The Harvard Classics Volume 12(Plutarch) Published 1909Edited by Charles W Eliot LL D. (March 20, 1834 - August 22, 1926)Plutarch's LivesPlutarch(c. 46 – 120 AD) was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist. He was born into a prominent Greek family in the early days of the Roman Empire, attained a liberal education, and spent his early life as a civic leader and educator. He was best known for his biographies of leading figures in antiquity and his essays on ethics and virtue. Plutarch's Parallel Lives and Moralia influenced the writers and intellectuals of Byzantium, Western Europe and America. Plutarch's work was revered during his own time, and in later antiquity it inspired other historians and philosophers.