Plutarch's Lives, Vol. 1

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 100

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Chapters 38-40Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 38 Summary: “Nicias”

There are few stories about Nicias’s early life, though he was one of the important generals and statesmen of his time. Nicias comes from a wealthy family and owns silver mines, and he considers his wealth to be his best asset. He uses his money to sponsor public events, especially religious events.

Following the death of Pericles, the Athenian aristocracy push to have Nicias in a prominent place in the government, thinking that he will be able to check the populist politician Cleon. Nicias’s timidity proves a serious impediment to his political career. On the other hand, Nicias’s unassuming nature and his piety make him popular.

Nicias is a skilled military commander. He is generally successful in large part because he is very cautious. After the death of Cleon, Nicias works hard to make peace with the Spartans. The resultant treaty, known as the “Peace of Nicias,” makes him even more popular. However, some Athenians, especially Alcibiades, want to break the peace so that they can gain glory and fame by proving themselves in war. This leads to fighting in Athens, with a peace party rallying around Nicias while a war party rallies around Alcibiades. Nicias and Alcibiades each hope to get the other banished. In the end, however, they work together to get a mutual political enemy, Hyperbolus, banished instead of either of them.

Alcibiades sets out to convince the Athenians to launch an invasion of Sicily. Nicias strongly opposes this plan, but he is overruled. Alcibiades is forced to flee Athens before the fleet reaches Sicily, leaving Nicias and another general, Lamachus, in command. Lamachus’s death in battle shortly after leaves Nicias as the sole commander of the Sicilian Expedition. He manages to surprise the people of Syracuse, one of the main Sicilian cities, by quickly encircling their city with a wall. Nicias’s initial successes, however, soon begin to crumble. Always cautious, he delays too much, and this gives the Syracusans time to get help from the Spartans under the command of Gylippus. Nicias, sick and demoralized, sends word to Athens in which he asks to be recalled. His request is refused. Instead, Athens sends reinforcements under Demosthenes and Eurymedon.

The Athenians continue to suffer one defeat after another, until at last they make arrangements to withdraw in secret. On the night they are to withdraw, however, there is a lunar eclipse that the army soothsayers interpret as an omen that the army must stay put for 27 days. Nicias is too pious to disobey. Soon, the Syracusans beat the Athenians in a desperate sea battle. The Athenians try to escape but are run down by the enemy.

Nicias successfully appeals with Gylippus for the lives of his men. The captured Athenians are sent to work in the Sicilian quarries, while Nicias and Demosthenes are sentenced to death. When Nicias and Demosthenes learn of their fate, they both take their own lives.

Chapter 39 Summary: “Crassus”

Plutarch begins by reflecting on the turbulent times in which Crassus was born. Crassus is a contemporary of major figures such as Pompey, Caesar, and Cicero. He becomes known as one of the best orators in Rome. He is known for his hardworking nature, and his friendliness makes him very popular among the common people. Crassus is also extremely rich, owning several silver mines, valuable land, and many enslaved persons.

Crassus’s father and brother are killed during the civil war between Marius and Sylla. Since Crassus is very young, he manages to escape to Spain. He soon joins Sylla’s army, where he distinguishes himself. His two great faults are his greed and his envious nature. In particular, Crassus often finds himself in rivalry with the general Pompey. Realizing that he cannot compete with Pompey as a general, Crassus decides to become an influential statesman. Crassus does demonstrate his military ability in the way he conducts the war against Spartacus and his army of escaped formerly enslaved warriors, but Pompey winds up taking the credit for ending the war.

Crassus is elected to the consulship together with Pompey. They soon begin quarreling and cannot accomplish anything. Eventually they reconcile, and even enter into league with Caesar. Crassus, Pompey, and Caesar form an informal alliance known as the “First Triumvirate,” in which the three use their influence to mutually support each other’s respective agendas. Crassus uses his alliance with Pompey and Caesar to secure himself a war against the Parthians. He hopes that this war will secure him a notable military victory.

Despite some initial successes, Crassus soon meets disaster. His greed gets the better of him, and he tries to go after the richest Parthian cities. The Parthians finally faces him at Carrhae. Plutarch describes the battle in detail. The Parthians win a decisive victory, killing many Romans, including Crassus and his son Publius.

Chapter 40 Summary: “The Comparison of Crassus with Nicias”

Plutarch notes that Nicias was much more honest than Crassus, both in his estate and in his political career. Though Nicias was excessively cautious and timorous, this is not as great of a fault—in Plutarch’s view—as Crassus’s dishonesty. Nicias’s cautious nature is even praiseworthy when one looks at his military career.

Chapters 38-40 Analysis

With Nicias and Crassus, Plutarch wades into historical periods that had already been very thoroughly treated by earlier historians. As Plutarch writes in his preface to his Nicias, he has no intention of trying to overwrite these earlier authors or merely reiterate their accounts. Still, though much has been said about Nicias and Crassus already, he hopes that his biographical approach offers something new. Once again, Plutarch reminds his readers that the goals of biography and history are not the same: In exploring the historical events surrounding the lives of Nicias and Crassus, Plutarch will be chiefly interested in information connected to his subjects’ “disposition and habit of mind” (699) to unveil The Influence of Character on History.

The main similarity between Nicias and Crassus lies in the fact that they were both wealthy statesmen who met their end as the result of a major military defeat: Nicias was killed shortly after the disastrous Athenian defeat in the Sicilian Expedition, while Crassus fell during the Battle of Carrhae. In their characteristics and values, however, the two men were very different. Nicias was a deeply pious man known for his caution, while Crassus was dishonest and ambitious.

Though Nicias and Crassus are best-known to historians for their failures, Plutarch tries to look deeper in his biographical accounts. Nicias’s excessive caution, for instance, is seen by Plutarch as his greatest weakness but also his greatness strength, a quality that allowed him to counteract the influence of the rash Alcibiades. Similarly, while Crassus’s greed and dishonesty were major faults, he also had a lot of valuable virtues, including his generosity and learning.

In some ways, Plutarch’s biographies of Nicias and Crassus show two public figures who did their best with what they had. Nicias entered Athenian public life during the Peloponnesian War and worked hard to counteract the influence of powerful but dangerous politicians such as Cleon and Alcibiades. Crassus, not unlike Nicias, was born into an uncertain and volatile period: In Crassus’s time, Rome was plagued by civil wars and bloody internal conflicts.

Finding that these internal conflicts made it difficult to accomplish anything, Crassus finally formed an alliance with his main political rival Pompey and the young Julius Caesar. Though this alliance—the so-called “First Triumvirate”—paved the way for major abuses of power, it was also a symptom of problems that went far beyond the individuals who comprised it. Both Nicias and Crassus failed to serve as the strong and moral leaders their respective states needed them to be—but Plutarch’s analysis suggests that their failures are, in many ways, just as much the fault of those around them.