[Footnote 92: Plutarch is read for his matter, rather than for his
style. In style as well as for the time in which he lived, he does not
belong to the classical writers of Greece. For this reason he may be
read in English almost as satisfactorily as in his own language. He is
described by Mahaffy as a pure and elevating writer, full of precious
information and lofty in his moral tone.]
[Footnote 93: From "The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans,
Compared together by that Grave, Learned Philosopher and
Historiographer Plutarch of Chæronea." Translated by Sir Thomas North.
North was born about 1535, his translation being first published in
1579. Written throughout in the best prose of the Elizabethan period,
North's version will always have another and very special interest as
the store house from which Shakespeare obtained his knowledge of
antiquity. It has been asserted that to this book we really owe the
existence of "Julius Cæsar," "Coriolanus," and "Antony and Cleopatra."
In "Coriolanus" whole speeches have been taken bodily from North,
while in "Antony and Cleopatra" North's diction has been closely
followed. North did not translate from the original Greek, but from an
old French version by James Amyot, Bishop of Auxerre in the times of
Henry II of England. The selections here given are printed with the
original punctuation, etc., preserved as specimens of the style of the
period.]
[Footnote 94: This and the province of Cilicia lay in the eastern part
of Asia Minor.]
[Footnote 95: Antipater was a general of Macedonia under Philip and
Alexander the Great and became Regent in 334.]