This text is a recent addition to the Princeton University Press series Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers, which brings together selections from Greek and Roman authors accompanied by fresh translations and minimal notes. Each volume in the series is presented as a ‘how to’ guide on broadly appealing topics that range from ‘how to win an argument’ to ‘how to die’. For those seeking advice on leadership, B. pairs three of Plutarch's political essays with refreshingly readable translations. The volume includes the entirety of Plutarch's To an Uneducated Ruler, selected passages from Precepts of Statecraft and all but the last sentences of Whether an Old Man Should Engage in Public Affairs.
B. adopts the Greek text from H.N. Fowler's Loeb (Moralia Volume X [1936]), and his translations are presented on facing pages, similar to the Loeb format. In addition to the texts and translations, B. provides a short introduction to Plutarch, his historical context and the three essays. Each essay is also prefaced with a short introduction to the themes and topics treated therein. Throughout the volume B. uses endnotes sparingly either to provide citations for quotations within Plutarch's texts or to clarify a concept or historical reference, such as the Platonic notion of absolute beauty or Alexander's murder of Cleitus. There is also a brief appendix that includes entries on Roman and Greek political offices, place names, terms and historical figures.
The three essays are sequentially arranged relative to stages of public life: To an Uneducated Reader, for those about to enter a politics, is followed by Precepts of Statecraft, for those in leadership positions, and the volume closes with Whether an Old Man Should Engage in Public Affairs, to encourage mature leaders to continue in their roles. Unlike the first and third essays, B. selects passages from the Praecepta that connect to themes in the other two texts and organises the passages under added headings. Curiously, B. provides no chapter references in the Praecepta text and translation that would enable a reader to position the selections within the complete text of Plutarch. The ordering of the selections, however, is consistent with the unabridged text.
While anyone with an affinity for reading Greek texts and translations without the distraction of copious notes will enjoy this volume, this is not a text for specialists. The audience for this volume, as the piquant titles within the series suggest, is best found among the public, and it is refreshing to see such public-facing editions undertaken by noted scholars such as B. Portable in size and with the original texts presented, perhaps as an enticement to learn ancient tongues, the volumes’ brief introductions and notes better orient the lay reader within the ancient world than the Loeb Classical Library volumes allow. In this volume, the Greek texts, translations and notes are clear and well printed. No errors revealed themselves to me aside from the sizable omission of the last 31 pages of the volume; an error that falls to the press rather than the author.
