The Passionate Statesman Eros and Politics in Plutarch's Lives

The Passionate Statesmanexplores the intersection of passion and politics in Plutarch'sParallel Lives, with special emphasis on how he represents the influence oferos, or erotic desire, on the careers of some of the most prominent statesmen from Greco-Roman antiquity. Using Aristotle's notion of friendship and Plato's conception of the soul to describe the ideal marriage as based on a mutual love of character (philia), supported by an enduring erotic attraction, Beneker examines how Plutarch applied his system of ethics both to his reading of history and to his writing of biography. With close readings focusing on the three pairs of biographies fromParallel Lives, namely the Greek kings (Alexander the Great, Demetrius 'the besieger', and Agesilaus) and Roman statesmen (Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Marc Antony), the book draws a general conclusion about how Plutarch uses the narration of his subjects' private erotic affairs to interpret their historical deeds.

Jeffrey Beneker is currently associate professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin. He has published several articles on Plutarch's Lives and on other aspects of the ancient biographical tradition.

Editions and Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Eros and Marriage
2. Moral Virtue, Eros, and History
3. Eros and Ambition in the Alexander--Caesar
4. Eros and the Fall of Marc Antony
5. Eros and the Statesman
Bibliography