  Given Plutarch's concern for the education of character and of the city as a whole, it is hardly surprising that he wrote works on education (On the Education of Children, De liberis educandis, which is considered spurious, however, by Ziegler 1951, 809–812) and especially on the effect that poetry has on the education of one's character. His most important work in this field is On How the Young Man Should Listen to Poets (Quomodo adolscens poetas audire debeat; De aud. poet.), while he also wrote a treatise on Homer (De Homero) that is no loner extant. In the former work Plutarch deals with the question of how young people should read and understand poetry, since poetry can be both beneficial and harmful, depending on its interpretation. Following the Republic, Plutarch argues that poetry is a mimetic art; it imitates the character and lives of various people, good and bad alike (De aud. poet. 17E-F, 26A). In the course of this, Plutarch claims, poets tell lies and present obscene stories and images (ibid. 16A). Plutarch selects examples of such poetic habits mainly from the Republic, focusing on stories from Homer in particular. Plutarch does not condemn poetry altogether; he rather finds a convenient middle solution. He tries to show how one should read the poets in the most beneficial way. In order to do so, Plutarch argues, first one should avoid reading the deliberate lies made in poetry, which can unnecessarily upset one (ibid. 17B; see Russell 1989, 303). Second, Plutarch recommends that the reader, especially the young one, should learn how to read poetry allegorically, in such a way that this can have a beneficial effect on one's character (ibid.  19E-20B; see Lamberton 2001, 48-50). This is the approach that Plutarch himself applies to the myth of Isis and Osiris in his work with that title. Plutarch illustrates the search for the correct (morally uplifting) meaning of a poetic saying also in parts of the Table Talks (Quaestiones Conviviales 622C, 673C; see Russell 1989, 305). The young man needs to learn the skill of how to recover and isolate the beneficial elements of poetry and absorb them alone. In that way poetry can guide one to virtue (ibid. 28E-F). Plutarch likens properly educated young men in their attitude towards poetry to the way bees select the best from flowers (32E), a simile adopted by the Christians, Basil (To young men on the right use of literature 4.7–8), and Gregory of Nazianzus (Orationes 43.13.1). Such a use of poetry, Plutarch claims, prepares youths for their education in philosophy (De aud. poet. 15F, 37B). This happens in two ways.  First, poetry can guide youths towards philosophy by familiarizing them with the concepts that philosophers also use; second, poetry, as we have seen, when properly used, can guide to virtue, and this, Plutarch argues, is a requirement for philosophical education (De aud. poet. 36D-37B). Plutarch actually maintains that the best of poetry is nothing other than philosophy in disguise (ibid. 15F), and throughout his work he tries to illustrate precisely this through a selection of verses from the most well known ancient poets. In On Making Progress in Virtue (79B-D) Plutarch goes so far as to treat poetry and history as complementary to philosophy in educating one's character. Regarding the educative role of poetry, Plutarch appears to be influenced by the Stoics, who were using poetry in education, but he goes further than they in devising specific strategies meant to turn young men into good readers of poetry (see Blank 2011).