of biography, but Plutarch thought them requisite for the due
finish of the complete portrait which he set himself to draw; and
it is by small details of character--personal traits, features,
habits, and characteristics--that we are enabled to see before us
the men as they really lived. Plutarch's great merit consists in
his attention to these little things, without giving them undue
preponderance, or neglecting those which are of greater moment.
Sometimes he hits off an individual trait by an anecdote, which
throws more light upon the character described than pages of
rhetorical description would do. In some cases, he gives us
the favourite maxim of his hero; and the maxims of men often
reveal their hearts.

Then, as to foibles, the greatest of men are not visually
symmetrical. Each has his defect, his twist, his craze; and it is
by his faults that the great man reveals his common humanity. We
may, at a distance, admire him as a demigod; but as we come nearer
to him, we find that he is but a fallible man, and our brother. (6)

Nor are the illustrations of the defects of great men without
their uses; for, as Dr. Johnson observed, "If nothing but the
bright side of characters were shown, we should sit down in
despondency, and think it utterly impossible to imitate
them in anything."

Plutarch, himself justifies his method of portraiture by averring
that his design was not to write histories, but lives. "The most
glorious exploits," he says, "do not always furnish us with the
clearest discoveries of virtue or of vice in men. Sometimes a
matter of much less moment, an expression or a jest, better