Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, commonly called Parallel Lives or Plutarch's Lives, is a series of biographies of famous men, arranged in tandem to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, written in the late 1st century. The surviving Parallel Lives [in Greek: Βίοι Παράλληλοι (Bíoi Parállēloi)], as they are more properly and commonly known, contain twenty-three pairs of biographies, each pair consisting of one Greek and one Roman, as well as four unpaired, single lives. It is a work of considerable importance, not only as a source of information about the individuals biographized, but also about the times in which they lived.

Motivation[link]

As he explains in the first paragraph of his Life of Alexander, Plutarch was not concerned with writing histories, as such, but in exploring the influence of character — good or bad — on the lives and destinies of famous men. And he wished to prove that the more remote past of Greece could show its men of action and achievement as well as the nearer, and therefore more impressive, past of Rome. The interest is primarily ethical, although the lives have significant historical value as well. The Lives were published by Plutarch late in life after his return to Chaeronea, and, if one may judge from the long lists of authorities given, must have taken many years in the compilation.^[1]

Contents[link]

Third Volume of a 1727 edition of Plutarch's Lives printed by Jacob Tonson.

The chief manuscripts of the Lives date from the 10th and 11th centuries; the first edition appeared at Florence in 1517. Jacob Tonson printed several editions of the Lives in English in the late 17th century, beginning with a 5-volume set printed in 1688 and subsequent editions printed in 1693, 1702, 1716, and 1727. The most generally accepted text is that of the minor edition of Carl Sintenis in the Bibliotheca Teubneriana (5 vols., Leipzig 1852-55; reissued without much change in 1873-75). There are annotated editions by I. C. Held, E. H. G. Leopold, Otto Siefert and Friedrich Blass and Carl Sintenis, all in German; and by Holden, in English.^[1]

The first pair of lives — the Epaminondas–Scipio Africanus — no longer exists, and many of the remaining lives are truncated, contain obvious lacunae and/or have been tampered with by later writers.

His Life of Alexander is one of the five surviving secondary or tertiary sources about Alexander the Great and it includes anecdotes and descriptions of incidents that appear in no other source. Likewise, his portrait of Numa Pompilius, an early Roman king, also contains unique information about the early Roman calendar.

Plutarch is criticized for his lack of judicious discrimination in use of authorities and the consequent errors and inaccuracies, but he gives an abundance of citations and incidentally a large number of valuable bits of information which fill up numerous gaps in historical knowledge obtained elsewhere. He is praised for the liveliness and warmth of his portrayals and his moral earnestness and enthusiasm, and the Lives have attracted a large circle of readers throughout the ages.^[1]

Biographies[link]

Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Plutarch

Plutarch structured his Lives by alternating lives of famous Greeks ("Grecians") with those of famous Romans. After such a set of two (and one set of four) lives he generally writes out a comparison of the preceding biographies.

The table below links to several on-line English translations of Plutarch's Lives;^[1] see also "Other links" section below. The LacusCurtius site has the complete set; the others are incomplete to varying extents. There are also four paperbacks published by Penguin Books, two with Greek lives, two Roman, rearranged in chronological order, and containing a total of 36 of the lives.

Key to abbreviations[link]

D = Dryden

Dryden is famous for having lent his name as editor-in-chief to the first complete English translation of Plutarch's Lives. This 17th-century translation is available at The MIT Internet Classics Archive.

These translations are linked with D in the table below; those marked (D) in parentheses are incomplete in the HTML version.

G = Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg contains several versions of 19th-century translations of these Lives, see: http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/authrec?fk_authors=342 and http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14114

The full text version (TXT) of the English poet, Arthur Hugh Clough's translation is available (via download) at Gutenberg.

These translations are linked with G in the table below.

L = LacusCurtius

LacusCurtius has the Loeb translation by Bernadotte Perrin (published 1914‑1926) of part of the Moralia and all the Lives; see http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/home.html

These translations are linked with L in the table below.

P = Perseus Project

The Perseus Project has several of the Lives, see: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman.html

The Lives available on the Perseus website are in Greek and English according to the Loeb edition by Bernadotte Perrin; and/or in English according to an abbreviated version of the Thomas North translations^[2]. This last edition concentrates on those of the Lives Shakespeare based his plays upon: Thomas North's translation of most of the Lives, based on a French version published in the 16th century, preceded Dryden's translation mentioned above.

These translations are linked with P in the table below.

Notes

1. ^ The last line of the table contains the four "unpaired" lives, as mentioned above.
2. ^ The Perseus project also contains a biography of Caesar Augustus appearing in the North translation, but not coming from Plutarch's Parallel Lives: P
3. ^ Though the majority of the Parallel Lives were written with the Greek hero (or heroes) placed in the first position followed by the Roman hero, there are three sets of Lives where this order is reversed : Aemilius Paulus-Timoleon, Coriolanus-Alcibiades and Sertorius-Eumenes.
4. ^ At the time of composing this table there appears some confusion in the internal linking of the Perseus project webpages, responsible for this split in two references.

Chronology of the lives[link]

The following chronology of legendary and historical figures whose biographies appear in the Lives is organized by date of death, as birth dates in antiquity are more often uncertain. All dates are BC except Galba and Otho.

References[link]

External links[link]

• University of Chicago English text of Plutarch's Parallel Lives.
• A website dedicated to Plutarch's Parallel Lives and some modern updates

Róisín Murphy
Róisín Murphy live in Sofia (2008)
Background information
Birth name	Róisín Marie Murphy
Born	(1973-07-05) 5 July 1973 (age 38) Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland
Genres	Electropop, synthpop, alternative dance, nu-disco, house, trip hop, experimental, nu jazz
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, record producer
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Echo, EMI
Associated acts	Moloko
Website	www.myspace.com/roisinmurphy

Róisín Marie Murphy (Irish pronunciation: [roːˈʃʲiːnʲ], English: /roʊˈʃiːn/; born 5 July 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter and record producer, known for her electronic style. Murphy has a contralto vocal range.^[1]

Murphy first came to note as one half of the electronic music duo Moloko with her then-boyfriend Mark Brydon. After the two ended their romantic relationship, Murphy released her debut solo album Ruby Blue, written and produced with Matthew Herbert, in 2005. Her second solo album Overpowered was released in 2007.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Murphy was brought up in Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland, in a Roman Catholic family. When she was twelve, her family moved to Manchester, England.^[2] Murphy embraced 1960s fashions from going with her mother, an antique dealer, to car boot sales and charity shops.^[3] She concealed her singing voice, not wanting other people to know she "sounded like Elaine Paige" when she herself enjoyed listening to the likes of Sonic Youth and Pixies instead.^[2]

After three years of living in Manchester, her parents divorced and moved back to Ireland.^[4] Murphy insisted on remaining alone in the UK because she did not think that her mother had the strength to continue taking care of her.^[5] Murphy lived with her best friend for a year, until she could receive Housing Benefit and live in a nearby flat.^[4] She was bullied at school and befriended a group of "weird boys who wore black" and who listened to the Jesus and Mary Chain.^[2] She enrolled in a sixth form college at seventeen and later considered going to art school.^[4] She moved to Sheffield^[2] where she began going to nightclubs and was inspired by the Vivienne Westwood designs she saw at Trash.^[3]

1994–2003: Moloko[link]

Murphy met Mark Brydon in 1994 at a party, using the chat-up line "Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body."^[6] Brydon brought Murphy to his Fon Studios, where he auditioned her voice on tape, and liked Murphy's theatrical delivery. They began dating, and the newly-formed Moloko were signed to Echo Records, releasing their debut album Do You Like My Tight Sweater? the following year.^[4] The album combined trip hop and funk with electronic dance music, using a more humorous approach than some of their contemporaries.^[6] The follow-up I Am Not a Doctor covered similar musical ground,^[6] and a remix by Boris Dlugosch of "Sing It Back" enjoyed international success, and would go on to be featured on more than 110 compilation albums.^[2] In place of paying Dlugosch, Murphy helped write "Never Enough",^[7] which reached number sixteen on the UK Singles Chart in June 2001.^[8]

October 2000 saw the release of Moloko's third album Things to Make and Do, for which they employed more live instrumentation, and more multifaceted arrangements by keyboardist Eddie Stevens.^[9] The album reached number three on the UK Albums Chart, and "The Time Is Now" became their most successful British single, reaching number two.^[8] Murphy and Brydon broke up but were contractually obligated to deliver further albums. After the 2003 release of Statues, Brydon backed out of much of the album's promotion, so Murphy handled most of it herself.^[5] Although no official statement was issued pertaining to Moloko's future, Murphy had this to say in an interview with Q magazine in May 2005 (which was reiterated in the review of Ruby Blue in July 2005):

We left it on good terms after a very successful tour. We shook hands, said, "See you later", and haven't spoken since. I don't know what Mark thinks of this record or what he's doing. I don't know if we will or we won't reunite. Myself, I don't not want to.

[edit] 2004–05: Ruby Blue

Murphy performing at the Orange Music Experience Festival in Haifa, Israel on 27 June 2005, as part of the Ruby Blue tour.

Murphy began doing solo work while still in Moloko, which included her contributions to the works of other artists including Handsome Boy Modeling School and Boris Dlugosch, for whom she sang on the track "Never Enough", which became a huge club hit, hitting the top three of the US Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Murphy recorded her first official solo material in 2004 with producer Matthew Herbert, who had previously done remixes for Moloko. She had wanted to work with him again, commenting that "it felt very natural... because Matthew makes things seem quicker and easier."^[10] After the pair had recorded a few songs, Murphy found that she enjoyed working with Herbert, and her label Echo Records let her work freely without any deadline. When she presented them the album, they found it odd and did not hear any songs that would make successful singles. The A&R division suggested that Murphy make some changes to make it more radio-friendly. Murphy refused, stating that she "wanted it to be as pure as possible." The label later came to support her.^[11]

Murphy released her debut album Ruby Blue in June 2005. Prior to this, tracks from the album were made available on three limited edition, vinyl-only releases: Sequins #1, Sequins #2 and Sequins #3. The release of the EP's was to precede a London exhibition by artist Simon Henwood, featuring paintings of Murphy in various sequined outfits (some of Henwood's paintings are used as cover images for the record jackets).^[12] The titling is also a pun on "sequins" and the related word "sequence". Henwood also directed the two video clips for the album's singles ("If We're in Love" and "Sow into You").

Ruby Blue samples sounds made by everyday objects and actions, including cosmetics, brass mice, dancing and ornaments.^[13] It mixes the electronic music for which Moloko was known with jazz and pop styles.^[14] Although the album was a commercial failure,^[15] it drew mainly positive reviews; Pitchfork Media called it "perfect, the ultimate combination of human warmth and technological know-how."^[16]

[edit] 2006–08: Overpowered

Murphy performing in Belgrade, Serbia on 26 August 2007.

In May 2006, Murphy announced on her website forum that she had signed with EMI and was working on new material. The first single, "Overpowered", was released on 2 July 2007. "Overpowered" was written by Murphy and Seiji of Bugz in the Attic and mixed by Tom Elmhirst (Amy Winehouse, Röyksopp, Grace Jones). The single is accompanied by a series of remixes from the likes of Seamus Haji, Kris Menace, Hervé and Loose Cannons.^[17] The second single "Let Me Know" (a collaboration with Andy Cato), was released in September and the album, named Overpowered, was released soon after.

In September 2007, Murphy received a pre-nomination for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Inter Act, but did not make it to the final list.^[18] She performed "Let Me Know" on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 5 October 2007.

Murphy sustained an eye injury on 27 October 2007, while on tour in Russia to promote Overpowered. She was forced to cancel several subsequent dates on the tour.^[19]

2009–present[link]

Despite well-known troubles at EMI, Murphy said in an interview in August 2008 that she was working on her third studio solo album. She said she was working with the producer from Overpowered, Seiji, to give the third album the "sleepy, synthesized vibe" that Overpowered has.^[20]

On 17 July 2009 BBC 6 Music revealed Murphy would release a new single, "Demon Lover", by the end of the summer. The singer describes the song as "a big funky house track. It's a souped-up full on garage tune". About her third album she says: "It is quite gritty, it has a slightly London sound to it, it's a bit more urban and bass-ey than Overpowered". ^[21] On the same day, a Murphy news blog also revealed that she was pregnant with her first child.^[22]

Murphy recently previewed new material at the SEone club in London, performing "Momma's Place" and "Hold up Your Hands". She also said on her official forum that she has written some new songs including "Leviathan (Do It Yourself)", among others with producer Apollo Andel. On 2 November, she premiered the single "Orally Fixated" on her Myspace page. The song was released 16 November. The Guardian offered a free download of the song for 48 hours beginning on 12 November.

In a January 2010 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Murphy said, "First of all, I haven't recorded a new album as such. I've recorded a lot of songs, but I haven't planned beyond just putting the songs out there and letting them have their own life, and see how the music lives on its own, without videos, without a big promotion. It's more just about getting songs out there and letting them have their own life."

On 8 March 2010, production duo Crookers released their new album Tons of Friends which features Murphy on the tracks "Royal T" and "Hold Up Your Hand".^[23]

On 6 April 2010 David Byrne and Fatboy Slim released their project "Here Lies Love", which features Murphy on the track "Don't You Agree?" ^[24]

Murphy has collaborated with Dutch DJ Mason on the track "Boadicea". It has been released in the UK and the US as a single on 21 March 2011. In 2011, she collaborated with Tony Christie on his album Now's The Time!. Also in 2011 she revealed to XOXO magazine that she has been working on new music and is ready to release an album sometime in the near future. She also added that her new music is coming from "a deeper place" than her last album Overpowered.

A collaboration with a "well-respected producer from Northern England" titled "Simulation" surfaced online in December 2011.^[25] Murphy also told Electronic Beats that she had recorded a track with David Morales.^[26]

Personal life[link]

Murphy is now in a relationship with her artist boyfriend Simon Henwood. On 15 December 2009, Murphy gave birth to her first child, a baby girl who she named Clodagh Henwood. Murphy and Simon Henwood are reportedly "thrilled" with the new addition to their budding family, who weighed at 8 lb 4oz.^[27]

Discography[link]

• Ruby Blue (2005)
• Overpowered (2007)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Róisín Murphy at Allmusic
• Róisín Murphy on Myspace
• Róisín Murphy's channel on YouTube
• Official Moloko website

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