"A philological and historical commentary on the ""Life of Pelopidas"" by Plutarch"
The Life of Pelopidas by Plutarch, parallel to the Life of Marcellus, is Plutarch's only extant Theban Life after the loss of the Life of Epaminondas. The only other Life of Pelopidas is given by Nepos, but it appears rather as a brief supplement to his Life of Epaminondas than as a Life standing on its own merti. Similarities between the accounts of Nepos and Plutarch do not, however, suggest that Plutarch used Nepos for the story of Pelopidas, but rather that they are both dependent on the same tradition, but not necessarily on the same authority. As for the similarities and discrepancies that exist between Plutarch's and Diodorus' accounts of the Theban history during Pelopidas' lifetime, these are generally attributed to the two writers' influence in some degree by the same tradition. With regard to Diodorus' treatment of the Greed mainland, it has been agreed that he founded his account on Ephorus, who was accused of copying heavily from Callisthenes among others. As for Plutarch, it has been suggested and widely accepted that he must have followed the historian Callisthenes.
Literature, Classical, Biography, History, Ancient
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign