Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

Plutarch and the Greece of His Age
husband. He would open a wider sphere for women;
train them intellectually, and awaken in them an
interest in the larger affairs of life. Consistently with
these views, Plutarch assigned to his wife an honor
able place in his household. She received guests in
her husband s absence; sat at table with him and in
terested herself in public as well as private affairs.
While this was in contravention of
the custom of his
day, it was in harmony with a faintly discernible
trend of public opinion, probably the result of Roman
influence. That the innovation made slow progress
is plain not only from the later history of Greece but
also from Greek social usages in our own day.
When
we take cognizance of the unhappy state of his country
we are inclined to wonder at Plutarch s uniform
serenity of mind. He never indulges in satire or
sneer, while many of his contemporaries did both.
But we must remember that his philosophy had, above
and beyond everything else, a practical purpose, and
that in a rather material sense. Men s misfortunes
are their own fault and therefore preventable; or they
are not their own fault and therefore unavoidable.
In either case nothing is gained by grieving over them.
It will be evident from a perusal of the De Sera
that optimism is the basis of Plutarch s philosophy.
Men can do right if they will, and if they do right
they can not fail to be happy. There is a superin
tending Providence that in the end rectifies all
wrong and injustice. He seems to hold with Goethe
that "Every sin is punished here below, * though the
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