A Bible for Heroes — The Influential Book Read By History's Eminent Men

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2024

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 18th century America, this book was second in popularity only to the Bible. It was a favorite of many thinkers and leaders throughout history, including Emerson, Napoleon, Machiavelli, Nietzsche, and even President Truman. Yet, you probably haven't read it. It's Plutarch's Parallel Lives. If you're not familiar with Plutarch's Lives, you're in for a treat, as today's episode offers a great intro. My guest, Alex Petkas, found that even though he's a former classicist and professor, Plutarch's Lives is still a tough read, which is why he started a podcast, The Cost of Glory, to make it more accessible to people. He does the same thing on today's episode, sharing the background on Plutarch's set of biographies and its major themes. Alex explains why Plutarch thought that biography was a powerful way to transmit morals and how the Homeric virtue he had in mind differed from that of just having good, upstanding character. Alex then gives us a taste of Plutarch as we discuss the lives of two obscure Greek and Roman figures. We end our conversation with how to get started studying Plutarch yourself.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.
0:11.4	In 18th century America, this book was second in popularity only to the Bible.
0:16.1	It was a favorite of many thinkers and leaders throughout history, including Emerson, Napoleon, Machiavelli, Nietzsche,
0:21.7	and even President Truman. Yet, you probably haven't read it. It's Plutarch's Parallel Lives.
0:27.9	If you're not familiar with Plutarch's Lives, you're in for a treat, as today's episode
0:31.4	offers a great intro. My guest, Alex Petkis, found that even though he's a former classicist and professor, Plutarch's lives
0:37.7	is still a tough read, which is why he started a podcast, The Cost of Glory, to make it more
0:42.1	accessible to people. He does the same thing on today's episode, sharing the background on
0:46.1	Plutarch's set of biographies and its major themes. Alex explains why Plutarch thought that
0:50.6	biography was a powerful way to transmit morals and how the Homeric virtue we had in mind differ from that of just having good, upstanding character.
0:58.5	Alex then gives us a taste of Plutarch as we discussed the lives of two obscure Greek and Roman figures.
1:03.3	We under a conversation with how to get started studying Plutarch yourself.
1:07.0	After the show's over, check out our show notes at a.com. Atal.is slash Plutarch.
1:21.8	All right, Alex Petkis, welcome to the show.
1:23.4	Great to be here, Brett.
1:24.0	Thanks for having me.
1:29.9	So you are the host of a podcast called The Cost of Glory, which takes listeners through the Greek historian and philosopher Plutarch's work Parallel Lives.
1:35.7	For those who aren't familiar with Plutarch, can you give us a thumbnail,
1:39.1	biographical sketch of this guy?
1:41.5	Yeah.
1:42.0	So if you've ever been to Athens, there is a monument there that overlooks
1:47.6	the Cropolis and the Pnix. It's called the Philopapus monument. And so this was built in the
	...

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