Free Plutarch Resources for Families
Everything on this page is free: complete translations of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, volunteer-read audiobooks, the classic children’s retellings, and the Charlotte Mason community’s study guides. We publish our own Plutarch series for ages 0–14, but the free resources below are excellent, and the whole point of our books is to get kids ready for them. Every link was checked when this page was last updated.
Read Plutarch free (complete translations)
Parallel Lives is long out of copyright, and two excellent complete translations are free online.
- Project Gutenberg: Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans (Dryden/Clough)
The classic Dryden translation revised by Arthur Hugh Clough: the version most curricula quote, and the source text behind our books. Free EPUB and Kindle formats; one of Gutenberg's most-downloaded history titles.
- LacusCurtius: Parallel Lives (Perrin/Loeb translation)
Every Life individually linked, carefully proofread, including the surviving Comparison chapters. Notice the table's entry for Alexander and Caesar: “comparison not extant”. That is the missing chapter our prep book is built around, confirmed.
- Livius.org: Who was Plutarch?
A short, careful scholarly overview of Plutarch as historian and philosopher, for parents who want the background.
Listen free (audiobooks)
Volunteer-read and public domain, good for long drives and morning time.
- LibriVox: Parallel Lives (multi-volume audiobook)
Free volunteer recordings of the Perrin translation, organized in volumes that follow Plutarch's pairs (Vol. 1 opens with Theseus & Romulus and Lycurgus & Numa). Quality varies by reader; sample before a road trip.
Classic children's retellings (free)
Long before us, three Edwardian authors retold Plutarch for kids. All are free online, and each has a different flavor.
- The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch (John S. White) at Project Gutenberg
The Dryden/Clough translation itself, edited for young readers by omitting adult material. The least retold of the children's versions, and the closest to real Plutarch.
- Plutarch's Lives for Boys and Girls (W. H. Weston) at Gateway to the Classics
Eleven Lives freely retold but not dumbed down; the strongest prose of the three classics.
- The Children's Plutarch: Tales of the Greeks and Tales of the Romans (F. J. Gould) at Gateway to the Classics
The shortest and youngest-skewing versions, with name pronunciations, closest in spirit to a read-aloud story collection.
Study guides & curriculum (Charlotte Mason)
If you homeschool, Plutarch probably enters your curriculum around age 10. These are the standard supports.
- AmblesideOnline: Plutarch rotation & FAQ
The Charlotte Mason community's home base for Plutarch: the term-by-term rotation, honest answers about mature content, and links to everything else on this page.
- Anne White's Plutarch study guides at AmblesideOnline
Free twelve-lesson guides per Life, with vocabulary help, suggested omissions, and discussion questions. The gold standard for reading Plutarch aloud with kids.
- “Why Read Plutarch?” by George Grant
The short essay to hand a skeptical spouse or co-op parent.
Know a great Plutarch resource we missed? A recording, a video series, a teacher’s guide? Tell us and we’ll consider it for the next update. Links last verified June 2026.