2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
5/15/2019 | 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM | A Life in Pieces: Plutarch, Crassus 12.1-16.8 | Hampton Inn Conference Room
A Life in Pieces: Plutarch, Crassus 12.1-16.8
In his Life of Crassus, Plutarch furnishes a peculiarly brief narrative (five chapters, chs. 12-16 inclusive; approximately six pages of the Teubner text) for the career of M. Licinius Crassus from the end of the Spartacan War to his departure for Syria (70-55 BCE). These chapters constitute a particularly noticeable example of ‘telescoping’, which appears especially conspicuous given the excruciatingly detailed narrative that comes next: the Parthian misadventure, to which Plutarch devotes the second half of the Life (chs. 17-33).
The unevenness of pace and detail raises questions of Plutarch’s rationale for writing Crassus, and how it frames the interpretation of other Lives, in particular Pompey and Caesar. Evidence internal and external to Crassus intimates that Plutarch could have produced a more substantial biography should he have so desired to write it. There are two possible reasons for this extreme selectivity. First, the text is not Plutarch’s final version, but a draft (hypomnema). Second, the text is, in fact, as the biographer intended: the gaps reflect the biographer’s genuine opinion of Crassus’ perceived lack of a role, direct or indirect, in this crucial historical period.
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Presenters/Authors
James Chlup
(), james.chlup@umanitoba.ca;
Associate Professor of ancient history. Current projects include a commentary on Plutarch's Life of Crassus and articles on Appian and Plutarch's Life of Brutus.
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