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How to teach Plutarch if I myself do not understand it?
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Enormously inefficient, IMO. There are enough literary sources for good ancient history to leave Plutarch for what he really is and what he was really trying to be. Why wade through the endless digressions for history when one has Dorothy Mills? The depth and value of a Plutarch’s Life is not primarily historical. Rather, it lies in using the totality of what Plutarch has provided us to see what he believes contributed to the successes or failures of his subjects. The stories are didactic rather than biographical. Just as it would be inefficient to study modern history primarily by using something like “Boys of Grit.”
I agree with you Bookworm. I’m using dorothy mills myself this year. I’m just saying some do use it in that way in addition. It is certainly a subject where the whole is more than the sum of the parts as someone has said.
OK, If anyone has time to help us dicipher this passage…….it is the second half of the third paragraph of lesson one of Anne White’s guide for Marcus Crassus. Clear as mud?
In the first half of this paragraph, Plutarch is telling us that Crassus views people as a commodity and becuase of that, he is not very good at governing people; people cannot be managed like things can be managed?
Thanks.
I LOVE this thread and thought maybe it would be helpful to link it to another recent thread regarding Plutarch…
https://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/plutarch-anyone#post-147582
Also, Sheraz mentioned starting with Poplicola. I too read that somewhere and asked Anne White about it. She didn’t give me a real definitive answer. Do you have recommendations for a starting point?
AO’s recommendations for this school year are…
2014-2015 School Year
Term 1: Plutarch’s Life of Crassus (Study Guide with Thomas North’s text)
Term 2: Plutarch’s Life of Timoleon (Study Guide with Thomas North’s text)
Term 3: Plutarch’s Life of Aemilius Paulus (Study Guide with Thomas North’s text)Are these for experienced users or rookies or doesn’t it matter?
Thanks,
Melissa
Melissa, I myself don’t really find Poplicola to be that much easier. Plutarch is just Plutarch, really. There are a few lives that are less savory than others, and I tend not to use those with “newbies” but this year’s schedule would be just fine to use if you’d rather. I guess I’d just look at a little bit of the two you are considering and just pick one. It really doesn’t matter very much, IMO.
Bookworm, do you try to keep the comparisons within same year? Crassus with Nicias? Timoleon with Amelius Paulus?
Yes, I do. We love the little comparison sections. AO doesn’t include them, but we do. Some do not have them, but I make a real effort to do both in a year when there is a pairing.
FYI – The website that Bookworm mentioned, roman-empire.net, was very helpful in understanding more about Crassus.
Just click on Crassus on the drop down menu under Emperors ,Leaders, Famous Romans
Great background info.
Thanks Bookworm!
Melissa, what source are you using? I am using a book, and the book is organized so that the two who are being compared are done, then immediately after the second Life, the comparison is given.
Well….that’s a very good question, ha! I don’t have one yet 🙁 I was under the impression I could get what I needed free online based on this from the AO website….
Do I have to buy a copy of Plutarch? If I do, what version should I look for? What is all this stuff about Dryden, North, Clough and other translations?
No, you do not have to buy a volume of Plutarch’s Lives. Each term’s study notes gives a link to an online version or an (included) edited version of the text.
The translation Charlotte Mason recommended was that by North, which is the one Shakespeare would have used and which is full of nice, rich, Shakespearish language. (purchase; There are page images of all ten volumes online). (Advisory member Anne White is typing these to use with her Study Guides.) The poet Dryden re-translated Plutarch, and in the 1800s that translation was edited by Arthur Hugh Clough. The first versions of the study notes here (written by Advisory member Anne White) mostly used Dryden because it was easily accessible online. However, these are being revised to use North’s translation, and the revised notes contain the text within the lessons.
I do much prefer actual books over online copies, particuliarly since we don’t have tablets and e-readers, just simply a desk top. Do you have suggestions or links? I’ve been looking on Amazon, but it’s a bit overwhelming. I understand the Clough/Dryden translations are supposed to be good? It appears as though they come in volumes. How many or which volumes would I need?
Thanks,
Melissa
It does appear that Anne White has included the text in each lesson. I was thinking I could print the lessons for each life we were studying. I guess then I don’t have the comparison section. Do you see any other negative to this?
Also, here is the AO site I keep referring to…
http://www.amblesideonline.org/PlutarchSch.shtml
This thread has been most helpful!!
Melissa, they do NOT all have the text with them in Anne’s study guides; only the ones that are marked do so. NINE of the ones Anne has done a guide for do not include text. I see no problem using them. I find the comparisons very interesting. But they are not completely necessary. If you like having Anne’s guides then do them. I use them if we are reading a life that she has one available, and then I read from our own book the comparisons.
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