Pseudo-Plutarch

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Pseudo-Plutarch is the conventional name given to the actual, but unknown, authors of a number of pseudepigrapha (falsely attributed works) attributed to Plutarch but now known to have not been written by him.

Contents

Some of these works were included in some editions of Plutarch's Moralia . Among these are:

These works date to slightly later than Plutarch, but almost all of them date to Late Antiquity (3rd to 4th century AD). D. Blank has recently shown that Pro Nobilitate was written by Arnoul Le Ferron (Arnoldus Ferronus) and first published in 1556. [3]

One pseudepigraphal philosophical work, De Fato (On Fate; included in editions of Plutarch's Moralia), is thought to be a 2nd-century Middle Platonic work.

Stromateis (Στρωματεῖς, "Patchwork"), an important source for pre-Socratic philosophy, is also falsely ascribed to Plutarch. [5]

Some works ascribed to Plutarch are likely of medieval origin, such as the "Letter to Trajan."

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References

  1. The writer of this work depended on the (lost) work of the Peripatetic philosopher Aetius (see John Burnet (3rd edition, 1920), Early Greek Philosophy: Section B: Note on the Sources Archived 2009-02-16 at the Wayback Machine ).
  2. Pseudo-Plutarch. The Parallela Minora (Parallela Graeca et Romana). republished online from Vol. IV of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1936. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Blank, David (2011). "'Plutarch' and the Sophistry of 'Noble Lineage'". In Martínez, Javier (ed.). Fakes and Forgers of Classical Literature. Madrid: Ediciones Clásicas. pp. 33–60. ISBN   9788478827251.
  4. "Plutarch". The Mineralogical Record - Library. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  5. Marietta, Don E. (1998). Introduction to Ancient Philosophy. M.E. Sharpe. p. 190. ISBN   9780765602152.

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