Acknowledgements Abbreviations, titles, editions Introduction Chapter 1 Reading Plato1. In search of irrational soul2. Chaos and providence: flexible consistency and the Timaeus 2.1. Macro level: selection, arrangement, and function2.2. Micro level: Plutarch’s interpretation of Timaeus 53b3. Moralising the cosmic soul: Plato’s ‘development’ and Laws 103.1. Invisible soul and soul as self-moved motion3.2. Priority of soul3.3. Maleficent soul3.4. Consistency and ‘development’4. Cosmic cycles: literalness and the Statesman myth4.1. Proclus on combining Timaeus and Statesman: introducing the problem4.2. On the Generation of the Soul: facing the problem4.3. Who or what is the cause for cosmic reversal?4.4. In what period are we now?4.5. What is Plutarch doing?5. Concluding remarks Chapter 2 Music1. The demiurge and the musician2. Music in heaven? The song of the Muses3. Divine harmony on earth? The limits of inspiration4. Concluding remarksChapter 3 Symposium1. God and the symposiarch: Sympotic Questions 1.2 and 7.62. The cosmos and the symposium: Sympotic Questions 7.4 and 2.103. The χώρα and the venue: Sympotic Questions 5.54. Concluding remarks Chapter 4 Politics1. The Timaeus in the Phocion 2. The ruler and the demiurge in the historical works3. The ruler and the sun: To an Uneducated Ruler 4. Concluding remarks Chapter 5 On Tranquillity of Mind 1. Κρίσις (§ 1–5): how to deal with τύχη?1.1. What is the problem?1.2. How is the problem presented?2. A shift in the ἄσκησις (§ 14–15): from internal to external synthesis2.1. Beginning the ἄσκησις (§ 6–13): internal synthesis2.2. Time and the self: memory (§ 14)2.3. Becoming and the self: dualism (§ 15)2.4. Looking back (§ 8) and continuing the ἄσκησις (§ 16–18): external synthesis2.5. Interlude: time and becoming in Consolation to My Wife 3. ‘The cosmos is a temple’ (§ 19–20)3.1. Intertextuality3.2. Imagery3.3. Contrasting images and intertexts? On Exile and Plutarch’s ‘cosmopolitanism’3.4. Similar images and intertexts? Θεωρία and Second Sophistic cosmic festivals4. Concluding remarks Chapter 6 Dialogue on Love 1. The Platonist and the body2. Eros and Aphrodite as cosmic gods (755e–757a)2.1. A doxography of cosmic love2.2. Euripides’ Hippolytus: a threat to the erotic cosmos3. Eros, the sun, and the cave: rewriting Plato’s Republic (764a–766b)4. Interlude: reflecting the intelligible5. Cosmic and human love (770a–b)6. Concluding remarks Concluding remarks Bibliography Index locorum General indexA groundbreaking and wide-ranging presentation of Plutarch’s ethics based on the cosmological foundation of his ethical thoughtPlutarch of Chaeronea (c. 45-120 CE) is the most prolific and influential moral philosopher in the Platonic tradition. This book is a fundamental reappraisal of Plutarch’s ethical thought. It shows how Plutarch based his ethics on his particular interpretation of Plato’s cosmology: our quest for the good life should start by considering the good cosmos in which we live. The practical consequences of this cosmological foundation permeate various domains of Greco-Roman life: the musician, the organiser of a drinking party, and the politician should all be guided by cosmology. After exploring these domains, this book offers in-depth interpretations of two works which can only be fully understood by paying attention to cosmological aspects: Dialogue on Love and On Tranquillity of Mind.Plutarch of Chaeronea (c. 45-120 CE) is the most prolific and influential moral philosopher in the Platonic tradition. This book is a fundamental reappraisal of Plutarch’s ethical thought. It shows how Plutarch based his ethics on his particular interpretation of Plato’s cosmology. Our quest for the good life should start by considering the good cosmos in which we live. The practical consequences of this cosmological foundation permeate various domains of Greco-Roman life: the musician, the organiser of a drinking party, and the politician should all be guided by cosmology. After exploring these domains, this book offers in-depth interpretations of two works which can only be fully understood by paying attention to cosmological aspects: Dialogue on Love and On Tranquillity of Mind.