The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch
By John S. White (1883)
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White (1883). Unabridged Charlotte Mason living book edition for Form II Biography & Citizenship (Plutarch).
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Chapter 1: Introduction
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 1
Imagine yourself in the city of Athens near the close of the year 446 B.C. The proud city, after many years of supremacy over the whole of Central Greece, has passed her zenith, and is surely on the decline. She has never recovered from the blow received at Coronea. The year has been one of gloom and foreboding. The coming spring will bring the end of the five years' truce; and an invasion from the Peloponnesus is imminent. But, as the centre of learning, refinement, and the arts, the lustre of her fame is yet undimmed, and men of education throughout the world deem their lives incomplete until they have sought and reached this intellectual Mecca. During this year a stranger from Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor, after many years of travel in Asia, Scythia, Libya, Egypt, and Magna Græcia, has taken up his abode at Athens. He is still a young man, hardly thirty-seven, yet his fame is that of the first and greatest of historians. Dramatists and poets immortal there have been, but never man has written such exquisite prose. Twenty centuries and more shall wear away, and his history will be read in a hundred different tongues, as well as in the beautiful and simple Greek that he wrote. His name will grow into a household word; the school-boy will revel in his delightful tales, and wise men will call him the Father of History! For weeks the people of Athens have listened entranced to the public reading of his great work, and now the Assembly has passed a decree tendering to him the city's thanks, together with a most substantial gift in recognition of his talents—a purse of money equal to twelve thousand American dollars.
{iv} Such is the account which Eusebius gives, and others to whom we may fairly accord belief; and it adds no slight tinge of romance to the picture to discover among the listening throng the figure of the boy Thucydides, moved to tears by the recital, who then and there received the impulse that made of him also a great student and writer of history. Herodotus, noticing how intensely his reading had affected the youth, turned to Olorus, the father of Thucydides, who was standing near, and said: "Olorus, thy son's soul yearns after knowledge."
Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus, 484 B.C., and died at Thurium in Italy, about the year 425. As in the case of Plutarch, our knowledge of his personal history is very meagre, aside from the little we glean from his own writings. His parents, Lyxes and Rhœo, appear to have been of high rank and consideration in Halicarnassus, and possessed of ample means; and his acquaintance both at home and in Athens was of the best. A lover of poetry and a poet by nature, the whole plan of his work, the tone and character of his thoughts, and a multitude of words and expressions, show him to have been perfectly familiar with the Homeric writings. There is scarcely an author previous to his time with whose works he does not appear to have been thoroughly acquainted. Hecatæus, to be sure, was almost the only writer of prose who had attained any distinction, for prose composition was practically in its infancy; but from him and from several others, too obscure even to be named, he freely quotes, while the poets, Hesiod, Olen, Musæus, Archilochus, the authors of the "Cypria" and the "Epigoni," Alcæus, Sappho, Solon, Æsop, Aristeas, Simonides of Ceos, Phrynichus, Æschylus, and Pindar, are referred to, or quoted, in such a way as to show an intimate acquaintance with their works.
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Table of Contents
37 ChaptersEvery chapter below is pre-indexed for oral narration and easy 1-click scheduling into your weekly Charlotte Mason lesson plan.
Chapter 1: Introduction
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 1
Chapter I. Origin Of The War Between The Greeks And Barbarians
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 2
Chapter Ii. History Of Lydia
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 3
Chapter Iii. Origin Of Athens And Sparta
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 4
Chapter Iv. Conquest Of Lydia By Cyrus
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 5
Chapter V. History Of The Medes To The Reign Of Cyrus
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 6
Chapter Vi. The Asiatic Greeks And The Lydian Revolt
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 7
Chapter Vii. The Conquest Of Assyria And The War With The Massagetæ
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 8
Chapter I. Physical History Of Egypt
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 9
Chapter Ii. Religion, Manners, Customs, Dress, And Animals Of The Egyptians
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 10
Chapter Iii. God-Kings Prior To Menes
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 11
Chapter Iv. First Line Of 330 Kings, Only Three Mentioned
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 12
Chapter V. From Sesostris To Sethon
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 13
Chapter Vi. Third Line; From The Twelve Kings To Amasis
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 14
Chapter I. Expeditions Of Cambyses
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 15
Chapter Ii. Usurpation Of Smerdis The Magus And Accession Of Darius
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 16
Chapter Iii. Indians, Arabians, And Ethiopians
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 17
Chapter Iv. Reign Of Darius To The Taking Of Babylon
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 18
Chapter I. Description Of Scythia And The Neighboring Nations
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 19
Chapter Ii. Invasion Of Scythia By Darius
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 20
Chapter Iii. Description Of Libya
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 21
Chapter I. Conquests Of The Generals Of Darius
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 22
Chapter Ii. The Ionian Revolt
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 23
Chapter I. The Suppression Of The Ionian Revolt
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 24
Chapter Ii. Expedition Of Mardonius
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 25
Chapter Iii. Expedition Of Datis And Artaphernes; The Battle Of Marathon
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 26
Chapter I. Death Of Darius And Reign Of Xerxes
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 27
Chapter Ii. Battle Of Thermopylæ
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 28
Chapter I. The Invasion Of Attica And The Battle Of Salamis
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 29
Chapter Ii. Xerxes' Retreat
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 30
Chapter I. The War Continued; Battle Of Platæa And Siege Of Thebes
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 31
Chapter Ii. The Battle Of Mycale
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 32
Chapter 33: Greeks
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 33
Chapter 34: Barbarians
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 34
Chapter 35: Æginetan Silver Weights and Money
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 35
Chapter 36: Measures of Length
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 36
Chapter 37: Plutarch For Boys And Girls
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch by John S. White — Chapter 37
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