Plutarch’s How to Profit by One’s Enemies: Transforming Conflict into Virtue in the Greek Tradition of War and Peace

Abstract

This paper explores Plutarch’s How to Profit by One’s Enemies as a moral reima­gining of conflict within the ancient Greek tradition. Rejecting a simplistic oppo­sition between war and peace, Plutarch presents enmity as a valuable force for ethical self-cultivation and civic discipline. Drawing on historical and literary exempla, he argues that enemies can serve as mirrors for self-awareness, motivating individuals to refine their conduct and overcome vice. Moral victory, in this framework, lies not in re­venge but in surpassing one’s adversary in virtue. This reading is deepened through comparative analysis with How to Distinguish a Flatterer from a Friend and On Having Too Many Friends, where false concord and superficial alliances prove more corrupting than honest opposition. Together, these treatises form a coherent philosophical program in which personal and political peace emerges not from eliminating conflict, but from mastering and transforming it through reason and character.