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Plutarch · c. AD 46-after 119

Life of Nicias

Νικίας
Ancient Sources / Plutarch / Life of Nicias

Plutarch's Life of Nicias follows the wealthy, cautious Athenian statesman and general, from his rivalry with Cleon and the peace named after him to the Sicilian expedition that destroyed him. Plutarch tells the story alongside Thucydides and Philistus and adds details from votive offerings, public decrees and comic poets, and he stresses Nicias' fear of omens, oracles and the eclipse of the moon. It is paired with the Life of Crassus, whose Parthian disaster Plutarch matches with the Sicilian one.

Read from the start
Text
Greek original with English translation, 10 passages, about 14200 words in English.
Translator
Bernadotte Perrin (1916)
Edition
Bernadotte Perrin (ed. and trans.), Plutarch's Lives, vol. 3, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1916 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus)
Cite as
Plutarch, Life of Nicias 1.1 (by chapter, section)

Contents · 10 passages

  1. 1.1–2.4Plutarch on Timaeus and Thucydides; Nicias as leader against Cleon871 words
  2. 3.1–5.4Nicias' lavish gifts at Delos, his fear of omens and his silver mines1382 words
  3. 6.1–8.3Nicias' campaigns, and how he yields the Pylos command to Cleon1324 words
  4. 9.1–11.7The Peace of Nicias, Alcibiades' trick and the ostracism of Hyperbolus2043 words
  5. 12.1–14.6Nicias opposes the Sicilian expedition: omens, the Hermae and a hesitant start1542 words
  6. 15.1–17.5Nicias defeats the Syracusans and begins walling in Syracuse1163 words
  7. 18.1–19.7The death of Lamachus and the arrival of Gylippus at Syracuse1182 words
  8. 20.1–23.6Demosthenes in Sicily, the night defeat at Epipolae and the lunar eclipse2054 words
  9. 24.1–27.6Sacrifice to Heracles, the last sea fight and the retreat to the Asinarus1714 words
  10. 28.1–30.2Fate of Nicias and the Athenian prisoners; the news at Athens911 words

More by Plutarch

English translation by Bernadotte Perrin (1916). Original text: Bernadotte Perrin (ed. and trans.), Plutarch's Lives, vol. 3, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1916 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.