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Full Show Notes

Greek Parallel - Timoleon

Important People

Perseus - A tyrannical Macedonian leader who acts as a foil to Aemilius's virtues. They are like parallel lines running in opposite directions, even down to their family lives.

Tubero - An obscure character worth keeping an eye on. Raised in a frugal, Roman home supporting Roman virtue, he rises to a trusted position in Aemilius’s army and continues to be dependable and virtuous. A stark contrast to the many lackeys who attend Perseus before his end.

Important Places

Oreus (9) -

Elimiae (9) -

Pydna - The Battle in which the Macedonians finally lose permanently to the Romans. This battle earns Aemilius Paullus the epithet (cognomen) Macedonicus.

Key Virtues and Vices

boldness of speech - (παρρησία) (cf. 23) - It can get you killed if you’re an honest advisor, but it’s always a virtue Plutarch promotes.

Cowardice - Perseus is the textbook example of both these two vices. This one causes his downfall, while the other exacerbates it and sets him up for failure by ensuring he has no real friends when the money runs out.

Miserliness - Perseus's other main failing; it catches up with him when he can't even keep his mercenaries loyal.

Humility (ταπείνος) (cf. 27) - Not a common word in Plutarch; Ancient Greek doesn't have a distinction between humility and humiliation, so pay close attention to how this is used, since its the word the Christians will use to describe humility in the New Testament.

Humanity (φιλάνθρωπος) (cf. 28) -

Freedom of spirit (τὴν ἐλευθεριότητα (28)-

Generosity of Soul (Magnanimity, when translated into Latin) (28) -

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Full Show Notes - https://plutarch.life/titus-flamininus/

Greek Parallel - Philopoemen

Important People

Philip V - The second-to-last Macedonian king because the Romans play fair in this generation and allow Philip to remain on the throne even after soundly defeating him in battle twice. Philip also has to give up over-lordship of Greece which allows Titus to declare them free.

Antiochus III - Antiochus swoops in when he sees an opportunity and tries to market himself as a liberator for the Greeks. The way Plutarch paints it, no one buys what Antiochus is selling and the Romans defeat him too, though Titus Flamininus isn't involved in that victory.

Hannibal - The Romans expand into Asia Minor with their influence and power. In so doing, Hannibal, exiled from Carthage

Important Places

Battle of Aous -

Battle of Cynoscephalae -

Key Vices and Virtues

• Ambitious - φιλοτιμότατος δὲ καὶ φιλοδοξότατος - the first implies a love of honor while the second implies a love of glory. This brings with it the question: how does honor differ from glory? Is the latter longer-lasting and the former more present-focused. If I only care about what my peers think, am I obsessed then with honor. That may be one. Another could be that honor has physical aspects to it whereas glory is entirely intangible. I think this because τιμή is also the Greek word for price. Most of us can (and do) judge price by the look or feel of the thing, some of its tangible attributes.
• τήν ὄψιν φιλανθρώπῳ (cf. Section 5) - humane in look - Can one look like a philanthropist? Plutarch thinks so.
• φωνήν τε καὶ διάλεκτον Ἕλληνι - Greek in voice and language - This is a compliment. A Greek calls a Roman Greek!
• τιμῆς ἀληθοῦς ἐραστῇ - lover of true honor - Back to honor. Not only is there honor vs. glory, but not all honor is worthy of pursuit!

Section 17 -

• bitterness (πικρός)
• hastiness (ὀξὺς)
• levity (κοῦφος)

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Full Show Notes

Roman Parallel – Titus Flamininus

Important People
Epaminondas – A personal hero of Philopoemen’s; he can imitate him in nearly everything except his calmness (cf. Section 3). Epaminondas sets a high water mark for Theban military and political power which Philopoemen is not able to replicate with Megalopolis.

Nabis – Spartan tyrant

Machanidas – Spartan tyrant who dies in an epic one-v-one against Philopoemen.

Antigonus III Doson of Macedon (263-221 BC) – Second to last Macedonian King, winner of the battle of Sellasia, and the same guy whose death was reported towards the end of the Life of Cleomenes.

Philip V of Macedon (238-179 BC) – The last Roman king, whose defeat we will see in the Life of Aemilius Paulus

Antiochus III of Seleucid Empire (241 – 187 BC) –

Titus Flamininus – This pair of biographies marks the only time Plutarch chose to compare contemporaries. While the Roman certainly outshines the Greek, Plutarch wants to emphasize that it’s only because Titus out-Greeks (the virtues of human excellence, which the Greeks saw themselves originally as the sole source and only practicioners of) the Greeks while also out-Romaning them (i.e. larger, more disciplined, better supplied, better trained armies)

Important Places

Megalopolis – Philopoemen's hometown, and one that sees itself as the countebalance to Spartan hegemony in the Peloponnesus. Generally, the leaders of the Achaean League come from this city, the most famous of whom is, of course, Philopoemen.

Sparta – Cleomenes is king while Philopoemen is a young man, but soon Sparta will fall to greedy tyrants the last of whom will negotiate peace not with Philopoemen, but with the Romans.

Gythium – Philopoemen takes this key Spartan port through a marine maneuver that earns him much acclaim. This it he same Spartan port through which Cleomenes escaped to Egypt.

Messene – The next-door neighbor, and longtime subjugated polis, of Sparta. Philopoemen will free them, but their revolt towards the end of his life is the beginning of his undoing.

Key Vices and Virtues

Contentiousness (φιλονεικία) – A contentious word in the Greek, since it differs by only one letter from a love of victory (φιλονικία). Nevertheless, Philopoemen has a cantankerous outer shell that many find off-putting. Some come across that way, but we should be encourage by this life to look under the outer shell and see the character inside.

Anger (ὀργῆ) – It seems at time Philopoemen is motivated by anger more than justice. While Plutarch seems to overlook this flaw, it's an interesting one to note as Plutarch thought it has no place in the virtuous life.

Pausanias (Description of Greece) – Background of Philopoemen

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