or his father Vespasian, as Rualdus thinks,] "broke through the crowd, to deliver him those "letters from the Emperor. Observing this, I "made a pause in my dissertation, that Rusticus "might have the leisure to read the mandate "which was sent him; but he absolutely refused

to do it, neither would he be entreated to break "the seals, till I had wholly made an end of my "speech, and dismissed the company." Now I suppose the stress of the argument, to prove that this Emperor was not Domitian, lies only in this clause, " whom Domitian afterwards put to death;" but I think it rather leaves it doubtful, for they might be Domitian's letters which he then received, and consequently he might not come to Rome till the reign of that Emperor. This Rusticus was not only a learned, but a good man. He had been Tribune of the people under Nero, was Prætor in the time of Vitellius, and sent Ambassador to the forces raised under the name of Vespasian, to persuade them to a peace. What offices he bore afterwards, we know not; but the cause of his death, besides the envy of Domitian to his fame, was a certain book, or some Commentaries of his, wherein he had praised too much the sanctity of Thrasea Pætus, whom Nero had murdered; and the praise of a good citizen was insupportable to the tyrant; being, I suppose, exasperated farther by some reflections of Rusticus, who could not commend Thrasea, but at the same

time he must inveigh against the oppressor of the Roman liberty.

That Plutarch was married in his own country, and that before he came to Rome, is probable. That the fame of him was come before him, by reason of some part of his works already published, is also credible, because he had so great resort of the Roman nobility to hear him read immediately, as we believe, upon his coming that he was invited thither by the correspondence he had with Sossius Senecio, might be one reason of his undertaking that journey, is almost undeniable." It likewise appears he was divers times at Rome; and perhaps, before he came to inhabit there, might make acquaintance with this worthy man, Senecio, to whom he dedicated almost all these Lives of Greeks and Romans. I say almost all, because one of them, namely, that of Aratus, is inscribed in most express words to Polycrates, the Sicyonian, the great grandson of the said Aratus. This worthy patron and friend of Plutarch, Senecio, was four times Consul; the first time in the short reign of Cocceius Nerva, a virtuous and a learned Emperor; which opinion I rather follow than that of Aurelius Cassiodorus, who puts back his consulship into the last of Domitian, because it is not probable that vicious tyrant should exalt to

6 In this passage there is an inaccuracy, owing perhaps to our author's having wavered between two modes of expression, both which he inadvertently suffered to stand in his MS.

that dignity a man of virtue. This year falls in with the year of Christ, ninety-nine.

But the great inducement of our author to this journey was certainly the desire he had to lay in materials for his Roman Lives: that was the design which he had formed early, and on which he had resolved to build his fame. Accordingly, we have observed that he had travelled over Greece, to peruse the archives of every city, that he might be able to write properly not only the lives of his Grecian worthies, but the laws, the customs, the rites, and ceremonies of every place; which that he might treat with the same mastery of skill, when he came to draw his PARALLELS of the Romans, he took the invitation of his friends, and particularly of our Sossius Senecio, to visit this mistress of the world, this imperial city of Rome : and, by the favour of many great and learned men then living, to search the records of the capitol, and the libraries, which might furnish him with instruments for so noble an undertaking. But that this may not seem to be my own bare opinion, or that of any modern author whom I follow, Plutarch himself has delivered it as his motive, in the Life of Demosthenes. The words are these: "Whosoever designs to write an history, (which "it is impossible to form to any excellency from "those materials that are ready at hand, or to "take from common report, while he sits lazily at "home in his own study, but must of necessity "be gathered from foreign observations, and the

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"scattered writings of various authors,) it concerns "him to take up his habitation in some renowned "and populous city, where he may command all

sorts of books, and be acquainted also with such 66 particulars as have escaped the pens of writers, "and are only extant in the memories of men. "Let him enquire diligently, and weigh judi"ciously, what he hears and reads, lest he publish "a lame work, and be destitute of those helps "which are required to its perfection." It is then most probable, that he passed his days at Rome in reading philosophy of all kinds to the Ro man nobility, who frequented his house, and heard him as if there were somewhat more than human in his words; and his nights, which were his only hours of private study, in searching and examining records concerning Rome. Not but that he was entrusted also with the management of publick affairs in the empire, during his residence in the metropolis; which may be made out by what Suidas relates of him :-" Plutarch (says he) lived in the time of Trajan, and also before his reign. That Emperor bestowed on him the dignity of Consul; [though the Greek, I suppose, will bear, that he made him Consul with himself, at least transferred that honour on him:] an edict was also made in favour of him, that the magistrates or officers of Illyria should do nothing in that province without the knowledge and approbation of Plutarch." Now it is my particular guess, (for I have not read it any where,) that

Plutarch had the affairs of Illyria, now called Sclavonia, recommended to him, because Trajan, we know, had wars on that side the empire with Decebalus, King of Dacia; after whose defeat and death, the province of Illyria might stand in need of Plutarch's wisdom to compose and civilize it. But this is only hinted as what possibly might be the reason of our philosopher's superintendency in those quarters, which the French author of his Life seems to wonder at, as having no relation either to Chæronea or Greece.

When he was first made known to Trajan, is like the rest uncertain; or by what means, whether by Senecio, or any other, he was introduced to his acquaintance; but it is most likely that Trajan, then a private man, was one of his auditors, amongst others of the nobility of Rome. It is also thought, this wise Emperor made use of him in all his councils; and that the happiness which attended him in his undertakings, together with the administration of the government, which in all his reign was just and regular, proceeded from the instructions which were given him by Plutarch. Johannes Sarisberiensis, who lived above six hundred years ago, has transcribed a Letter, written, as he supposed, by our author to that Emperor. Whence he had it, is not known, nor the original in Greek to be produced; but it passed for genuine in that age, and if not Plutarch's, is at least worthy of him, and what might well be supposed a man of his character would write; for which reason I have here translated it.