Gentlemen’s
Classics Book Club
Read the great classics of the Western tradition with like-minded men every week in your city.
Find your chapterPlutarch’s Lives is a classical biographical work on the lives of illustrious men from the Greco-Roman world. Join Meriwether Academy as we meet every single week to discuss a new life, their virtues and vices, and how we as men can improve ourselves by their example.
This Season’s Lives
One life a week, straight through in the order the volume prints them. We skip the Comparisons and read only the individual Lives.
- Aug 31 PompeyRoman general and statesman, rival of Caesar
- Sept 7 AlexanderKing of Macedon, conqueror of the Persian empire
- Sept 14 CaesarRoman general and dictator
- Sept 21 PhocionAthenian general and statesman, called “the Good”
- Sept 28 Cato the YoungerRoman Stoic senator, last defender of the Republic
- Oct 5 AgisSpartan king who sought to restore the old discipline
- Oct 12 CleomenesSpartan king and reformer who took up the same cause
- Oct 19 Tiberius GracchusRoman tribune, author of the land reforms
- Oct 26 Caius GracchusRoman tribune, brother and successor to Tiberius
- Nov 2 DemosthenesAthenian orator who rallied Greece against Macedon
- Nov 9 CiceroRoman orator, consul, and philosopher
- Nov 16 DemetriusMacedonian king, called the Besieger of Cities
- Nov 23 AntonyRoman general and triumvir, ally of CleopatraThanksgiving
- Nov 30 DionSyracusan statesman and student of Plato
- Dec 7 Marcus BrutusRoman senator who led the conspiracy against Caesar
- Dec 14 AratusStatesman of Sicyon, leader of the Achaean League
- Dec 21 ArtaxerxesPersian king, the second of that nameChristmas
- Dec 28 GalbaRoman emperor raised up and cut down after NeroNew Year
- Jan 4 OthoRoman emperor, successor to Galba, and the final Life
Dates are listed by the week beginning that Monday; each chapter meets on its own morning within that week. Otho closes the volume, and after that we take up a new book.
Find Your Chapter
Each chapter meets weekly over coffee, before the workday begins. Choose your city to see the details and sign up.
No chapter in your city yet? Write to us about starting one.
Questions About the Book Club
The Gentlemen’s Classics Book Club is a free weekly book club for men, run by Meriwether Academy, a Nashville 501(c)(3). Each chapter reads one Life of Plutarch a week and meets over coffee before the workday to discuss it.
When and where do the chapters meet?
The Nashville chapter meets every Wednesday at 7 AM at a coffee shop in West Nashville. The Chattanooga chapter meets every Tuesday at 7 AM at a coffee shop in downtown Chattanooga. We email the exact address after you sign up.
How much does it cost?
Nothing. The book club is free to attend.
Which translation do you read?
Plutarch’s Lives in the Dryden translation, revised by Arthur Hugh Clough. New to Plutarch? Start with How to Read Plutarch’s Lives.
Do I have to finish the reading before I come?
No. Come anyway. The discussion is the point, and you will get more from the next Life for having heard this one argued over.
Can I join in the middle of the season?
Yes. Each week is a new Life, so you can sign up at any point in the reading calendar.
Who can join?
The club is for men. No background in the classics is required.
Who leads the Chattanooga chapter?
Dr. Joshua Trevino, a Fellow of Meriwether Academy.
Can I start a chapter in my city?
Write to us at warren@meriwetheracademy.com. For practical advice in the meantime, read How to Start a Men’s Reading Group.
What else does Meriwether Academy do?
Besides the book club, we host dinner lectures and workshops with scholars and authors in Nashville, and lead backpacking and canoe expeditions in Tennessee. See upcoming events or learn about Meriwether.
Begin with the next life
No preparation is required beyond the week’s reading. Come once and see whether it suits you.
Find your chapter