PRECEPTS OF STATECRAFT (PRAECEPTA GERENDAE REIPUBLICAE)
INTRODUCTION
This essay is addressed to Menemachus, a young
man who has asked Plutarch for advice concerning
public life. Nothing further is known of the young
man, except that Pardalas of Sardis is mentioned as
his fellow-citizen (813 f ; 825 d) ; but some of those
to whom Plutarch's various essays are addressed
are known to be real persons, and it is, therefore,
probable that Menemachus also actually existed.
Plutarch held at different times various public offices,
and moreover he was highly regarded by his fellowcitizens and many others as a guide, philosopher,
and friend; it is, therefore, not unnatural that a
young man who was thinldng of entering upon a
political career should appeal to him for advice and
counsel, though it is also possible that Plutarch wrote
the essay without being asked to do so and addressed
it to Menemachus merely as a matter of form.
There is nothing profoundly philosophical and very
little purely theoretical to be found here. Greece,
like most of the known world, was a part of the
Roman Empire, and the exercise of statecraft on
a large scale was virtually limited to Romans. The
ancient Greek city-states retained, however, their
local self-government, subject to the supervision of
the proconsul; they could enter into agreements
with each other, and could send envoys to Rome if
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occasion arose. A man could, therefore, find useful
and honourable occupation in public life, as Plutarch
himself did. Although he frequently uses the great
men of the great days of Greece as examples, Plutarch
gives the sort of advice which would be useful to
one engaged insuch political activity as was open to
a Greek in his time. Some of his advice is applicable
only to his own times and its conditions, but the
politician or statesman of any age may recognize
many of his precepts as common sense, the application of which is limited to no time or place. The
essay is, then, of interest, not only because it throws
a sidelight upon the conditions in Greece in Plutarch's
time, but also on account of its own inherent value.
The reference to troubles which took place ‘recently under Domitian’ (815 d, Chapter 19) may
indicate that the essay was written not long after
a.d. 96, the date of Domitian's death.