1 Plutarch’s Flamininus: A Roman Hero for a New Greek World
In: Plutarch and his ContemporariesSearch for other papers by Jeffrey Beneker in
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Abstract
Plutarch’s Philopoemen-Flamininus, the only book of Parallel Lives to feature subjects who appear as characters in each other’s biographies, relies on both external and internal synkrisis to narrate and contextualize the accomplishments of both men. In the first Life, Plutarch presents Philopoemen as a champion of the Greeks who delivers victory over tyrants and enjoys great acclaim, but by the middle of the second Life, Flamininus upstages his Greek rival by establishing a freedom that is more authentic and comprehensive. The narrative trajectory of these Lives, which follows the historical development of Roman control over mainland Greece, shows the Romans as better than the Greeks when it comes to establishing peace, and Flamininus becomes the real champion of Greek freedom. The Philopoemen-Flamininus, then, reflects the general acceptance of Roman imperial rule of Greece, but Plutarch seems unwilling to let such a simple lesson stand. He concludes the book with Flamininus’ persecution of Hannibal, which results in the Carthaginian’s suicide. In a syncritic shift, Hannibal becomes the comparand for Philopoemen, while Flamininus plays the role of Deinocrates, the Messinian tyrant who captured and killed Philopoemen. The nobility of Philopoemen’s and Hannibal’s deaths, combined with the culpability of their captors, problematizes the moral lesson of the book. In this chapter, I examine the intertwined narratives of these two Lives and show how Plutarch describes the historical reality of Roman superiority and yet draws his characters with a complexity that allows the defeated Greek to contend with the victorious Roman.