 From this point of view, one may relate Plutarch's Lives to his philosophical works (see Gill 2006, 421–424). Plutarch himself says he wrote the Lives for the improvement of others, assuming that the actions of virtue will instigate emulation in the reader (Pericles 1–2; see Russell 1973, 100–101). Perhaps, then, the Lives also aim to train the reader's character, and in such a way to prepare them for the life of philosophy. If this is the case, then the Lives are complementary with Plutarch's ethical works of practical orientation that I discuss in the previous section.