Filantropía en la Vida de Catón el Viejo

Abstract

In the Life of Cato Maior Plutarch looks at his main character with an attitude consisting of admiration on one hand, of criticism and blame on the other. The concept of philanthropia represents the key that opens the door to the criticism. Catos’s lack of philanthropia is responsible for his philotimia, his deficient autarkeia and his want of sophrosyne. Even his political activity undergoes the effects of this fundamental failure. This paper tries to explore how the structure of the biography reflects the importance that Plutarch assigns to the central flaw of its protagonist.