In this book comparing Greek and Roman statesmen, Plutarch paired Caesar with Alexander the Great, the other grand victor of classical antiquity.
Unlike most of the other Parallel Lives, Caesar's Life is more historical and secular, lacking the main features of Plutarch's works: moral judgement and relationship with the divine.
At the end of the reign of Domitian (AD 81–96), Plutarch wrote a series of biographies of the first eight Roman emperors, entitled in modern editions the Lives of the Caesars, of which only Galba and Otho have survived.
[3] However, Plutarch finally chose to pair Pompey with the Spartan king Agesilaus II, who likewise met his downfall and an inglorious death in Egypt.
Christopher Pelling suggests writers such as Theophanes, Munatius Rufus (through Thrasea Paetus), Empylus and Calpurnius Bibulus (who both wrote a book on Brutus), Publius Volumnius, and Messalla Corvinus.
[18] However, Pelling notes that Plutarch's Roman Lives lack the references to other kinds of literature: theatre, poetry, philosophy, and also pamphlets.
In addition, Plutarch conceals stories about his mistresses; his affair with Servilia is moved to the lives of Cato and Brutus, while that with Cleopatra is much less developed than in the Life of Antony.
[22] Other ancient writers were less coy about judging him: Suetonius remarked that he was "justly killed", Sallust disapproved his populism, or Pliny condemned the bloodshed of the Gallic Wars.
[26] The Life of Caesar is therefore a more historical biography, focused on big events and light on anecdotes and moral judgements, than the rest of the Parallel Lives.
[22] Using typically Greek stereotypes, Plutarch analysed Roman politics at the time of Caesar as an opposition between the people (demos) and the oligarchs (oligoi).
Instead, Caesar became famous for his clemency towards his enemies (including Brutus and Cassius), honoured Pompey after he died, and refused a bodyguard in order to remain accessible to the people.
William Shakespeare only read Plutarch from North's version, and he was his only source for his plays Julius Caesar (1599), Coriolanus (1605–1608), and Antony and Cleopatra (1607).