In 1965 Robert Aulotte published Amyot et Plutarque: la tradition des Moralia au XVIe siècle, leading the way for further research into the fortuna of the Moralia by Plutarch, one of the most cited Greek authors, explicitly or tacitly, in prose literature all through the Renaissance (and further on as well). Forty years later, an international congress on this matter held in Toulouse, following in the wake of Aulotte's book, tackled and explored a few of the numerous avenues of research suggested by the French scholar. The meeting's proceedings, published in the volume here reviewed, include seventeen essays dealing with the most varied subjects: the content of each is carefully summarized by Olivier Guerrier in his introduction.
A couple of studies offer a general survey of the Moralia's reception, respectively in Spain (Alicia Morales Ortiz: on translations and translators) and in Portugal (Nair Soares). Other studies, instead, focus on specific ethical treatises: the diffusion and varied interpretations of De cohibenda ira in France (Bruno Méniel); the exploitation of De sera numinis vindicta by Justus Lipsius and Guillaume Du Vair in support of Christian neostoicism, of which both were leading exponents (Alexandre Tarrête); readaptations (sometimes free rewritings) and use for pedagogical purposes of Apophthegmata Laconica and Apophthegmata regum et imperatorum (Hélène Cazes); the determining influence on Montaigne's Essais of the so-called Pythian Dialogues in general (Raymond Esclapez) and of De Ei apud Delphos in particular (Jean-Yves Pouilloux). Other articles also concentrate on Montaigne, who was a fervent admirer of Plutarch (inter alia, he used to say: “Plutarque c'est nostre breviaire”): thus, Alain Legros devotes his attention to Montaigne's stimulating interpretation of a Socratic saying handed down by John Stobaeus and of the term deisidaimonia (superstition) on the basis of some Plutarchan passages, whereas Olivier Guerrier analyzes the connection recognized by Montaigne between a passage from De vitioso pudore and the origin of Discours de la servitude volontaire written by his close friend Étienne de La Boétie. Other essays examine the presence of Moralia in works of other distinguished men of letters besides Montaigne: Paolo Desideri traces the Moralia's legacy in Jean Bodin's Méthode and République; Sophie Arnaud-Seigle stresses influence exerted by Moralia on the Louanges by Jacques Peletier du Mans, a learned man in both science and letters; Paola Volpe Cacciatore discovers Plutarch's De primo frigido a direct source for Bernardino Telesio's De natura. Some essays range more widely: Luigi-Alberto Sanchi considers the figure of the great humanist Guillaume Budé as reader, translator, and also as lexicographer (in his Commentaires de la langue grecque) of Plutarch; Nicola Panichi enlightens us on Italian theorists of so-called “civil conversazione,” focusing on the recovery of Plutarch's political opuscula; André Tournon inquires into Plutarch's demonology through a rich selection of passages from the Moralia read in Jacques Amyot's famous and successful translation (1572); Denise Carabin takes into account Justus Lipsius's refutations of charges made by Plutarch against the Stoa's doctrine in De communibus notitiis and other his anti-Stoic treatises. Lastly, Françoise Frazier shows the fondness, in the Renaissance, for anthologies from the Moralia compiled for ethical and pedagogical purposes, among which the Trésor des Morales by François Le Tort stands out.
The value and the utility of the book here reviewed derive chiefly from the rich variety of topics analyzed in it by a series of specialists, whose learned essays show how multiform and far-reaching the reception of Plutarch's Moralia (often via Amyot's translation) was throughout the whole Renaissance, and how deep Plutarch's influence on men of letters was, as well as on the complex cultural movements of the time. This extraordinary fortuna was above all supported by two factors: Plutarch's versatility, and the literary wealth of the Moralia, the subjects of which could be easily applied to the most diverse ideological needs. More precisely, Plutarch's eclecticism and practical wisdom, which pervade the ethical treatises, made recovery and use of the Moralia (and of the Vitae as well) valuable in the most varied ideological movements and cultural fields: as a result, Renaissance humanists were able to read Plutarch as philosopher or historiographer, as educationalist or moralist — that is, as the founder of a moral code definable as humanitas Christiana — as well as (last but not least) as political theorist and supporter, in his case, of the political ideal of the cultured and enlightened ruler. In conclusion one may say that in Plutarch's Moralia (as was already emphasized by Montaigne) there are numerous half-hidden cues to stimulate further thought, which are just waiting to be made clear and suitably developed.
The editing of the volume is careful: misprints are quite rare and mainly confined to the Greek.
