Plutarch wrote at a time when political life was under threat.  The Roman Empire had long ago replaced the republic and constrained the autonomy of Greek cities, including his beloved hometown of Chaeronea. While urging Greek statesmen to preserve the political freedom remaining to them, Plutarch initiated a bold literary project: the Parallel Lives. This lecture explores Plutarch’s purpose in the Lives. Focusing on his introductions to the Life of Alexander and Life of Pericles, I argue that Plutarch intended his biographies to inspire admiration and emulation--and ultimately to sustain the dignity of political life, even under the Empire.

Hugh Liebert is Professor of Political Science, Director of the Dawkins Scholars Program, and the founding Co-Director of the American Foundations minor at the United States Military Academy. A graduate of Harvard University (BA) and the University of Chicago (PhD), he has taught at West Point since 2011. Dr. Liebert is the author or editor of seven books, including Plutarch’s Politics (2016), which won the Delba Winthrop Award for Excellence in Political Science, and Gibbon’s Christianity (2022). A specialist on the history of political thought, he has also written widely on American politics and foreign policy. He has co-edited Thinking Beyond Boundaries: Transnational Challenges to U.S. Foreign Policy (2014), American Grand Strategy and the Future of U.S. Land Power (2014), and Executive Power in Theory and Practice (2012). His articles and essays have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Texas National Security Review, The Point, Claremont Review of Books, and First Things. Dr. Liebert is currently working on a book manuscript on localism in American political thought.