) Plutarch placed it in the 37th year from the foundation of Rome, on the fifth of our July, then called Quintilis, also states that Romulus ruled for 37 years.

The Greco-Persian wars are also described in less detail by a number of other ancient historians including Plutarch, Ctesias of Cnidus, and are alluded by other authors, such as the playwright Aeschylus.

Plutarch is the source also for the story that the victorious Spartan generals, having planned the demolition of Athens and the enslavement of its people, grew merciful after being entertained at a banquet by lyrics from Euripides's play Electra: " they felt that it would be a barbarous act to annihilate a city which produced such men " ( Life of Lysander )

The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources.

Plutarch also reports that Caesar said nothing, pulling his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators.

While interest in Plato was increasing in Florence during Machiavelli's lifetime he also does not show particular interest in him, but was indirectly influenced by his readings of authors such as Polybius, Plutarch and Cicero.

Plutarch and others have noted that the sacrifices to Osiris were " gloomy, solemn, and mournful ..." ( Isis and Osiris, 69 ) and that the great mystery festival, celebrated in two phases, began at Abydos on the 17th of Athyr ( November 13 ) commemorating the death of the god, which was also the same day that grain was planted in the ground.

Plutarch said the inhabitants of Caria carried the emblem of the rooster on the end of their lances and relates that origin to Artaxerxes, who awarded a Carian who was said to have killed Cyrus the Younger at the battle of Cunaxa in 401 B. C " the privilege of carrying ever after a golden cock upon his spear before the first ranks of the army in all expeditions " and the Carians also wore crested helmets at the time of Herodotus, for which reason " the Persians gave the Carians the name of cocks ".

Plutarch reports that Themistocles also proposed in secret to destroy the beached ships of the other Allied navies, in order to ensure complete naval dominance, but was overruled by Aristides and the council of Athens.

Diodorus and Plutarch next recount a similar tale, namely that Themistocles stayed briefly with an acquaintance ( Lysitheides or Nicogenes ) who was also acquainted with the Persian king, Artaxerxes I.

Plutarch indicates that he met in Athens a lineal descendant of Themistocles ( also called Themistocles ) who was still paid these revenues, 600 years after the events in question.

Plutarch also states that Spartans treated the Helots " harshly and cruelly ": they compelled them to drink pure wine ( which was considered dangerous – wine usually being cut with water ) "... and to lead them in that condition into their public halls, that the children might see what a sight a drunken man is ; they made them to dance low dances, and sing ridiculous songs ..." during syssitia ( obligatory banquets ).

Brutus also uttered the well-known verse calling down a curse upon Antonius ( Plutarch repeats this from the memoirs of Publius Volumnius ): Forget not, Zeus, the author of these crimes ( in the Dryden translation this passage is given as Punish, great Jove, the author of these ills ).

The Greco-Persian wars are also described in less detail by a number of other ancient historians including Plutarch, Ctesias of Cnidus, and are alluded by other authors, such as the playwright Aeschylus.

Plutarch also states that Set steals and dismembers the corpse only after Isis has retrieved it.

A century after Plutarch, Aelian also said that Peistratus had been Solon's eromenos.

Suetonius, writing about the same time as Plutarch, also says Cleopatra died from an asp bite.

Historical facts are also sometimes changed: in Plutarch Antony's final defeat was many weeks after the battle of Actium, and Octavia lived with Antony for several years and bore him two children: Antonia Major, paternal grandmother of the Emperor Nero and maternal grandmother of the Empress Valeria Messalina, and Antonia Minor, the sister-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, mother of the Emperor Claudius, and paternal grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger.

The Romans also made use of youths in war, though it was understood that it was unwise and cruel to use children in war, and Plutarch implies that regulations required youths to be at least sixteen years of age.

Plutarch also reports that Brutus had not received news of Domitius Calvinus ' defeat in the Ionian Sea.

Cato also ordered the demolition of houses which encroached on the public way, and built the first basilica in the Forum near the Curia ( Livy, History, 39. 44 ; Plutarch, Marcus Cato, 19 ).

Further information is contained in the excerpts from Ctesias by Photius ; Plutarch ’ s lives of Artaxerxes II and Lysander ; also Thucydides ' History of Peloponnesian War.

His depiction of the women of Sparta as " thigh-showing " ( quoted by Plutarch as proof of lax morals among the women there ) is vivid enough to suggest that he might have composed some verses in Sparta also.

Plutarch mentions a legend that Deucalion and Pyrrha had settled in Dodona, Epirus ; while Strabo asserts that they lived at Cynus, and that her grave is still to be found there, while his may be seen at Athens ; he also mentions a pair of Aegean islands named after the couple.

Diogenes Laertius reports the story that he was prosecuted by Cleon for impiety, but Plutarch says that Pericles sent his former tutor, Anaxagoras, to Lampsacus for his own safety after the Athenians began to blame him for the Peloponnesian war.

Plutarch reports that down to his own time, male couples would go to Iolaus's tomb in Thebes to swear an oath of loyalty to the hero and to each other.

Plutarch further reports that Themistocles was preoccupied, even as a child, with preparing for public life.

Furthermore, Plutarch reports that at the next Olympic Games: " Themistocles entered the stadium, the audience neglected the contestants all day long to gaze on him, and pointed him out with admiring applause to visiting strangers, so that he too was delighted, and confessed to his friends that he was now reaping in full measure the harvest of his toils in behalf of Hellas.

Plutarch reports that, as might be imagined, Artaxerxes was elated that such a dangerous and illustrious foe had come to serve him.

Plutarch reports the peculiar customs associated with the Spartan wedding night: The custom was to capture women for marriage (...) The so-called ' bridesmaid ' took charge of the captured girl.

Plutarch reports that " many things horrible and dreadful to see " occurred during the infliction of punishment, which was witnessed by the rest of Crassus ' army.

Plutarch reports that the temple was filled with a sweet smell when the " deity " was present:

Plutarch, writing about 130 years after the event, reports that Octavian succeeded in capturing Cleopatra in her mausoleum after the death of Antony.

Plutarch reports that Antony covered Brutus's body with a purple garment as a sign of respect ; they had been friends.

Plutarch, in his vita of Theseus, which treats him as a historical individual, reports that in the Naxos of his day, an earthly Ariadne was separate from a celestial one:

Plutarch reports that some authors credited him with only a single daughter, Pompilia.

Plutarch reports an angry letter from Alexander to Darius, naming Bagoas as one of the persons that organized the murder of his father, Philip II.

Plutarch reports that he met with Alexander the Great, probably around Takshasila in the northwest, and that he viewed the ruling Nanda Empire in a negative light:

Plutarch reports that a conspiracy was discovered among some prominent Athenians, who were planning to betray the Allied cause ; although this account is not universally accepted, it may indicate Mardonius ' attempts to intrigue with the Greeks.

Plutarch reports that Chandragupta Maurya met with Alexander the Great, probably around Taxila in the northwest:

Plutarch further reports that he divided up their movables as well, using the strategy of introducing money called pelanors made of iron which had been weakened by it being cooled in a vinegar bath after being turned red-hot, and calling in all gold and silver, in order to defeat greed and dependence on money.

After the Romans were defeated by Pyrrhus at Heraclea, Fabricius negotiated peace terms with Pyrrhus and perhaps the ransom and exchange of prisoners ; Plutarch reports that Pyrrhus was impressed by his inability to bribe Fabricius, and released the prisoners even without a ransom.

Plutarch reports that in 406 BC the lake surged over the surrounding hills, despite there being no rain nor tributaries into the lake to explain it ( Life of Camillus ).

Plutarch also reports that Caesar said nothing and merely pulled his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators.