For I am writing lives –bi/oi-

not historia,

and the truth is that the most brilliant exploits

often tell us nothing

of the arete or vices of those who performed them,

while on the other hand

a chance remark

or a joke

may reveal far more of a person’s character

than the mere feat of winning battles

in which thousands fall,

or of marshalling great armies,

or laying siege to cities.

Plutarch, Alexander 1