Morals (Moralia), Book 1 by Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus

arts · EN-US

The Moralia (or The morals or Matters relating to customs and mores) is a work by the 1st-century Greek scholar Plutarch of Chaeronea. It is a collection of 78 essays and transcribed speeches that give an insight into Roman and Greek life. Extremely popular for centuries, Plutarch's Morals have been read and imitated by many generations of Europeans, including Montaigne and the Renaissance Humanists and Enlightenment philosophers. Some of the most famous chapters on history are "On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander the Great" — an adjunct to his Life of the great general — "On the Worship of Isis and Osiris" - a crucial source of information on Egyptian religious rites - and "On the Malice of Herodotus", in which Plutarch criticizes what he sees as systematic bias in the Father of History's work; some important philosophical treatises are "On the Decline of the Oracles", "On the Delays of the Divine Vengeance" and "On Peace of Mind'. But the Morals also bring in some lighter fare