | (D) G L | Aemilius Paullus | c. 229–160 | (D) G L | D G L |
| 12 | Eumenes | c. 362–316 | D G L | Sertorius | c. 123–72 | D G L | D G L |
| 13 | Aristides | 530–468 | D G L P | Cato the Elder | 234–149 | D G L | G L |
| 14 | Pelopidas | d. 364 | D G L | Marcellus | 268–208 | D G L | D G L |
| 15 | Lysander | d. 395 | D G L P | Sulla | 138–78 | (D) G L | D G L |
| 16 | Pyrrhus | 319/318–272 | (D) G L | Marius | 157–86 | (D) G L | n/a |
| 17 | Philopoemen | 253–183 | D G L | Titus Flamininus | c. 229–174 | D G L | D G L |
| 18 | Nicias | 470–413 | D G L P | Crassus | c. 115–53 | (D) G L | D G L |
| 19 | Cimon | 510–450 | D G L P | Lucullus | 118–57/56 | (D) G L | D G L |
| 20 | Dion | 408–354 | (D) L | Brutus | 85–42 | (D) L P | D L |
| 21 | Agesilaus | c. 444 – c. 360 | (D) G L | Pompey | 106–48 | (D) G L | D G L |
| 22 | Alexander | 356–323 | (D) G L P | Julius Caesar (detailed article) | 100–44 | (D) G L P1 P2[1] | n/a |
| 23 | Demosthenes | 384–322 | D L | Cicero | 106–43 | (D) L | D L |
| 25[10] | Demetrius | d. 283 | (D) L | Mark Antony | 83–30 | (D) L P | D L |
- Notes
The two-volume edition of Dryden's translation contains the following biographies: Volume 1. Theseus, Romulus, Lycurgus, Numa, Solon, Publicola, Themistocles, Camillus, Pericles, Fabius, Alcibiades, Coriolanus, Timoleon, Aemilius Paulus, Pelopidas, Marcellus, Aristides, Cato the Elder, Philopoemen, Flamininus, Pyrrhus, Marius, Lysander, Sulla, Cimon, Lucullus, Nicias, Crassus. Volume 2. Sertorius, Eumenes, Agesilaus, Pompey, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Phocion, Cato the Younger, Agis, Cleomenes, Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus, Demosthenes, Cicero, Demetrius, Mark Antony, Dion, Marcus Brutus, Aratus, Artaxerxes II, Galba, Otho.
- ^ The Perseus project also contains a biography of Caesar Augustus, in North's translation, but not from Plutarch's Parallel Lives: P
- ^ Though the majority of the Parallel Lives were written with the Greek hero (or heroes) placed in the first position followed by the Roman hero, there are three sets of Lives where this order is reversed: Aemilius Paulus/Timoleon, Coriolanus/Alcibiades and Sertorius/Eumenes.
- ^ At the time of composing this table there appears some confusion in the internal linking of the Perseus project webpages, responsible for this split in two references.
