When Plutarch tackles the lives of the couple Demetrius and Mark Antony, he feels obliged to state from the outset that he recommends them only as examples to avoid.

Since the lives generally aim at the moral edification of the reader, it is good, he says, alongside the great men of history known for their virtue and benefactions, to also see the great ones in the opposite light, in their immorality and wicked deeds.

Reading the lives of the couple Lysander and Sulla reminds us of this again. Both are great generals, but they were people who were swept away by their passions and flaws, leading them to criminal acts.

Nevertheless (or perhaps because of this), these are two of the best and most interesting lives of Plutarch.