intro
We learn from the letter almost nothing about Apollonius and his departed son, and hardly more about Plutarch. It lacks the intimate touch of a similar letter which was written by Plutarch to his wife (Moralia, 608 a). Indeed we cannot be wholly sure that the boy was called Apollonius after his father, for one stroke of the pen to change the accusative to a vocative (121 e) would cause his name to disappear entirely.
intro
The title of the letter is not found in Lamprias’ list of Plutarch’s works, nevertheless we have reference to it at a comparatively early date.
intro
Some striking similarities between the letter and Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations are doubtless to be explained by derivation from a common source, and this source was doubtless in large part the works of the Academic philosopher Crantor.
intro
In the absence of actual knowledge it is convenient to assume an hypothesis (as in the realm of science one speaks of atoms or ions or of the electric current). If we assume that this is the original rough draft of the letter which was to be sent to Apollonius, nearly everything can be made to square with the hypothesis. In selecting some of the quotations Plutarch had put down enough of the context, so that later the lines he might finally choose to insert could be smoothly interwoven with the text, and the text itself was no doubt to be subjected to further polish.
