248 



PLUSH 



PLUTARCH 



added to their wealth and consequence by holding 

 several appointments ; but such pluralism is for- 

 bidden by the constitutional practice of ninny 

 imxlern states. In England a minister who holds 

 two political offices (e.g. those of First Lord of the 

 Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer) receives 

 only half the salary of the second. Pluralism in 

 the church has been held unlawful from the earliest 

 times, and is forbidden by many ancient councils, 

 as Chalcedon (451 A.U.), -'! Xictra (787 A.D. ). 

 This prohibition, however, was not regarded as 

 absolute; canonists distinguish 'compatible' and 

 ' incompatible ' benefices or dignities. Two bene- 

 fices may be incompatible in three ways ( 1 ) if 

 each requires residence; (2) if the duties of Ixitli 

 fall to be discharged at one and the same time ; 

 or (3) if the revenue of either fully sullices for 

 the becoming maintenance of the incumbent. In 

 other cases uenelices or dignities are considered 



compatible, and with the due dispensation, granted 

 by the pope, may l>e held by the same person. In 

 England the law of the church has been made more 



MI indent by acts of parliament passed in 1837, 

 1830, and 1885. The effect of these acts seems to 

 be that no person can now hold two benefices 

 unless the churches are within two miles of each 

 other and one of them is not worth more than 200 

 a year. A benefice of 3,000 population is not to be 

 held alone with a benefice of 500 population. In 

 order to uold two benefices a clergyman must 

 obtain a dispensation from the ArohbUlop of 

 Canterbury, and on applying for the dispensation 

 he must forward to Ins bishop a full statement of 

 particulars in regard to the two cases. Acceptance 

 of a second preferment, except in the cases provided 

 for in the acts, will vacate any preferment pre- 

 viously held. The practice of granting livings to 

 be held commendam with a bishopric lias lieen 

 abolished. In Scotland it is contrary to the old 

 Scotch statute of 1581 for a minister of the Estab- 

 lished Church to hold two or more charges, and the 

 rule has been regularly enforced in the case of two 

 pastoral charjjes. The question has, however, 

 sometimes arisen with reference to clergymen 

 appointed professors liefore or after an apjHrint- 

 ment to a pastoral charge, in which case a resigna- 

 tion is now necessary of one of the oflices within a 

 certain time after the appointment. Non -estab- 

 lished churches, in Great liritain and elsewhere, 

 are guided by the rules of their respective constitu- 

 tions. See, for England, ( 'ripps, I.OH-S uf the Church 

 unit Clergy ; and for Scotland, Duncan, Parochial 

 Law. 



IMllsli ( Fr. pchirhe), a variety of cloth woven 

 like velvet, lint differing from it in having a longer 

 and more o|>en pile. Formerly this pile was of 

 goat's hair or worsted, but now it is largely made 

 oi sjlk, with a cotton backing, ami sometimes iln< 

 whole fabric is of silk. Silk plush is the material 

 used for the outside of gentlemen's 'silk' hats, 

 and is called hatter's plush. It is also worked in 

 coloured silks for articles of ladies' attire and for 

 covering furniture ; hut plush is used par excellence 

 for livery knee-breeches. 



I'llltarrlt ( riiiiiliirrhoi), a prolific writer of 

 ttM GflMO- Roman period, was l>ni about 40 A.D. 

 at Chjeroneia in Ihcotia, where his family was one 

 of good standing. Nothing is known of his per- 

 sonal history but what may lie gathered from bis 

 own writings. Mis higher education was com- 

 menced at Athens nmlr the aeademie philosopher 

 Ammonius in (Hi, the year of the Em|M*ror Nero's 

 progress through <i recce. He paid more than one 

 vi-it to Rome, the then metrojtoluof the world on 

 the first occasion in the reign of Vespasian as 

 chargt d'affaires of his native town. There lie 

 enjoyed the friendship of several men of mark, 



such as (Jains Sossius Senecio, who was four time* 

 consul, while he devoted himself to a course of 

 study and gave public lectures in philosophy, so 

 that he bad but little leisure left for learning the 

 Latin language, ami never attained a full know- 

 ledge of its niceties and idioms or a correct notion 

 of Koman institutions. The story that he be< 

 Trajan's preceptor, and was raised by that i-mperor 

 to the consulship is a legend of doubtful credit. 

 Life at Koine, however, was not altogether to bis 

 taste; he preferred the quiet of his native place, 

 and there he .-pent all bis mature life until his 

 death about 120, discharging the civil and religious 

 duties which fell to his station, liberally disbursing 

 his stores of learning, and ollering himself as a soi i 

 of spiritual guide ami physician of the soul to llm-e 

 who needed moral hygiene and desired to rule their 

 lives by some higher standard in a corrupt and 

 effete age, when the old faiths were dead and the 

 objects of modern life as yet below the hori/on. 

 The extant writings of Plutarch fall into two piin- 

 ciiial classes (a) his historical works, (b) those 

 which are ground under the general head of 

 II/HI'II Mi.nifni (r.Siitd). To the former belong his 

 Parallel Lives the work by which he is best 

 known. These contain a gallery of portraits of 

 the great characters of the ages preceding his 

 own. They were published in successive books, 

 each pair forming one book (biblion), a Greek and 

 Komnn, with some resemblance between their 

 respective careers, l)eing chosen for the subject of 

 each. The forty-six extant Livtx were contained 

 in twenty-two books, probably in the following 

 sequence (that in which they are usually IIIT.-H 

 being purely arbitrary): (2) Scrtoriusl:u 

 (3) Ctmon Lucullus, (4) Lysandei Sulla, (5) 

 Demosthenes Cicero, (6) Agis and Cleomenet 

 (Inii-i-hi, (7) Pelopidas Marcelltts, (8) Phocion 

 Catomi,, (9) Aristides Cato ma., (10) Pericles 

 Fabius Ufaximus, (11) Nicias Crassus, (12) Dion 

 Brutus, (13) Timoleon jEmilius Paaliis, (14) 

 PMltpaaU* Tit 11.1 Hnminius, (15) Themistoclet 

 Camilliis, (16) Alexander Caesar, ( 17 ) Agesilaut 

 --I'liiiificius, (18) Pyrrhns Marius, (19) Solon 

 Valerius Publicola, (20) Demetrius Antotiiux, 

 (21) AlcibiadesConolanuJt, (22) Theseus Bom- 

 n/iis, (23) Lycurgus Numa. The first series, 

 which includes (2) to (9), was written at the 

 suggestion of some personal friends. The bio- 

 graphics in (bis scries partake more of a historical 

 than of an ethical character. The second, (10) 

 to (19), was composed for the writer's own satis- 

 faction and moral improvement; the third, (20) 

 and (21), professed to teach virtue by painting 

 its opposite; the fourth, (22) and (!2.'i), dealt with 

 prehistoric characters. The single biographies of 

 Ai-nlii.1. Aria a rxes, Galba, and (Kim do not come 

 under the category of Parallel Lire*. The sequels 

 which comes after most of the Lives, giving a 

 detailed comparison (lynhritit) of each warrior, 

 statesman, legislator, or hero, as the case ma\ be, 

 and of the exact points of resemblance !!,, M 

 them, hardly accord with the design of Plutarch, 

 and are therefore regarded as spurious by some 

 critics. 



Plutarch's BtOffrafUtl are not merely popular 

 compilations, hut monuments of great literary 

 value for the precious materials which they 

 contain, based as they are upon lost records. 

 The author adheres throughout to bis professed 

 purposeviz. |>ortraiture of character; he either 

 omits or briefly touches upon the most famous 

 actions or events which distinguish the career of 

 each subject of bis biography, holding that th 

 do not show a mans virtues or failings so well 

 as some trifling incident, word, or jest. 'C'eftla 

 verite morale,' says Greard, ' non la verite his- 

 toriqne, qu 'il poursuit ; 1'une n'est pour lui ijue 



