Plutarch of Chaeronea (c. 50 – c. 125 CE) is a Greek historian whose most famous work is the collection of lives of famous figures of the ancient world – the so-called Parallel Lives. His other speeches and contents, collected under the name of Moralia, have also survived to our times.
They include a total of 78 fully preserved and several dozen partially preserved letters. These texts are important because they tell many details about the lives of the Greeks and Romans, which turn out to be timeless. A great example is the following nutrition statement:
There’s no point arguing with your stomach, since it has no ears. The best way to control the quantity of what we eat is by closely monitoring the quality of what we eat1.
– Plutarch, De tuenda sanitate praecepta, 18
