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Plutarch’s Politics: Between City and Empire

Amazon.com Price:  $74.93 (as of 03/05/2019 06:54 PST- Details)

Description

Plutarch’s Lives were once treasured. Nowadays they’re studied by classicists, known vaguely, if at all, by the educated public, and are virtually unknown to students of ancient political thought. The central claim of this book is that Plutarch shows how the political type of the city can satisfy a person’s desire for honor, even under the horizon of empire. Plutarch’s argument turns at the difference between Sparta and Rome.  Both cities stimulated their citizens’ desire for honor, but Sparta remained a city by linking honor to what may well be seen first-hand, whereas Rome changed into an empire by liberating honor from the shackles of the visible. Even under the rule of a far off power, then again, allegiances and political actions tied to the visible world of the city remained. By resurrecting statesmen who thrived in autonomous cities, Plutarch was hoping to rekindle some sense of the city’s enduring appeal.

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